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Let’s talk about the OL (Except Zion)

Genghis Cane

Genghis Cane

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We’ve beat a dead horse with Zion, but I’m curious to see how the board feels about the rest of the starters.

I’d give Donaldson an F, as he’s been a massive disappointment so far.

But how about Clark, Scaife, and Gaynor?

Are they playing decent, or are their mistakes not as obvious/noticeable? I’d be nice to hear from some posters that are well-versed in offensive line assignments and techniques.
 
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Agreed. I’m curious how people that watch the OL view Gaynor in particular.

Seems I don’t hear about him so that’s a good thing?
 
JHallCanes said:
Agreed. I’m curious how people that watch the OL view Gaynor in particular.

Seems I don’t hear about him so that’s a good thing?
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I've always liked Gaynor not the most talented but hes aggressive an goes hard to the whistle every play!! I rwmember his freshman year our kine sucked an he would come in an play his *** off when nobody else seemed to care Gaynors good with me Scaife is gonna be good habent watched Clark. Donaldson is trash big disappointment an Zion yaa lol
 
I think the real problem they have is communication/assignments. They look like they could be good enough to compete but they consistently leave guys unblocked and dont pick up blitzers.

It makes me wonder if it's just really bad coaching or if they just really dont have the mental ability to block at d1 level.
 
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kyle_schick said:
I think the real problem they have is communication/assignments. They look like they could be good enough to compete but they consistently leave guys unblocked and dont pick up blitzers.

It makes me wonder if it's just really bad coaching or if they just really dont have the mental ability to block at d1 level.
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I think it’s Barry. We’re last in the country in sacks allowed, and most of the time it’s because our guys look clueless.
 
You all may not want to hear this, but there’s a good chance that Zion Nelson, by the time he leave here, can be one of the the best OL to come out miami post Coker era. I know I know... he looks bad out there right now, but when you consider how he went from weighing 235 to 285 and forced to basically learn all the tools to play LT in such a short period.... He’s been quite serviceable. He has held his own against defenders like Zuniga while going through growing pains. And on a terrible Miami line as the one we have... he’s actually not the weakest link. *cough* Gaynor, Donaldson *cough*. If Zion doesn’t make an unbelievable leap his sophomore year, I’ll be shock. Anddddd I’ll eat my words.
 
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Kayone said:
You all may not want to hear this, but there’s a good chance that Zion Nelson, by the time he leave here, can be one of the the best OL to come out miami post Coker era. I know I know... he looks bad out there right now, but when you consider how he went from weighing 235 to 285 and forced to basically learn all the tools to play LT in such a short period.... He’s been quite serviceable. He has held his own against defenders like Zuniga while going through growing pains. And on a terrible Miami line as the one we have... he’s actually not the weakest link. *cough* Gaynor, Scaife *cough*. If Zion doesn’t make an unbelievable leap his sophomore year, I’ll be shock. Anddddd I’ll eat my words.
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"He has held his own against defenders like Zuniga"

Respectfully disagree with that.
He did not hold his own.
 
We have big boys on the OL-- but they move more like cows than they do like bulls....

Holy sh*t they are slow footed and stumbly....

Just watch the replays of them getting out-twitched on the snaps... normally OL have the snap count advantage over the D.

But our guys seem to take split second longer to get out of their stance to protect the line. And when the pass rush comes round- they just absolutely don't have the foot speed to keep up and get BLOWN past for all the sacks we've been watching all season...

These are not correctable.... it's as simple as a lack of athletic ability.

We have sucky OL athletes.

Only new OL athletes with inherent size, speed and power can fix this problem....

That comes down to recruiting and portal luck...

And 2-3 more years.... ouch
 
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Kayone said:
He took over 45 snaps against Zuniga, which his first bat at LT on the collegiate level, and allowed 2 sacks. It wasn’t the best, but He did get Zuniga in a few plays.
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2 sacks and many more pressures. Thats not what I would consider holding your own. Regardless I hope you are right about his future. I really do.
Im just way more sceptical about him making the giant leap he will need to make to be serviceable.
 
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Very young group and its inexperience shows........
I think the OC is holding them back as well i some of his play calling........
I thought they started making some strides in the past 2 games ......first drive vs Virginia was excellent after that OC made some terrible play calls in manageable Down and Distance situation.......Running Speed Option into the boundary on 3rd and 2 :oops::oops::oops:....WTF...he had some other head scratchers as well.......Deep out was there all nite and he did not take it till the 4th quarter......
I thought in the 4th Q the Oline played really well in Run and Pass offense ......i think we need to Run the ball more and i think Deejay needs to touch it more i really think he will break some more runs if he gets some more touches.......
I would like to see us take a little wider split than we do.....i think this would give us better blocking angles........
I also though that we did a pretty good job in our Pass pro and actually thought Nkosi should have hit a couple of the throws he missed.........Osborne 2x and Pope 1x........
I would also like to see the Oline come off the ball quicker and harder and attack the defender in more of a Power O look and use a Double Down at the POA......i don't feel we do as good with slow developing pulling plays because i think we lose at the LOS.......
Overall it is so hard to grade these guys because we are so young up front........2 freshmen 2 sophomores and 1 junior........
I will say the OC is part of the problem because the biggest failure is our DD in game situations .....1 we are NOT winning 1st down 2 when we win 1st down we lose 2nd down which 3 kills us on 3rd down because we are looking at 3rd 8 or longer..........
What we did in the 4th Quarter vs Virginia was really good and very efficient and if you rewind and watch we did a Great job on 1st 2nd and 3rd down..........Now one play in particular which explains what i am saying is the 3rd down scramble by Perry for the TD.....if you rewind and watch our Oline did a excellent job in Pass pro but the Play call was absolute Horse **** ......Motion Harley in the Back field WHY.......he runs the arrow to the end zone Covered and he stays covered but No one was fooled Pope is in tight to the Right he runs a shallow cross........Osborne is in the Slot to the Left and Mallory was Pro RT.......the patterns were absolute DOGG****T .....there was NO Rub NO pick both slot WRs ran shallow crosses .....nothing in the back of the end zone........OLine great job .....OC ......terrible job.......
 
305to954 said:
I like gaynor..scaife is only a soph..Donaldson is better and imo is all confidence caliber IF the pieces around him were better (Zion)
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Watch Donaldson film of him being pushed around and standing still. He also makes some good plays and if interested can be very good at blocking the 2nd level. IMO his issue is not taking S&C and nutrition serisously as well as not playing hard every play. Baxa has taken a lot of heat for his missed extra point againt UNC. But watch the film and you will see Donaldson not caring and being pushed backwards to his fat butt by the guy that blocked the kick.
 
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