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Wisconsin Linemen

Every player in the Wisconsin o line two deep took a red shirt year. None are Redshirt Freshman. The line has some youngsters on the left side but by youngster I mean RS SO.

In contrast, our oldest lineman is the same age as their youngest line man. All of their lineman have had at least two full years in a college S&C program. While 3/5ths of our line has had one full year or less.

The importance of age and experience on the o line can not be understated. It is asinine to expect this o line to perform at a high level as currently constituted and also not Enos or Manny's fault that we are in this predicament. The performance of the o line can only be graded TBD or INC. Donaldson graded out upper echelon against CMU. He made some mistakes but he was good according to PFF.

Next year we should be better and in two years poor performance should not be tolerated and the coaches should be held accountable if we are performing poorly but, this year is not the year to blame coaches for how the o line plays.
 
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DMoney said:
It is very difficult to recruit linemen from the Midwest because the good ones go to Midwest schools. Miami is not a cultural fit for them.

Obviously I would love to have Wisconsin’s OL but it’s not realistic. We should focus on city kids.

And South Florida OL haven’t been our issue. Those are the guys that usually play well for us. We have four South Florida OL from UM starting in the NFL right now. The OL from outside the region have been the busts.

If anything, we need to do a better job recruiting locally. LSU is taking two from down here this season, and the best one is leaning to Florida. There are at least two five-star type OL coming through the pipeline with Tate and Armella. Need to keep them home and develop them.
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Cross Tate off big boy!
 
Paranos said:
Those cheese eating cow tipping farm boys are not leaving the midwest for the big city of Miami. To much culture shock.

Go Canes
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We used to get great players from Wisconsin, in the '50's and '60's, and I mean great. Back then the northern working class kids loved the culture shock. Many had never seen the ocean before.

Legendary UM coach Walt Kichefski was from Rhinelander WI and later played for Steelers. He came back to UM to coach and recruited Wisconsin and Pennsylvania very well.

Somehow we need to recreate the magic that lured so many northern kids to south Florida.
 
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So of all the big time South Florida OL over the 20-21 classes we’re going to whiff on all of them minus Seymore?
 
GOCANES05 said:
Right now Wisconsin can inflict there will on any team in the country including Buckeyes and Bama , they are like road graders up front slowly pounding one play after the another even when they break a long run nothing changes pure mauling.
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Give me a break. I love that team and its style of play but there are distinct levels in college football and Wisconsin is not that elite freak top tier.

The Wisconsin/Ohio State game almost always unfolds exactly the same way...Wisconsin battles to a slight edge most of the way, before giving way to sheer talent and losing by about a touchdown. I can't count how many times I've seen that, and the games are normally played at Wisconsin or neutral site. The only recent exception was the 59-0 shellacking by Ohio State en route to the national title in 2014.

That team has admirably been addressing its weaknesses and making related gains every season. Decades ago given a different national format everything could have unfolded perfectly for them in a given year, like the Canes in 1983. But not when the ending includes a Big 10 championship game followed by two Final Four games.

If they had this level of team when Russell Wilson was the quarterback for one season...then maybe
 
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We had some great OL in the past. Romberg, Gonzalez, Carey,etc. But we had coaches that were great at Player Development. I’m sure that some of the offensive linemen from past NC teams were not all 4 or 5 star (I realize that the ranking system was not in place back then) but guys like JJ, Erickson, and Butchy were adept at player development. Then we hired Choker, Randy, AG, and now Manny who have no tradition here and no clue. Time will tell if the OL gets better. I’m just hoping that BB can get it done. 🙌🏾
 
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Half of this board wouldn’t give Wisky Oline time to develop. If they were all American as freshmen they’d be labeled jags.

Building a Wisky Oline takes patience. It’s started years ago of beliemina bring in the right kids. Develop and let them age. And it’s still going today. U sign as olinemen you know unless crazy injuries you aren’t having a big role for a few years.
 
Dghustla said:
Half of this board wouldn’t give Wisky Oline time to develop. If they were all American as freshmen they’d be labeled jags.

Building a Wisky Oline takes patience. It’s started years ago of beliemina bring in the right kids. Develop and let them age. And it’s still going today. U sign as olinemen you know unless crazy injuries you aren’t having a big role for a few years.
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O lines take a while to develop especially after our last coach. Teams can mask how bad a line is by play calling enos needs to adjust in the meantime
 
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A big key to Wisconsin’s OL success is their walk-on program.

They have a ton of in-state kids who are good enough to play elsewhere, but they’d rather stay home and walk on for the Badgers.

That allows them to find a few diamonds in the rough.

We don’t have that luxury. We’re an expensive private school with local talent that can’t afford to walk on.

Plus, it’s a different mentality in South Florida.

I think a lot of the kids grow up with a mercenary mentality because they’ve been courted for years to play on various 7 on 7 squads and high schools.

There’s no real loyalty for the crib.

It is what it is.

I think the emphasis on smaller, quicker linemen will eventually pay off.

The big sloths who were 340 lbs in high school rarely seem to work out.

Cleveland Reed already washed out, and Donaldson has been average at best.

Some of the best guys we’ve had over the last 15 years were smaller, then added good weight in college (Chris Myers, Jason Fox, Brandon Linder, etc...).

I don’t know if Barry’s a good teacher, but I at least like the plan.
 
Katzenboyer said:
Good lineman do not come from the Midwest. They are not inherently better in Wisconsin. They are just better-coached.

Our guys picked up a lot of really bad habits during Searels' tenure. It remains to be seen whether Barry is the guy to coach them up, but it won't happen overnight. We'll know more as the season progresses.

But simply saying "hey, let's recruit guys from there!" in order to address the problem is the wrong look. Wisconsin is not recruiting at a better clip along the OL then UM; they're just coaching the guys up better.
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Would you also say South Florida kids are not inherently better at the skill positions?
 
OriginalGatorHater said:
Would you also say South Florida kids are not inherently better at the skill positions?
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I would agree with you there. And re-reading my post, I didn't mean to say "good o-lineman do not come from the Midwest" -- I meant to write "good lineman do not come exclusively from the Midwest."

Right now, the best line in college football is probably Georgia. They don't recruit Midwest kids. Oklahoma's OL is pretty **** awesome too, and those are kids from TX and the plains states. It's more important to identify kids that fit your scheme, develop them for 3-4 years, and unleash them after their bodies have been allowed to develop in the S&C program.

There are articles out there that say there is nothing more important on building a good OL than experience. Wisconsin's line this year is made up of all guys who've been in the program 3-5 years. That's their key to success, IMO; they don't just identify players who fit the profile they want, but they develop them slowly and mold them into the monsters they become.

The Canes, meanwhile, have two true freshman playing, one second year player, and two third years. Zio, Nelson would have redshirted this season, and probably wouldn't have needed to play until his redshirt junior year if he had gone to Wisconsin. Here, he needed to be thrust into a starting position right away, which is why we've seen such major struggles.

It's about developing players. The OL class should never go unaddressed in recruiting, and once we start realizing that (I feel as if Manny has), we'll be a better team for it.
 
DMoney said:
It is very difficult to recruit linemen from the Midwest because the good ones go to Midwest schools. Miami is not a cultural fit for them.

Obviously I would love to have Wisconsin’s OL but it’s not realistic. We should focus on city kids.

And South Florida OL haven’t been our issue. Those are the guys that usually play well for us. We have four South Florida OL from UM starting in the NFL right now. The OL from outside the region have been the busts.

If anything, we need to do a better job recruiting locally. LSU is taking two from down here this season, and the best one is leaning to Florida. There are at least two five-star type OL coming through the pipeline with Tate and Armella. Need to keep them home and develop them.
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And Armella is not coming here.
 
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