Can this OL be fixed?

Canesfan1899

All-American
Premium
Joined
Nov 3, 2011
Messages
24,862
Now that we have the full staff hired and going into recruiting mode I think the biggest question mark on the entire team is the OL and I realize that has been covered a ton already.

My question is more centered around whether the new staff can do enough to fix what we have because there aren't recruits coming through the door as of yet to add quality depth or an instant impact.

Can St. Louis develop enough to start at LT which would allow Darling to slide back over to the right side?
Can Milo step in as a redshirt Freshman to provide some depth and possibly push for a starting spot?
Is Searles a big enough upgrade over Kehoe to get this unit more technically sound?
Will we change from a zone blocking scheme that didn't fit our current line to something that plays more to our players strengths?

These are the major questions I have and I don't know nearly enough about the OL to provide any answers. Hopefully some of you guys like gogeta4 or D$ can provide some insight and possibly answer these questions.
 
Last edited:
Advertisement
Sunny Odogwu played the best of any lineman why would we move him out of the starting lineup?...
 
Well they'll be exposed early in practice alone if Kool is what as he's billed to be. I know we're idolizing the guy around here but improved D-Line play across the board can only help to improve our O-line.
 
Sunny Odogwu played the best of any lineman why would we move him out of the starting lineup?...

He played better than expected but I'm not sure that means he was the best lineman we had. We need a better LT and if that St. Louis I would slide Darling back over to RT where he played better as a freshman. Maybe Odogwu can slide inside to G to provide depth. IMO no jobs should be safe on the line but at the same time there are no recruits coming in to take jobs or offer competition.
 
In what world is Darling better than Sunny?

I'd move Sunny to LT (he is taller, has longer arms, quicker and more athletic than Darling) - he was the best O-lineman last year, and has a huge future ahead of him

Move Sunny to LT and if St Louis develops move him to RT. Then I'd move Darling to LG. If St Louis doesn't develop quickly, move Darling to RT

I think the Oline will be a strength next season
 
Advertisement
In what world is Darling better than Sunny?

I'd move Sunny to LT - he is the best O-lineman and has a huge future ahead of him

Move Sunny to LT and if St Louis develops move him to RT. Then I'd move Darling to LG. If St Louis doesn't develop quickly, move Darling to RT

I think the Oline will be a strength next season

Sonny isn't that good and doesn't have the feet for LT.
 
They all sucked! Isadora was probably the best out of all of them. Darling has no business being at either LT or RT. He's a guard and leave him there.
 
The best solution is st.louis being ready to take over at LT. I think all 5 spots on the line will be up for grabs because nobody played that good at all. Darling and kc need to be inside. I would even try kc at center next year.
 
Advertisement
Sunny Odogwu played the best of any lineman why would we move him out of the starting lineup?...

He still wasn't that good. The entire o-line struggled from LT to Rt.

I am not saying the O-line was all world, but I think it was a lot better than the narrative that's being put out there. For example, this O-line gave up less sacks than Alabama's Oline during the season.

The issue was running blocking, but that was more scheme than anything else. We were running from the pistol and shotgun every play. I think the Online and the running game would've looked a lot different if we ran more from under center
 
In what world is Darling better than Sunny?

I'd move Sunny to LT (he is taller, has longer arms, quicker and more athletic than Darling) - he was the best O-lineman last year, and has a huge future ahead of him

Move Sunny to LT and if St Louis develops move him to RT. Then I'd move Darling to LG. If St Louis doesn't develop quickly, move Darling to RT

I think the Oline will be a strength next season

Explain a little further how one of the worst OL's in school history is going to be a team strength next season? That's one miraculous turn around. I'm asking can the mess we saw last year be fixed.

Odugwo is not a LT, he doesn't have the feet to play the position, if he did that's where he would've played this year and Darling would've stayed at RT (where he didn't play that badly as a freshman).
 
Sunny Odogwu played the best of any lineman why would we move him out of the starting lineup?...

He still wasn't that good. The entire o-line struggled from LT to Rt.

I am not saying the O-line was all world, but I think it was a lot better than the narrative that's being put out there. For example, this O-line gave up less sacks than Alabama's Oline during the season.

The issue was running blocking, but that was more scheme than anything else. We were running from the pistol and shotgun every play. I think the Online and the running game would've looked a lot different if we ran more from under center

Did you see how many hits Kaaya took? Did you see our run blocking? The OL was awful!
 
Sunny Odogwu played the best of any lineman why would we move him out of the starting lineup?...

He still wasn't that good. The entire o-line struggled from LT to Rt.

I am not saying the O-line was all world, but I think it was a lot better than the narrative that's being put out there. For example, this O-line gave up less sacks than Alabama's Oline during the season.

The issue was running blocking, but that was more scheme than anything else. We were running from the pistol and shotgun every play. I think the Online and the running game would've looked a lot different if we ran more from under center

Pass blocking was horrible. Kaaya got rid of the ball a ton which kept the sack numbers down. They gave up a sack on a 2 or 3 man rush vs clemson.

Running from under center or the gun really doesn't matter. The o-line isn't going to all of a sudden block better because kaaya is taking the ball from under center. Those guys were just not good.
 
Advertisement
The 5 most talented OL on the roster are:

Trevor Darling
KC McDermott
Tyree St Louis
Bar Milo
Nick Linder
 
They all need to get in shape. all of them . They are the most out of shape, slow, pudgy Oline I've seen here in a long time
 
Advertisement
Odogwu has a lot of upside based on his performance this past season

He doesn't have the upside to be a LT. He was serviceable at RT for much of the season but struggled mightily with any type of speed rush. I think Darling showed more promise at RT during his freshman year than Odugwu did this season.
 
The OL can be fixed and will be better. However, with the exception of St. Louis and Milo, I don't see great talent. Odogwu has some ability, Darling should get better and we are ok at center. Long term, more talent is needed, but the current group will be better under Searles than Kehoe.
 
They'll be fine, a handful of them were actually elite coming out of hs then Golden and Co got ahold of em.
 
Last edited:
Advertisement
Back
Top