[Goose]

Everything is relative, right?  In Tucker's sophomore year he started next to Caspers, Shuler, Garnett, and Murphy, all of whom were returning starters, albeit Murphy switching sides.  The next year I think only Caspers came back.  I'd say Tucker had a far easier time his sophomore year with four proven guys next to him.  One could argue his contribution (positive or negative) was less noticeable as a soph, but much more evident as a junior.

I have wondered about that myself. Was he "objectively worse" (whatever that means) in 2016, or was it just hidden in 2015? I would tend to argue that on a line where he was the "weak link" (2015) he would have been identified as such and mercilessly exploited. That didn't happen. If you can't pass protect, you would think that would show up even more if there were four other guys who could. I wonder to what degree the performance difference is psychological. The 2015 line thought it was good, so it was. The 2016 line wasn't sure, so it wasn't. Hard to attribute Tucker's situations to his companions though.

[Goose]

Everything is relative, right?  In Tucker's sophomore year he started next to Caspers, Shuler, Garnett, and Murphy, all of whom were returning starters, albeit Murphy switching sides.  The next year I think only Caspers came back.  I'd say Tucker had a far easier time his sophomore year with four proven guys next to him.  One could argue his contribution (positive or negative) was less noticeable as a soph, but much more evident as a junior.

I have wondered about that myself. Was he "objectively worse" (whatever that means) in 2016, or was it just hidden in 2015? I would tend to argue that on a line where he was the "weak link" (2015) he would have been identified as such and mercilessly exploited. That didn't happen. If you can't pass protect, you would think that would show up even more if there were four other guys who could. I wonder to what degree the performance difference is psychological. The 2015 line thought it was good, so it was. The 2016 line wasn't sure, so it wasn't. Hard to attribute Tucker's situations to his companions though.