re: Why are we so excited about the OLine returning?

Dare and wire, they come back we have 5 seniors across the oline. Gives us 2021 and 2022 as very mature, deep guys playing. 2019 was great not just because of the starting 5. We had 8 jr-sr able to rotate in when Charles was suspended, or guys went down. Having Magee, traore to rotate in was such an asset.

quote:

---

What is magically going to happen to lead to such a marvelous improvement? Don't give me the line of more time and practice together.

---

You could have said the same thing after 2018. And regardless of whether you think the OL deserves the Joe Moore award, three of those players from the “maligned” 2018 OL turned into NFL starters.

Offensive lines benefit from experience and continuity more than maybe any other position group on the field.

quote:

---

They got 10 games to figure things out this past season.

---

You don’t think they looked better at the end of the year than they did against Mississippi Stare and Mizzou? They certainly cleaned up a lot of the missed assignments you mentioned.

quote:

---

Eta:. We also have all that "quality depth" that will go another season without seeing the field.

---

1. We have shite for OL depth if nobody comes back from this year’s group.

2. It’s a good thing if that depth doesn’t see the field their freshman or sophomore years. Draft eligible guys who have been 2+ year starters don’t tend to stick around nowadays. It is what it is. I would rather have guys getting into their first “earned” starts as juniors or RS sophomores than as true sophomores or RS freshmen.

Starting experience matters, but time in the program matter too. We need to get to a place where we don’t have to start young guys on OL, and this is a step in that direction.

If you don’t know why, then you really don’t understand the game. You should watch more football and pay more attention to who is starting(class/experience wise) on dominant OLs

You should stop posting. I told you the other day you’re one of the worst posters on this board and you prove me right once again.

quote:

---

Right, the 2020 oline can’t improve with another year of practice so we don’t want them.

Therefore, let’s give the 2020 backups who weren’t good enough to start a chance because they can get better with another year of development. Ok.

---

And then when the 2021 line is bad because they have no experience he’s not going them back either lol. OP is an idiot

Because 150+ years of college football shows you the better teams every year are usually the teams with the most experience at offensive line.

It's the same group that compared to the 2019 team, with 3 NFL draftees, a do it all RB, a couple of cupcake games, a Belinokoff winner, a WR who if they had two Belitnokoff winners he'd be the co-winner, and a Heisman winning QB...

Improved it's overall sack rate from 6% to 5.2% and it's standard down sack rate from 5.7% to 4.5%.

The pass down sack rate declined from 6.6% to 7.2%, which that 7.2% is still better than any year going back to Studwra.

Our stuff rate stayed the same at 17.3%. That's without CEH's ability to make people look foolish.

All while averaging over 12 yds a completion all with all new offensive personnel minus 2 OL and 1 WR.

So I'm not seeing this turnstile you are talking about.

quote:

---

Anybody rave about aTm's OL last couple yrs? Last night they started two tackles with 40 and 37 starts. The two guards and center all had 23 starts. Now they will finish top 4 and they are up for the Moore trophy...

---

Those two OTs are going to the NFL. By the way, they are both 3* recruits. One of them, Dan Moore, has the best recover ability I've ever seen; he'll be just about beat and then magically get his positioning/angle back.

They are coming back to lead that potent run attack we had.

quote:

---

It is the same group that helped lead us to a 106th ranking at 3.3 yards per rush.

---

Continuity is one of the most important things for an offensive line. We had returning players across the line in 2019 and some depth, as well. We were hampered with Charles’ suspension, but guys like Rosenthall and Traore and then Ingram were able to plug the holes, as needed. They got a lot better as the season went on. Hines and Deculus, guys who struggled this year, were solid to very good.

We had very little continuity this year, with only one returning full time starter and two part timers. Our center had very little time to work with the rest of the line after transferring in. We had no off-season to develop guys and a COVID-limited fall camp. Players never had that time to gel before we started.

None of this lets Cregg or the players off the hook. Someone should have stayed on them while they were off campus during the shutdowns. They shouldn’t have been allowed to get so out of shape. Not all did, but some definitely were. They should have been pounded when they reported in Summer. And the players who didn’t push themselves and regressed when they should have been working on their own during the shutdown need to own that.

That said, there’s no reason to think there will be 0 improvement going into next year. I would honestly like to see Cregg replaced, but if these guys are coming back, it’s for a reason. None but Ingram would have been a lock to be drafted, but that hasnt stopped guys from leaving LSU early before. Based on their comments, it seems like they want to improve on what they did this year. Having this entire group working together in a real off-season with S&C they didn’t have last year, with time they didn’t have last year, will lead to improvement.

There’s no way to know how much improvement we will see, but three guys who could leave coming back and hopefully as many as five, is a good start. It’s something to build on.

Amazing how that happens.