Our O line issues aren't complicated to solve...it will just take time!

Lets compare our O line to Wisconsin's O line. Starters are marked with a *. Wisconsin is starting a RSSR, SR, 2 RSJR and a RSSO on a line that last year had two taken in the first round and a back up who is starting in the NFL...that is three NFL starting linemen off the team last year and they still are starting4 players with 3 or more years in the system and program. We are starting 3 SR, a RSSO and a RSFR who are all in their first year in the system. If you look deep, you can see that almost all of Wiscys players had a RS year and none of the current FR on thier roster have played and all should get a RS year. On the MN side we won't know how many FR will get that RS on the line but we do know that we have 8 FR and 4 RSFR on the squad and two of our RSFR (Epping and Gjere) have gotten significant playing time and/or started this year.

In college football...no team that I have ever seen can win or really even be competitive without quality experienced linemen. You can look at MI, MSU, IA, ILL, IN, NE, NW, etc and you will see that we are behind them all. Kill saw this the moment he arrived on campus...why do you think he told us we would suck this year? We will suck again next year too. But we may not suck in year three...and we may be able to grow from there. The one thing that gives me the most hope is that Wiscy's line is all local grown kids...which means if we recruit our own home grown beef and develop it...we can compete in the Big Ten...especially since if we start demonstrating a quality line...we can get RBs to join us from outstate.

78 Havenstein, Rob OL 6-8 345 RS FR Mount Airy, Md.
*70 Zeitler, Kevin OL 6-4 315 SR Waukesha, Wis.
61 Marz, Tyler OL 6-7 280 FR Springfield, Minn.
75 Matthias, Zac OL 6-5 330 RS SO Hemlock, Mich.
71 Ball, Ray OL 6-7 335 FR Columbus, Ohio
*66 Konz, Peter OL 6-5 315 RS JR Neenah, Wis.
79 Groy, Ryan OL 6-5 320 RS SO Middleton, Wis.
64 Burge, Robert OL 6-7 325 RS JR Holmen, Wis.
*58 Wagner, Ricky OL 6-6 320 RS JR West Allis, Wis.
*72 Frederick, Travis OL 6-4 330 RS SO Sharon, Wis.
56 Kodanko, Riki OL 6-9 330 RS FR Green Bay, Wis.
63 Dehn, Casey OL 6-6 335 RS SO Owatonna, Minn.
60 Current, Jake OL 6-3 305 SR Troy, Ohio
73 Lewallen, Dallas OL 6-6 320 RS FR Berlin, Wis.
*67 Oglesby, Josh OL 6-7 330 RS SR Milwaukee, Wis.
65 Coon, Jonathan OL 6-7 315 FR Franklin, Wis.

74 Lenkiewicz, Marek Offensive Lineman 6-5 270 RS FR Tinley Park, Ill. (Victor J. Andrew HS)
71 McAvoy, Kyle Offensive Lineman 6-5 296 FR Bloomington, Ill. (Bloomington HS)
64 Bak, Caleb Offensive Lineman 6-3 296 RS FR Columbia Heights, Minn. (Concordia Academy)
65 Campion, Josh Offensive Lineman 6-5 310 FR Fergus Falls, Minn. (Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy)
75 Michel, Brooks Offensive Lineman 6-7 298 SO Carmel, Ind. (Carmel HS)
*78 Orton, Ryan Offensive Lineman 6-4 290 SR Eden Prairie, Minn. (Eden Prairie)
69 Glickstein, Jacob Offensive Lineman 6-3 270 JR New Berlin, Wis. (Brookfield Central HS)
52 Epping, Zac Offensive Lineman 6-2 297 RS FR Kenosha, Wis. (Tremper HS)
62 Mottla, Zach Offensive Lineman 6-2 290 SO Edina, Minn. (Cretin-Derham Hall)
53 Olson, Tommy Offensive Lineman 6-4 289 FR Mahtomedi, Minn. (Mahtomedi HS)
*58 Olson, Ed Offensive Lineman 6-7 300 SO Mahtomedi, Minn. (Mahtomedi HS)
73 Bjorklund, Joe Offensive Lineman 6-5 281 FR Rosemount, Minn. (Rosemount HS)
77 Bush, Foster Offensive Lineman 6-5 275 FR Menasha, Wis. (Menasha HS)
70 Ferguson, Sean Offensive Lineman 6-6 296 RS FR Philadelphia, Penn. (The Hun School)
63 Christenson, Jon Offensive Lineman 6-4 266 FR Minnetonka, Minn. (Minnetonka)
*76 Gjere, Jimmy Offensive Lineman 6-7 315 RS FR New Brighton, Minn. (Irondale HS)
*68 Bunders, Chris Offensive Lineman 6-3 292 SR Maple Grove, Minn. (Osseo)
*60 Wynn, Ryan Offensive Lineman 6-5 305 SR Plymouth, Minn. (Maple Grove)
66 McAvoy, Luke Offensive Lineman 6-5 281 FR Bloomington, Ill. (Bloomington HS)

excellent post.

Thanks for posting this. After reading this, you are spot on. Most knowledgeable football fans know that success starts with the offensive line. It is the #1 reason why Mason's teams were able to run so effectively. He had experienced linemen who knew how to play his system. I knew our o-line was young, but I never looked at the depth chart in detail. Our roster is ridiculously young. 3SR & 1 JR out of 19 players. A recipe for disaster. This is one area where you can clearly point out that Brew failed this program by now having a steady pipeline of linemen coming into the program.

WHB Brewer said:

Thanks for posting this. After reading this, you are spot on. Most knowledgeable football fans know that success starts with the offensive line. It is the #1 reason why Mason's teams were able to run so effectively. He had experienced linemen who knew how to play his system. I knew our o-line was young, but I never looked at the depth chart in detail. Our roster is ridiculously young. 3SR & 1 JR out of 19 players. A recipe for disaster. This is one area where you can clearly point out that Brew failed this program by now having a steady pipeline of linemen coming into the program.

Click to expand...

Multiply this with the DL depth and youth and it is a recipe for disaster.

It seems amazing that Brewer's "GREAT" recruiting class of 2008 had no offensive linemen.

GMan said:

It seems amazing that Brewer's "GREAT" recruiting class of 2008 had no offensive linemen.

Click to expand...

yes, because Brew was hired to recruit more "athletes". Not lineman like Mason, or football players like Kill... ATHLETES. Didn't even have to coach them (clearly), just recruit them.