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Is Donaldson worse

dudenate said:
Ian Symmonette says Hi!

(but I hear ya, Donaldson’s play leaves a lot to be desired)
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I'm not talking about out of high school, I'm talking about dudes talking him up while he's here
 
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Development is not always linear. People love to project that young guys who played decently will then become stars because they're young but you can't do that. It depends on athletic ability/ mental ability (intelligence). Some guys hit their peak early whether it's because they lack athletically (see: LBs aside from McCloud who I think could have a breakout year next year if he has the intelligence) or they don't have the mental ability to find weaknesses in their game/analyze what they need to work on and how to do it. I'm not definitively saying Donaldson hit his peak early but I think he needs to reshape his body because he isn't the athlete he needs to be question is is it because of his bad weight or is it just he isn't the necessary athlete to be elite.
 
Da_Lucky_One said:
Donaldson has great size but his strength and footwork have not developed. He really needs to build his lower body with a good deadlift and squat routine along with some leg extensions and leg curls.

Jumping rope and doing plyometric exercises daily would increase his low body power and footspeed tremendously. This issue is partly with him and partly with the strength and conditioning department.

It was great that Zion added weight at the start of football season but his struggle is with his strength.
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Looks like Zion is struggling with everything. It’s not always a strength thing. There are many plays where he’s bent 90 degrees at the waist reaching and grabbing as the DE walks around him.

If it was just a strength thing I could accept that, but it’s very often horrible sloppy slow technique.
 
9oh4Cane said:
Problem I have with Barry is that the group looks lost. Being that it's a young line, it's reasonable to expect they'll get overpowered here and there, but they literally have no idea who to block at times. That's on Barry.
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Horrible sloppy slow technique too. Keep an eye on all the waist bending and reaching and not moving feet with urgency or delivering blows.
 
Barry needs to be fired and Feeley needs to be put on a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan)

The Feeley hype machine was in full gear after Diaz took over, and we can see several good outcomes in Dallas and our LBs. But Feeley let the OL as an entire group get too fat. It's not just Donaldson. Reed had to roll his way to the portal. Campbell looks slow as molasses, Hillery and Herbert look slow as molasses. The only guys who are still agile are Gaynor and Scaife. OL nutrition is virtually nonexistent. And the fact Kennedy can't lift more than a 12 oz beer can should fall partly on Feeley, as well.

As for Barry, the guy has a mediocre resume and can't recruit or develop for ****. Mahoney and Boulware left out the gate, Reed left before the season. None of the returning guys has improved. I honestly think they'd be better off without an OL coach at this point. Like when Golden was fired midseason and the team turned it around. Barry is that guy.
 
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9oh4Cane said:
Problem I have with Barry is that the group looks lost. Being that it's a young line, it's reasonable to expect they'll get overpowered here and there, but they literally have no idea who to block at times. That's on Barry.
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Agree whole heartedly. At least once a game, we let a DL run free for a sack bc someone inexplicably doesn’t block him. Not get beat, but literally just let him go. If the freshman don’t know who to block, they shouldn’t be in the game. I don’t care if they’re more talented or have more potential. You have to know what to do, snd we consistently don’t know what to do.
 
grover said:
Barry needs to be fired and Feeley needs to be put on a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan)

The Feeley hype machine was in full gear after Diaz took over, and we can see several good outcomes in Dallas and our LBs. But Feeley let the OL as an entire group get too fat. It's not just Donaldson. Reed had to roll his way to the portal. Campbell looks slow as molasses, Hillery and Herbert look slow as molasses. The only guys who are still agile are Gaynor and Scaife. OL nutrition is virtually nonexistent. And the fact Kennedy can't lift more than a 12 oz beer can should fall partly on Feeley, as well.

As for Barry, the guy has a mediocre resume and can't recruit or develop for ****. Mahoney and Boulware left out the gate, Reed left before the season. None of the returning guys has improved. I honestly think they'd be better off without an OL coach at this point. Like when Golden was fired midseason and the team turned it around. Barry is that guy.
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Remember the videos of Barry running around like a lunatic at CMU? Oh, the energy! This is the OL coach we need! LOL
 
Cane_Clyde said:
Agree whole heartedly. At least once a game, we let a DL run free for a sack bc someone inexplicably doesn’t block him. Not get beat, but literally just let him go. If the freshman don’t know who to block, they shouldn’t be in the game. I don’t care if they’re more talented or have more potential. You have to know what to do, snd we consistently don’t know what to do.
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The problem is it isn't just the freshman. Look at the last few "Upon Further Review" threads. The only one I haven't heard being called out for blocking the wrong guy or not picking up the right guy is Scaife.
 
Home Slice said:
As bad as Zion has been, I wonder if he's not used to his new weight. He reportedly put on something like 600 pounds in 2 days, so it's gotta be hard for him to get out of his stance. 😱
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zion (1).webp
 
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Offensive line is nothing but communication which is not going on with our line. You can see when ever a man on defense gets in there is always lineman double teaming when it is not needed. That's on the coach that it continues to happen
 
Is it coincidence that Zion and Donaldson play next to one another. So what comes first the chicken or the egg? In other words, are they being abused and overloaded because they are bad or is to that they are being attacked because they are the more vulnerable side of the line which ultimately makes them look bad (through blitzing or overloading).
Ironically, the reason that they are next to each other is that Donaldson should be compensating for Zion’s youth with his experience. The reality is that he needs help himself as he struggles to keep his feet moving in pass protection and then plays “ole” blocking with the inside defender applying pressure right in the QBs face. He has been glacially slow this year and it is all footwork and body positioning. Look at where he bends from, not the knees but the upper torso. This is indicative of reaching and not having a good center of balance. This always leads to leverage being lost and getting blown up.
I hold out hope for the young man to get his act together. But he has definitely regressed since his freshman year. He really could stand to lose 40+ lbs to make him a better athlete.
 
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