Not worried about Blair at LT

#26
#26
Roustabout said:
They are starting a true freshman at RT and a walk-on at LT in the SEC.
If this isn't concerning, then I don't know what is.
I think they are OK on the interior with a mix of Crowder, Kerbyson, Wiesman and Jackson.
One area Butch has not recruited well is OL. He basically kept Dooley's leftover signees, which have yet to compete for starting time.

Combined with Dooley's ineptitude at signing 0 lineman one year, they are woefully thin on the O-line. Blair has to pan out. Raulerson looks like a project.
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I've been saying this since the spring. It's the two tackle spots that concern me.
 
#27
#27
I started to think how could it have gotten this bad with the oline, the obvious answer was Dooley but I thought there had to be a better answer. Looking at 2012 alone
Dooley lost out on DJ Humpries and Andrew Jelks (per VN we didnt want Jelks anyway) Also of the top 25 prospects in the state that year 8 were olineman we got ZERO.

Instead we went and got the cant miss prospects Omari Phillips, Davante Bourque , Deion Bonner ,Quenshaun Watson , and Alden Hill.
To be fair he nailed C Patterson in that class.
 
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#28
#28
sjt18 said:
I'm not worried about any of the O skill positions or LB. I'm not very worried about the secondary. I'm not worried about the other 4 on the OL. I'm a little worried about TE. I have concerns about the DL if Saulsberry doesn't return healthy.
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I'm worried about D line and the backups at virtually every position.
 
#32
#32
I don't know how you guys aren't worried. I hate to reiterate the state of O-Line, but we're most likely starting a freshman at tackle and either a walk-on or a guy that barely beat out a walk-on on the other side. As for the interior lineman, I hope they're good, but if you thought last year's line was bad (I actually think they were very good), well these are the guys that got beat out by last year's starters playing. Best case scenario, we're below average, which isn't a good place to be. Most likely, it costs us a few games.
 
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#33
#33
I thought this kid was a 4* recruit and one of the top picks in our class? Now he's no good to start at LT? Do I have to worry about the rest of the 4* guys we picked up?
 
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#34
#34
MWAVolfan said:
I thought this kid was a 4* recruit and one of the top picks in our class? Now he's no good to start at LT? Do I have to worry about the rest of the 4* guys we picked up?
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We started 13 4*s against Vanderbilt last year, and many on here will argue that we didn't have a talent advantage. So, yeah, you can't say anything is certain.
 
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#36
#36
kmkemp11 said:
I don't know how you guys aren't worried. I hate to reiterate the state of O-Line, but we're most likely starting a freshman at tackle and either a walk-on or a guy that barely beat out a walk-on on the other side. As for the interior lineman, I hope they're good, but if you thought last year's line was bad (I actually think they were very good), well these are the guys that got beat out by last year's starters playing. Best case scenario, we're below average, which isn't a good place to be. Most likely, it costs us a few games.
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Our fan base does this every year. The guys that left weren't any good are are being replaced by better players. With the opposition, it's the opposite. Their great players are being replaced by bums.
I too happen to believe that we were a talented offensive line, but perhaps had the worst collection of skill players in the league. Marquez north has emerged as a bonafide star, so that should help Worley and Dobbs. Hopefully we have another receiver step up and are able to find a running back amongst a group of candidates. This is very much going to be a learning year and we will experience growing pains. I hope a number of these prospects live up to their promise but knowing who that will be and who will be a bust is a crap shoot.
:peace2:
 
#37
#37
oregonvol said:
We started 13 4*s against Vanderbilt last year, and many on here will argue that we didn't have a talent advantage. So, yeah, you can't say anything is certain.
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How many of those 4 stars were drafted? Do you not believe some of these kids were over rated? Do you not understand that even in the nfl, they tend to over rate players sometimes? Bless your heart......some of you people are so naive.

:unsure:
 
#38
#38
MWAVolfan said:
I thought this kid was a 4* recruit and one of the top picks in our class? Now he's no good to start at LT? Do I have to worry about the rest of the 4* guys we picked up?
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Of course you do. What part of this do you not understand? 50 percent of all signees will wash out......:hi:
 
#39
#39
BeattieFeathers said:
How many of those 4 stars were drafted? Do you not believe some of these kids were over rated? Do you not understand that even in the nfl, they tend to over rate players sometimes? Bless your heart......some of you people are so naive.

:unsure:
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Do you not believe coaching has something to do with whether a player can get drafted or not? Do you not believe that part of the coach's job is to develop players? Do you not believe that plenty of coaches make an impact on players' performances over the course of a season and/or a full year of training and practices?

But yeah, it's much less naive to just pin it all on the scouting services conveniently managing to get all the rankings of all our players wrong. Makes sense, because we know it's never ever the coaching.
 
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#40
#40
jspvol76 said:
This could be our strongest tight end group in many years.
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Could be. But there are alot of unknowns with Fr and Downs can't stay healthy. I think Branisel can be a good one but again flashes don't always translate in to consistent greatness.
 
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#41
#41
armchair said:
The OL = not good. Blair will be exposed, I'm afraid.
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There is NO reason for the "OL=not good" except at LT.

That could be a critical weakness but if the 3 in the middle aren't very, very good then someone isn't doing their job. I'd take Fulton back in a skinny second but I'm not sure that Crowder and Jackson aren't upgrades over Stone and Bullard. And Kerbyson will do fine IMO replacing Fulton.

Thomas came in and took over at RT like he owned it. He looks like a guy who deserves to play as a Fr.

So your kneejerk pessimism is pretty off at this point.
 
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#42
#42
MWAVolfan said:
I thought this kid was a 4* recruit and one of the top picks in our class? Now he's no good to start at LT? Do I have to worry about the rest of the 4* guys we picked up?
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Stars mean something but they don't mean everything. On average, if you have a bunch of 4 and 5 star players then you have good talent. But you cannot say for certain that any individual player is going to live up to his ranking.

The recruiting svcs are pretty accurate when they give those higher rankings. But they'll also miss as many that have that level of talent as they find.

Blair is almost certain to have talent. Not only was he highly rated, he was recruited by virtually everyone.
 
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#43
#43
Roustabout said:
"They are starting a true freshman at RT and a walk-on at LT in the SEC.
If this isn't concerning, then I don't know what is."

You realize that neither of these things might be the case, by the first game. But they might; having some concern here is understandable.
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#44
#44
sjt18 said:
There is NO reason for the "OL=not good" except at LT.

That could be a critical weakness but if the 3 in the middle aren't very, very good then someone isn't doing their job. I'd take Fulton back in a skinny second but I'm not sure that Crowder and Jackson aren't upgrades over Stone and Bullard. And Kerbyson will do fine IMO replacing Fulton.

Thomas came in and took over at RT like he owned it. He looks like a guy who deserves to play as a Fr.

So your kneejerk pessimism is pretty off at this point.
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Excellent post. Coleman is still young though. And we play some big games early. Blair is a question mark on the other end due to the spring report. We need him to be SEC ready on game 1. The interior guys are going to be excellent imo. KK was in on many very important plays last year.
If we can get SEC average level consistency out of our tabckles, we are going to be in far better shape than the general concensus. Depth ... uhhh idk.




. X
 
#45
#45
oregonvol said:
Do you not believe coaching has something to do with whether a player can get drafted or not? Do you not believe that part of the coach's job is to develop players? Do you not believe that plenty of coaches make an impact on players' performances over the course of a season and/or a full year of training and practices?

But yeah, it's much less naive to just pin it all on the scouting services conveniently managing to get all the rankings of all our players wrong. Makes sense, because we know it's never ever the coaching.
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I believe most of these recruiting services are taking your money and laughing all the way to the bank. 50 percent of Bama's recruits are wash outs.:eek:lol:
 
#46
#46
sjt18 said:
There is NO reason for the "OL=not good" except at LT.

That could be a critical weakness but if the 3 in the middle aren't very, very good then someone isn't doing their job. I'd take Fulton back in a skinny second but I'm not sure that Crowder and Jackson aren't upgrades over Stone and Bullard. And Kerbyson will do fine IMO replacing Fulton.

Thomas came in and took over at RT like he owned it. He looks like a guy who deserves to play as a Fr.

So your kneejerk pessimism is pretty off at this point.
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Love it! That's what I'm thinking as well. Think we will be fine on the OL. I'm more worried about the DL. Too many young kids there and I think they are going to get worn down towards the end of the season. Just hope they can hold their own until then..
 
#48
#48
keckjm said:
Blair's a better RT then LT. I've said all along in his thread that he will struggle to pass block here. He's an unbelievable run blocker tho. I saw videos of him blocking guys 15 yards down field. The main concern right now with Blair is his conditioning. He already struggles at moving his feet against speedy DEs, and if he isn't in shape he will get abused by faster players on the edge even worse.
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Doesn't blocking downfield take more conditioning than pass blocking? Quick feet and hands are needed for passblocking...
 
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#49
#49
sjsmith87 said:
I agree. I don't think our OL will be as much of a liability as some writers and fans seem to think (although I understand why they say it).

If not anything else, I hope they possess the "mean streak" we've missed in the last few years and show a willingness to be great run blockers as the pass blocking improves.
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I think it is a wonderful situation to be in- having to replace all 5 starters on the offensive line????
 
#50
#50
VOLorNuttin said:
During the spring it seemed like Blair may have been supplanted by the walk-on and recent scholarship recipient, Jacob Gilliam. And thus a lot of folks are scared about our OL, this fall. I don't think so. Seems like there was some question about his conditioning...not about his ability.

He's not a HS Freshman, He's a JUCO guy and I'm sure they saw enough of him before he committed, to discern whether or not he had the talent to play in the SEC.

He didn't have much time to get into shape to play in the kind of up-tempo system that we run, before Spring camp started. I have no doubt he will get there by the time Fall camp rolls around...in our summer S&C program.

So, let's not jump to conclusions, thinking we are in trouble at the LT spot this fall. We'll be just fine and will be in good hands, with Blair.[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wY58qzw1jY[/youtube]
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Earmark this one for retrieval.
 
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