[Goose]

Having a top QB covers up a lot of issues. Plus I tend to think our issues are more due to injury than most want to admit. The turnover next year will be real, but if Herbig comes back and Sarrell returns from injury then we have a core of Little-Herbig-Sarrell that's going to be better than what most schools bring back. Of course there are some questions about everything, but every team out there has questions.

I really have no calibration on how much of our problems on the OL are due to injury. Injuries are sometimes a double whammy, in that you can't execute as effectively in the game due to the injury and you also can't practice as much, so you make more mental mistakes. That said, we have problems that are, IMHO, too big to be just injuries. We have, and have had since 2016, way too many cases of linemen not blocking anybody on a play. I will forever remember one of the last few plays of the 2017 WSU game when the right tackle is just standing there while a defender runs right by him on the inside. Seconds later, KJ is down and the tackle is still just standing there. It is one thing to get beat, but it is another to not even attempt to do anything. While one could argue some of these mistakes are caused by the player thinking he has a different assignment, if there is no other defender there, or if there is no back there to block the inside rush, you better do it or nothing else will matter.

There is something else going on here. So, the idea that this can be "fixed" is questionable unless/until somebody knows the root cause of the problem(s). I for sure don't, and I haven't heard anybody here articulate any explanation of these failures to engage that makes sense to me. It is one thing when two players block the same guy by mistake. That is bad but you can see how that happens and address it.  It is another thing when some player blocks nobody.

[Goose]

Having a top QB covers up a lot of issues. Plus I tend to think our issues are more due to injury than most want to admit. The turnover next year will be real, but if Herbig comes back and Sarrell returns from injury then we have a core of Little-Herbig-Sarrell that's going to be better than what most schools bring back. Of course there are some questions about everything, but every team out there has questions.

I really have no calibration on how much of our problems on the OL are due to injury. Injuries are sometimes a double whammy, in that you can't execute as effectively in the game due to the injury and you also can't practice as much, so you make more mental mistakes. That said, we have problems that are, IMHO, too big to be just injuries. We have, and have had since 2016, way too many cases of linemen not blocking anybody on a play. I will forever remember one of the last few plays of the 2017 WSU game when the right tackle is just standing there while a defender runs right by him on the inside. Seconds later, KJ is down and the tackle is still just standing there. It is one thing to get beat, but it is another to not even attempt to do anything. While one could argue some of these mistakes are caused by the player thinking he has a different assignment, if there is no other defender there, or if there is no back there to block the inside rush, you better do it or nothing else will matter.

There is something else going on here. So, the idea that this can be "fixed" is questionable unless/until somebody knows the root cause of the problem(s). I for sure don't, and I haven't heard anybody here articulate any explanation of these failures to engage that makes sense to me. It is one thing when two players block the same guy by mistake. That is bad but you can see how that happens and address it.  It is another thing when some player blocks nobody.