[BostonCard]

[quote author=OutsiderFan link=topic=17453.msg201776#msg201776 date=1506019043]
Someone please convince me why this makes sense...

Play Walker Little at RT against Rice with first unit.
Play him as an extra OL against U$C.
Start him at LT against SDSU.

Well, nobody other than the coaches can tell you exactly what they were thinking, and they won't do so unless you are actually a drinking buddy of theirs. But, it's not too hard to guess the likely thought process.

The choices aren't specifically about where to put Little so much as who will be in our starting OL. And there was only one change, between $C and SDSU. Little played a single series with the starters vs Rice, the fifth of the game (and the only one that didn't end with points, though I don't think that had anything to do with Little). By that point, the outcome was not in doubt, and the coaches were clearly experimenting to see how Little would do under fire. Against $C the game was always in doubt (well, at least marginally, until $C scored their final TD), so there was no experimenting.

It seems obvious that in reviewing the $C game tapes, the coaches were not happy with Fanaika. Presumably, between what they had seen in practice and the first two games, they thought Little was ready to step in - or at least was a better option than keeping Fanaika. Since they were replacing a guard with a tackle, a lot of shuffling had to take place. However, there are really only two interesting decisions after the primary one to do the swap. Those were that they apparently think Herbig is more comfortable than Bright switching over to the right side, and that they didn't want to swap sides with Hall so that Little went to the left side.
The only one of those two side switches that kind of surprises me is Herbig to RG to accommodate Bright at LG (not necessarily concerned, but surprised).
[/quote]

I think that analysis makes the most sense out of what seemed to be a somewhat chaotic change.  The problem was at guard, and unfortunately our solutions all play tackle.  I am somewhat hopeful that over the long run, this will work out.  I'm not sure Little is better at LT than Bright at this time, but he's the first true freshman left tackle since Kirk Chambers (something that eventual NFL players Kyle Murphy, Andrus Peat, and Jonathan Martin, and David Yankey never accomplished), and was called on to step into the role ahead of the more experienced Hamilton, so Shaw definitely believes in him.  Bright reminds me a bit of Yankey, who played both guard and tackle at Stanford (I think Bright is about 1 inch shorter and 10 lbs lighter, though), and I think he can succeed on the inside.

I wonder if the move of Bright from L tackle to L guard instead of R guard was meant to prevent too many things from switching at once.  I'm not sure if it is better to switch a lot of things for one player, or switch fewer things to more players.  Also, with Bright on the left side, I think he can help mentor Little and give some quick pointers if he gets in trouble.

One thing worth noting; the coaches did a lot of positional gymnastics when in theory they could have tried Tucker in at R guard in place of Fanaika.

BC

[BostonCard]

[quote author=OutsiderFan link=topic=17453.msg201776#msg201776 date=1506019043]
Someone please convince me why this makes sense...

Play Walker Little at RT against Rice with first unit.
Play him as an extra OL against U$C.
Start him at LT against SDSU.

Well, nobody other than the coaches can tell you exactly what they were thinking, and they won't do so unless you are actually a drinking buddy of theirs. But, it's not too hard to guess the likely thought process.

The choices aren't specifically about where to put Little so much as who will be in our starting OL. And there was only one change, between $C and SDSU. Little played a single series with the starters vs Rice, the fifth of the game (and the only one that didn't end with points, though I don't think that had anything to do with Little). By that point, the outcome was not in doubt, and the coaches were clearly experimenting to see how Little would do under fire. Against $C the game was always in doubt (well, at least marginally, until $C scored their final TD), so there was no experimenting.

It seems obvious that in reviewing the $C game tapes, the coaches were not happy with Fanaika. Presumably, between what they had seen in practice and the first two games, they thought Little was ready to step in - or at least was a better option than keeping Fanaika. Since they were replacing a guard with a tackle, a lot of shuffling had to take place. However, there are really only two interesting decisions after the primary one to do the swap. Those were that they apparently think Herbig is more comfortable than Bright switching over to the right side, and that they didn't want to swap sides with Hall so that Little went to the left side.
The only one of those two side switches that kind of surprises me is Herbig to RG to accommodate Bright at LG (not necessarily concerned, but surprised).
[/quote]

I think that analysis makes the most sense out of what seemed to be a somewhat chaotic change.  The problem was at guard, and unfortunately our solutions all play tackle.  I am somewhat hopeful that over the long run, this will work out.  I'm not sure Little is better at LT than Bright at this time, but he's the first true freshman left tackle since Kirk Chambers (something that eventual NFL players Kyle Murphy, Andrus Peat, and Jonathan Martin, and David Yankey never accomplished), and was called on to step into the role ahead of the more experienced Hamilton, so Shaw definitely believes in him.  Bright reminds me a bit of Yankey, who played both guard and tackle at Stanford (I think Bright is about 1 inch shorter and 10 lbs lighter, though), and I think he can succeed on the inside.

I wonder if the move of Bright from L tackle to L guard instead of R guard was meant to prevent too many things from switching at once.  I'm not sure if it is better to switch a lot of things for one player, or switch fewer things to more players.  Also, with Bright on the left side, I think he can help mentor Little and give some quick pointers if he gets in trouble.

One thing worth noting; the coaches did a lot of positional gymnastics when in theory they could have tried Tucker in at R guard in place of Fanaika.

BC