O Line

[Long Island]

Just saying I expect a little more from the online gurus. Would hate for this to be the reason we get off the rails. Hard to believe they were blindsided by having this bad of guard play.

 

[Brains]

My big question for this team is, how does a Cristobal/Mirabal team in the NIL era miss so bad on the O Line.

The rest of the offense is so good it covers it up to some degree but I can’t help but think this is gonna sink this ship at some point.

The sinking ship is your stay on this site.

 

[futurecane]

OL, OTOH, was a miss in the portal imo. Outside of Sisi and Samson, the past 3-4 HS recruiting classes have been a question mark. Lot of duds and it's becoming a depth concern this year. Many of us were clamoring for another portal depth piece or 2 but we went elsewhere.

Mirabal is a great coach, but as you mentioned the past 3-4 years of OL classes have been filled with duds.

 

[Arehel]

Were folks saying this at the beginning of the year? Secondary from a personnel perspective has been fine. Injuries have killed us.

OL, OTOH, was a miss in the portal imo. Outside of Sisi and Samson, the past 3-4 HS recruiting classes have been a question mark. Lot of duds and it's becoming a depth concern this year. Many of us were clamoring for another portal depth piece or 2 but we went elsewhere.

Recruiting I'm sure is a fun time.

It's not easy getting stud after stud for the OL every year after pulling Cooper, Okunlola, McCoy, Cici, and pretty much starting.
So there wasn't that much room for a stud OL to come in here and get early ish playing time, while also not having the best on-field product prior to Cam Ward, which is where all the above players came from and the current starters are from (outside of our Guards). The past two classes have seen the fruits of the success. I expect this to be the worst OL moving forward, and it isn't too bad.

 

[Silentobserver]

One element lost in this discussion is roster management, and more specifically allocation of funds.

The coaches banked on their ability to develop personnel who were already in the building (part of that personnel is a heavy investment in a 5* frosh - he didn't meet the lofty expectations placed upon him as an 18 year old but he isn't a bust either), and they also banked that many issues (if they emerged) could be solved with a significant investment in the most critical position on the field...Welcome Mr. Mensah.

Prior to Max's injury, the OL was turning the corner and gelling. It's unfortunate that happened, and the staff had to pivot, but that's their job.

OL has been frustrating sure if you're comparing it to the best OL in America of the last two seasons (Mirabel and Cristobal had everything to do with that), but its been more than serviceable. The OL is also good enough to get us to where we want to be.

 

[BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati]

Dear OP

Thank you for taking the time to start yet another thread chastising the OL. Your keen insight and eye for detail, combined with your pessimism is exactly what’s been missing from this forum and the OL in general. Excellent way to pop your cherry on CiS.

Sincerely.

No one.

 

[423Hurricane]

Dear OP

Thank you for taking the time to start yet another thread chastising the OL. Your keen insight and eye for detail, combined with your pessimism is exactly what’s been missing from this forum and the OL in general. Excellent way to pop your cherry on CiS.

Sincerely.

No one.

Winning has brought out many brilliant “lurkers” and porsters that have been dormant for years.

 

[BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati]

Dear OP

Thank you for taking the time to start yet another thread chastising the OL. Your keen insight and eye for detail, combined with your pessimism is exactly what’s been missing from this forum and the OL in general. Excellent way to pop your cherry on CiS.

Sincerely.

No one.

Winning has brought out many brilliant “lurkers” and posters that have been dormant for years.

We are averaging 49 points a game. F it. The O line blows.

 

[AUcane]

Recruiting I'm sure is a fun time.

It's not easy getting stud after stud for the OL every year after pulling Cooper, Okunlola, McCoy, Cici, and pretty much starting.
So there wasn't that much room for a stud OL to come in here and get early ish playing time, while also not having the best on-field product prior to Cam Ward, which is where all the above players came from and the current starters are from (outside of our Guards). The past two classes have seen the fruits of the success. I expect this to be the worst OL moving forward, and it isn't too bad.

Don't need stud after stud. You need guys that can be in a rotation and ideally eventually start.

 

[Long Island]

Dear OP

Thank you for taking the time to start yet another thread chastising the OL. Your keen insight and eye for detail, combined with your pessimism is exactly what’s been missing from this forum and the OL in general. Excellent way to pop your cherry on CiS.

Sincerely.

No one.

Winning has brought out many brilliant “lurkers” and posters that have been dormant for years.

We are averaging 49 points a game. F it. The O line blows.

Sorry, my goal isn’t beating BC and Pitt. Anyone who says the line is fine is delusional. My bad for thinking these OL coaches/recruiters should have it in better shape than it is.

 

[BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati]

Sorry, my goal isn’t beating BC and Pitt. Anyone who says the line is fine is delusional. My bad for thinking these OL coaches/recruiters should have it in better shape than it is.

Dear Lawn Guyland.

We currently have roughly 2.4 million posts (and counting) regarding our O line. These posts are mainly in threads created over the last six weeks, with several new ones popping up regularly, almost daily. We did not need yet another thread (by a first time porster) about the O line. It's why I wrote what I wrote. I also noticed that I'm not the only one giving you pushback.
The O line is not elite. The offense is though. Fucc it, let's blow it all up.

Also, since you so keenly spotted the deficiency, what's your realistic solution to fix this problem so we beat more than BC and Pitt?

Sincerely

BDDFC

 

[DTP]

It would be way less disappointing if we weren’t constantly told how great our head coach and OL coach are at developing lines. How did those guys look at the group we’re trotting out every Saturday and say “nah, we don’t need any portal help”.?

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

Talent is spread out these days.

I can make the argument we have the best QB, RBs, WRs, DL, and secondary (when healthy) in the country. That costs a lot of money. That costs a lot of resources. It also takes incredible recruiting and a bit of luck to be able to pull so many groups together like that.

We don't have the best OL in the country, and that's OK. You don't need every single unit you have to be the very best in the country to win a championship. If your QB is a Heisman Finalist, your WR1 is a Heisman Finalist, you have NFL talent at your other WR spots and across your backfield, you just need a decent line to produce fireworks, which we're doing.

Let's put it this way.....it's basically Halloween. Who in the country would you trade rosters with, straight up? I'll give you your pick of any roster in America. You giving away this one for another one?

Spoiler alert: I'm not.

 

[404Usernamenotfound]

People being dramatic af. We haven’t even missed on the OL. Who’s OL in the ACC would you take over Miami?

I agree people are dramatic but I think we have e graduated from comparing ourselves to the ACC. The question should be, whose OL in the country would we take?

For me, I think the big whiff was Cantwell. We paid an exorbitant price tag and I think everyone thought he was a day 1 starter like Francis. Instead, he doesn’t sniff the field. That money could have been spent on a portal guy. Cantwell hopefully works out long term but near term his salary is dead cap space

 

[Bipolarcane]

No, the o line is being covered up. Just watch how much pressure Mensah is under and how often we get hit as soon as the rb hits the line. It’s mostly yards after carry that is working. I’d argue the only guy not out of position is Rodriguez. And still having the number 1 offense only means how good we could be if we had a better line.

He takes a lot of sacks he doesn’t have to by not taking the easy quick opening routes

Could have hit Lofton down the seam in one of those sacks. But you have to take the good with the bad he is balling!

 

[CanesNation26]

One element lost in this discussion is roster management, and more specifically allocation of funds.

The coaches banked on their ability to develop personnel who were already in the building (part of that personnel is a heavy investment in a 5* frosh - he didn't meet the lofty expectations placed upon him as an 18 year old but he isn't a bust either), and they also banked that many issues (if they emerged) could be solved with a significant investment in the most critical position on the field...Welcome Mr. Mensah.

Prior to Max's injury, the OL was turning the corner and gelling. It's unfortunate that happened, and the staff had to pivot, but that's their job.

OL has been frustrating sure if you're comparing it to the best OL in America of the last two seasons (Mirabel and Cristobal had everything to do with that), but its been more than serviceable. The OL is also good enough to get us to where we want to be.

This is right. Another aspect of roster and budget management is how much money we spend, for better or worse, retaining players. I think Mario believes that loyalty to players and roster continuity help build the right culture.

And I get that. But this offseason, I wouldn’t have been upset if we let a corner and a running back go (say O’Connor and Pringle) and used that money to pursue an experienced OL in the portal.

Of course, fast-forward to now, and thank God we kept O’Connor. Pringle, I’m not so sure about. These are extremely difficult decisions, and it’s easy to judge with the benefit of hindsight.

I also think we may have over-invested in our ’27 high school OL class when we should have prioritized bringing in one or two proven, older offensive linemen from the portal.

 

[BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati]

People being dramatic af. We haven’t even missed on the OL. Who’s OL in the ACC would you take over Miami?

I agree people are dramatic but I think we have e graduated from comparing ourselves to the ACC. The question should be, whose OL in the country would we take?

For me, I think the big whiff was Cantwell. We paid an exorbitant price tag and I think everyone thought he was a day 1 starter like Francis. Instead, he doesn’t sniff the field. That money could have been spent on a portal guy. Cantwell hopefully works out long term but near term his salary is dead cap space

Which portal guy?

How much did your portal guy get paid? How does that compare to what Cantwell receives?

I don’t have answers for any of those questions because I don’t think anyone outside of Seaton was available - and we passed. I also am not intimately acquainted with the accounting and NIL allotment at UM. Are you?

 

[Colombie]

Lol miss so bad.
Says MR. 5 porsts

I love a good troll.

 

[BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati]

One element lost in this discussion is roster management, and more specifically allocation of funds.

The coaches banked on their ability to develop personnel who were already in the building (part of that personnel is a heavy investment in a 5* frosh - he didn't meet the lofty expectations placed upon him as an 18 year old but he isn't a bust either), and they also banked that many issues (if they emerged) could be solved with a significant investment in the most critical position on the field...Welcome Mr. Mensah.

Prior to Max's injury, the OL was turning the corner and gelling. It's unfortunate that happened, and the staff had to pivot, but that's their job.

OL has been frustrating sure if you're comparing it to the best OL in America of the last two seasons (Mirabel and Cristobal had everything to do with that), but its been more than serviceable. The OL is also good enough to get us to where we want to be.

This is right. Another aspect of roster and budget management is how much money we spend, for better or worse, retaining players. I think Mario believes that loyalty to players and roster continuity help build the right culture.

And I get that. But this offseason, I wouldn’t have been upset if we let a corner and a running back go (say O’Connor and Pringle) and used that money to pursue an experienced OL in the portal.

Of course, fast-forward to now, and thank God we kept O’Connor. Pringle, I’m not so sure about. These are extremely difficult decisions, and it’s easy to judge with the benefit of hindsight.

I also think we may have over-invested in our ’27 high school OL class when we should have prioritized bringing in one or two proven, older offensive linemen from the portal.

Who are these one or two proven, older offensive linemen we should’ve brought in? Cline and Meriweather meet those qualifiers. We passed on Seaton. Who else was available that I’m missing?

 

[Memnon]

Mostly ego.

They thought they could just go with a bunch of guys they recruited out of HS to supplement for the players they lost to the NFL & didn't invest in any veteran OL's from the Portal.

Because of the Portal, most teams around the country have good pass rushers, even if their overall Defense is bad, they will still have a few DL's who can get after the QB. So, what's happened is even though the Offense is dominating because of Mensah & Toney, we still will give up a few sacks here & there because the OL as a collective unit struggles with Speed rushers.

They anticipated for multiple TF's to be ready to play, specifically at the Tackle spots & none of them were ready at all.

Then Mirabal has forced this SJ experiment because they really like his toughness, despite his physical limitations.

But the fact we still have such a juggernaut of an Offense inspite of the fact there's some holes in the protection schemes, just highlights how good our OC+QB+WR trio is.

I don’t think it will be a mitigating issue that prevents us from winning the Natty. But it definitely needs to be addressed this offseason. It would be wise to go get some OL's out the Portal this January, if not for anything more than just insurance depth.