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Upper class Oline depth issues again…..Why?
- Thread starter I.M.O.#90-C.C.
- Start date
SACCAT66 said:
I've been found out. I don't even own a Lake House, and I sure as hell don't even know the "Mac Daddy". I was just asking about a Butte kid's familial strength. Look, I already know the color of his collar and the amount of "it" he leaves on the field each game. Those are known quantities when talking about Butte Tough kids. What we really need to know is the strength of the family and if he does the intangible things. Is he a student of the Game? Does he play with a chip on his shoulder? Does he ride for the name on the front of the jersey or the one on the back? I'll be sold if he's hard-nosed or "wiry". Bonus points for both.
All I have to say ref this thread and Germer is ----welcome to the club. I've been alone for far too long.
I have been told this a few times and I tend to believe it, mostly from experience, is that there might be a greater variance between what is good in highschool to what is good in college for OL save DB and QB. I do think it is relatively easy to miss on OL types, and for the last decade Montana has missed on way too many.
Part of it in recent years is the absolute dearth of Montana high school OL prospects who are a lot easier to get eyes on and see in camps, and the movement to skill specific systems that promote particular skill sets that are harder to identify in High School kids. Vastly harder to find athletic OL guys who play well in space and can zone block that finding road grader types who down/down/kick for 40 to 50 snaps. Mike Leach and others had gone to recruiting ex-TE's and other big body types they could put weight on. I think that is why you've seen so many UM guys come in as TE's or LB's or whatever (in the case of Cook it was former HS QB) and eventually transition to OL. That isn't to say you can't go out and find guys who fit your system, because you can. Montana hasn't done a great job at identifying those kids, get them on campus and keeping them here.
You can place the blame on Germer if you want, maybe some of it is merited. The growth issue is a concern, but the stark reality is that MOST Div 1 FCS schools have maybe at best 6 guys on the OL at any given time that might be considered at league average or above average. UM has had best in the past 10 years 1 or 2 guys on the OL that would qualify as league average and zero that would qualify as above replacement players. They haven't recruited well, other players have had a host of health problems and others just frankly got on campus and didn't pan out. The latter you can place at whomever is the OL guy, but I do place some blame on the scheme. One of the drawbacks of multiple offenses is that you have to have a OL scheme that is executable. At times last year a simple wrinkle in the defense led to absurd amounts of run through. Montana isn't a solidly inside or stretch zone team as many RPO offenses are, they run a ton of man run concepts, zone, and then passing series that is fairly eclectic as well. They ask A LOT of the OL at the UM and in recent years there just haven't been that many kids who could come in immediately at get it done. At some point either you have to start getting the guys who can execute it, or create a system that the players you do have can.
I have sort of gotten the impression that some of the Freshmen OL guys they really really like and could develop into something special. This is something that we've heard a ton in recent years, but few of them have developed into the all-conference type stud. Been a decade since that last happened, and if the Griz are going to be successful this year, they are going to have to lean on some of those covid Freshman and Sophomore OL guys they have.
As Bobby had noted multiple times since November, this recruiting class was always going to be heavy on transfers at key positions because of the imbalance. I think it is really likely they'll try to add another piece or two on the OL after spring into the summer as the portal gets robust again with guys looking for a chance to come in and get some PT.
Part of it in recent years is the absolute dearth of Montana high school OL prospects who are a lot easier to get eyes on and see in camps, and the movement to skill specific systems that promote particular skill sets that are harder to identify in High School kids. Vastly harder to find athletic OL guys who play well in space and can zone block that finding road grader types who down/down/kick for 40 to 50 snaps. Mike Leach and others had gone to recruiting ex-TE's and other big body types they could put weight on. I think that is why you've seen so many UM guys come in as TE's or LB's or whatever (in the case of Cook it was former HS QB) and eventually transition to OL. That isn't to say you can't go out and find guys who fit your system, because you can. Montana hasn't done a great job at identifying those kids, get them on campus and keeping them here.
You can place the blame on Germer if you want, maybe some of it is merited. The growth issue is a concern, but the stark reality is that MOST Div 1 FCS schools have maybe at best 6 guys on the OL at any given time that might be considered at league average or above average. UM has had best in the past 10 years 1 or 2 guys on the OL that would qualify as league average and zero that would qualify as above replacement players. They haven't recruited well, other players have had a host of health problems and others just frankly got on campus and didn't pan out. The latter you can place at whomever is the OL guy, but I do place some blame on the scheme. One of the drawbacks of multiple offenses is that you have to have a OL scheme that is executable. At times last year a simple wrinkle in the defense led to absurd amounts of run through. Montana isn't a solidly inside or stretch zone team as many RPO offenses are, they run a ton of man run concepts, zone, and then passing series that is fairly eclectic as well. They ask A LOT of the OL at the UM and in recent years there just haven't been that many kids who could come in immediately at get it done. At some point either you have to start getting the guys who can execute it, or create a system that the players you do have can.
I have sort of gotten the impression that some of the Freshmen OL guys they really really like and could develop into something special. This is something that we've heard a ton in recent years, but few of them have developed into the all-conference type stud. Been a decade since that last happened, and if the Griz are going to be successful this year, they are going to have to lean on some of those covid Freshman and Sophomore OL guys they have.
As Bobby had noted multiple times since November, this recruiting class was always going to be heavy on transfers at key positions because of the imbalance. I think it is really likely they'll try to add another piece or two on the OL after spring into the summer as the portal gets robust again with guys looking for a chance to come in and get some PT.
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