[Goose]

We have the talent at offensive line positions to be good, if not dominant next year (depending on what Herbig does).

Do we? No matter how highly rated these guys were out of high school, they have yet to put it together on the field. We have had better recruiting classes on the OL as the program's reputation has grown. We get more highly rated guys. However, it has not led to an increase in performance, in fact quite the opposite. I wonder if there is a problem in who we recruit? We seemed to do better with "nasty" 3 stars than we are doing now. Then again, the sample size is small, and certainly I don't know all the behind-the-door conversations going on in the coaching staff. Furthermore, the conference has changed, in that people know what we are trying to do and prepare to defend it. That wasn't so true five years ago. I am however suggesting we should question our assumptions.

 You can’t do anything  about injuries, but the problems with not having enough recruited scholarship offensive linemen in the younger classes is a problem we will (unless we are very lucky with injuries next year) be facing for a couple years.

The biggest question mark is player development.  Herbig, even when not injured, was not as dominant as he was last year.  Little (again, even when not injured) did not take the next step this year, and at times regressed.  Hall plateaued, and made some boneheaded mistakes that a senior should not be making.  Left guard has been a turnstile for us, and nobody has really emerged there.

Very true, and I for one have no idea why we didn't get somewhat better just from experience. It did appear that there was lots of player position shuffling going on in the spring, which maybe didn't help. However, that didn't apply to Hall, Herbig, or Little. (During the season we had to move Herbig due to other players being injured, as I recall).

The only thing I would say is that just because we the fans don’t understand why the offensive line has been problematic this year doesn’t mean the coaches can’t figure it out.

I would be much more confident that the coaches could figure it out if we had started the year throwing the ball as much as we did at the end of the year. It would appear that the coaching staff thought we could actually run the ball, at least for the first three games. Many here have beat on Shaw for being stubborn, but it appears to me more that he just didn't expect us to be so bad on the ground. He thought the bad results were  flukes that would reverse themselves if we kept at it. It took a while for him to decide that no, we were that bad and we weren't going to suddenly revert to "normal". So far, I see no evidence the coaches have figured out why we are that bad. They apparently did not expect us to be. Not that I envy them the task, as I have no idea myself!

Two years ago, the offensive line struggled mightily pass blocking.  This year, the one bright spot for the offensive line was pass blocking.  In fact, CTCard’s theory is that the coaching staff was so concerned about our atrocious pass blocking that they made it a point of emphasis, at the expense of good run blocking.  That suggests that it is a fixable problem, if one places more emphasis on run blocking.

Not if they then forget how to pass block. With the talent we (think) we have, we should not have to totally re-learn how to run/pass block every year. Yes, probably they got more passing reps than usual during the season, but we are talking 60-40, not 90-10. I just don't believe that emphasis on pass blocking should suddenly mean you forgot how to run block. Hall has had five years to learn it. Even Little had one year to learn run blocking (in games, not just practice). So, while that may be a factor, I can't see how it can be an explanation.

[Goose]

We have the talent at offensive line positions to be good, if not dominant next year (depending on what Herbig does).

Do we? No matter how highly rated these guys were out of high school, they have yet to put it together on the field. We have had better recruiting classes on the OL as the program's reputation has grown. We get more highly rated guys. However, it has not led to an increase in performance, in fact quite the opposite. I wonder if there is a problem in who we recruit? We seemed to do better with "nasty" 3 stars than we are doing now. Then again, the sample size is small, and certainly I don't know all the behind-the-door conversations going on in the coaching staff. Furthermore, the conference has changed, in that people know what we are trying to do and prepare to defend it. That wasn't so true five years ago. I am however suggesting we should question our assumptions.

 You can’t do anything  about injuries, but the problems with not having enough recruited scholarship offensive linemen in the younger classes is a problem we will (unless we are very lucky with injuries next year) be facing for a couple years.

The biggest question mark is player development.  Herbig, even when not injured, was not as dominant as he was last year.  Little (again, even when not injured) did not take the next step this year, and at times regressed.  Hall plateaued, and made some boneheaded mistakes that a senior should not be making.  Left guard has been a turnstile for us, and nobody has really emerged there.

Very true, and I for one have no idea why we didn't get somewhat better just from experience. It did appear that there was lots of player position shuffling going on in the spring, which maybe didn't help. However, that didn't apply to Hall, Herbig, or Little. (During the season we had to move Herbig due to other players being injured, as I recall).

The only thing I would say is that just because we the fans don’t understand why the offensive line has been problematic this year doesn’t mean the coaches can’t figure it out.

I would be much more confident that the coaches could figure it out if we had started the year throwing the ball as much as we did at the end of the year. It would appear that the coaching staff thought we could actually run the ball, at least for the first three games. Many here have beat on Shaw for being stubborn, but it appears to me more that he just didn't expect us to be so bad on the ground. He thought the bad results were  flukes that would reverse themselves if we kept at it. It took a while for him to decide that no, we were that bad and we weren't going to suddenly revert to "normal". So far, I see no evidence the coaches have figured out why we are that bad. They apparently did not expect us to be. Not that I envy them the task, as I have no idea myself!

Two years ago, the offensive line struggled mightily pass blocking.  This year, the one bright spot for the offensive line was pass blocking.  In fact, CTCard’s theory is that the coaching staff was so concerned about our atrocious pass blocking that they made it a point of emphasis, at the expense of good run blocking.  That suggests that it is a fixable problem, if one places more emphasis on run blocking.

Not if they then forget how to pass block. With the talent we (think) we have, we should not have to totally re-learn how to run/pass block every year. Yes, probably they got more passing reps than usual during the season, but we are talking 60-40, not 90-10. I just don't believe that emphasis on pass blocking should suddenly mean you forgot how to run block. Hall has had five years to learn it. Even Little had one year to learn run blocking (in games, not just practice). So, while that may be a factor, I can't see how it can be an explanation.