Tommy Olson

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gophervet

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I listened to the game on the radio yesterday so I can't really judge, but it seemed like whenever we did get positive rushing yards it was behind Tommy Olson and his brother. I know Eddie gets beat a lot on the outside on pass rush, so is it safe to say that Tommy Olson, a true freshman not even 6 months after graduating from H.S. and with a less than two months as a college fb player, is our best OL. Hopefully an OL guru can shed some light on this. I know that he is better than Bunders, as he is constantly getting schooled. Wynn seems to get blown off the ball most plays also.
 

The OL over all did not play that well obviously, but some of that is plugging holes. With Gjere out with a concussion and Bunders having to move to RT, most of the OL were in different positions or playing for the first time.

With that said, I thought T Olson played well for a true Fr. He pulled and trapped very well. Ed struggled yesterday though and after jumping offsides Kill pulled him and chewed his ass and put him right back in. However, Lenkiewicz played quite a bit after that and I think he has some potential.

I also think Epping did okay.

Bottom line, I think the young guys played at least as well as any of the senior interior OL did. I think the future is bright for the OL.
 

Ed olsen has a significant injury.
 

Sumtimegophs said:
The OL over all did not play that well obviously, but some of that is plugging holes. With Gjere out with a concussion and Bunders having to move to RT, most of the OL were in different positions or playing for the first time.

With that said, I thought T Olson played well for a true Fr. He pulled and trapped very well. Ed struggled yesterday though and after jumping offsides Kill pulled him and chewed his ass and put him right back in. However, Lenkiewicz played quite a bit after that and I think he has some potential.

I also think Epping did okay.

Bottom line, I think the young guys played at least as well as any of the senior interior OL did. I think the future is bright for the OL.
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Ed was called for unnecessary roughness for hitting a guy after the whistle.
 



Disagree with the Epping part.

Epping got physically manhandled on the plays I specifically watched the o-line. Purdue's tackle #97 threw him on his back twice (one for a sack), beat him through the gap on a zone play to the left, and always seemed to shudder Epping on the snap. Moreover, he wasn't on the field when we finally moved the ball in the 4th quarter (again, on the plays I was specifically watching for him!).
 

On the Sports Huddle Kill said the OL has had four concussions this year. Campion will Red-shirt because of his, Brooks Michel had to end his career due to his, and they hope to get Gjere and Mottla back for Nebraska. I had not heard that about Michel before.
 

Yeah Michel's career being done is new to me.. How does that work, do we keep him on a scholarship until he graduates or does his free up next year?
 

I actually watched Tommy O (and some Epping) quite a bit during the game. I thought TO played really well and I recall him making very few mistakes. Epping had a rough day, as others pointed out getting completely blown off the ball a few times. Good learning experiences for both of them.
 



This is the biggest problem with the Gophers this year. They have great young talent but that does not cut it now. The seniors suck, get them gone and start a weight program now for the future.
 

gophergrad said:
Yeah Michel's career being done is new to me.. How does that work, do we keep him on a scholarship until he graduates or does his free up next year?
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I had heard about it awhile ago and I knew it to be true when I never heard his name mentioned throughout the year or preseason, I didn't want to say anything like that on a message board before I heard it reported somewhere. But yeah, he's done. He had a really bad concussion last year, it was so bad that he had to drop out of school, had a hard time sleeping and concentrating. He was feeling a little bit better this offseason, but I don't know if he gave it another go or what, but it's probably a wise decision for the kid. I'm not sure he is still at school here or not, either way, I wish him well. He could definitely have helped us this season and beyond.

I believe how it works is if a kid has a career ending injury he gets to keep his scholarship. However, it doesn't count against our total nor do we even have to pay for it. I believe the NCAA steps in and has some form of insurance (I can be wrong about this), and they actually pay his scholarship, which like I said, doesn't count against our total or anything like that.
 

Tommy looked alright, which means that he was our best OL on saturday. He is a really athletic kid and naturally could use a year or two in the weight room to improve his strength but he already looks like a legit Big 10 lineman, which is saying something for a true freshman.

Epping just isn't strong or quick enough. I will say that I liked how he continually kept firing off the ball and getting in the right place. It's the murkiest of silver linings, but he didn't appear afraid to keep getting his butt kicked (not ripping on him). He just isn't ready to play. He would be a totally different player with another year or two in the weight room. I have no idea if he'd be good or not, but it's almost unfair to evaluate him yet.

I thought Marek Lenkiewicz was our 2nd best OL today (actually didn't think Bunders was horrible at times either). He looks like a pretty athletic kid. But it is more of the same as with Epping, he could really use another season or two in the weight room.

I'm not an offensive line guru, so I could definitely be off base. I will say that the games being so out of hand early, it does let you focus on certain players a lot. I watched the OL almost all game on offense and the young DE's and Lamonte Edwards at LB.
 

Too bad about Michel. He had a great tackle's build and sounded like a good good overall. I just hope that this doesn't adversely effect his life down the road. I hope Campion does not have similar problems because he worked so hard to get here and sounds like a horse. If Tommy O is playing a half way decent OG in the big ten as a true freshman, the kid will probably be pretty darn good come senior year (barring staying healthy). I hope Isaac Hayes can come in here next year and offer the same impact. Does anyone know if he has considered coming in early for spring ball? I know Leidner (sp?) and Nelson are planning on it. It would be excellent to have an OL come in early like that.
 





I went back and watched the OLine play from the Purdue game and came away with the good, bad and the ugly.

The Good: Tommy Olson is a player...no doubt about it. Kid has great feet and understands position and leverage better than any lineman on the team. That said, he needs 2 years in the weight room to fully compete inside. Sad we had to burn his redshirt on this crap year.

The Bad: Pretty much everyone else. Ed Olson is not the answer at left tackle...he doesn't have the feet or the hands for it...he can play the position in our option run game, but straight pass protection he needs a back or TE to chip the end or he wont be able to stay in front of a speed guy. The seniors were all horrible. Linkeiwics is sooooo undersized I fear for him out their...but man, he plays hard and I love seeing that. We should call him Rudy!

The Ugly: Epping is getting destroyed....blown up play after play. Getting thrown backwards into the QB/RB exchange and getting beat to the point of attack. I watched him on about 20 plays and he stands almost straight up when he steps, his first step is wrong most of the time, he has no understanding of leverage and the most egregious of all OLine sins...his feet stop moving at contact. That's why you always see his guy beating him at the point of contact...Epping's head is in the right position, his hands are right, he is too tall, but should still be able to block, but he just stops for a second at impact and the DLine just crosses his face to make a play....over and over this happens. I recognize this problem as I had the same issue my Sophomore year in HS...it was coached out of me with a steel rack, a one man blocking sled and hours upon hours of one on one drills. Epping needs the same thing...if he can fix his feet problem, I think he will be a good linemen...if not, well, you see what we got.
 

Good analysis Gopher in Philly, I like it.

Since there's been so much talk about how we didn't recruit a single lineman in 2008, I decided to check out who we got in 2009.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/minnesota/football/recruiting/commitments/2009/minnesota-31

Campion never made it into school that year, and E Jacques was moved to D-line. Wills was a solid contributor, but was a JC guy so we only got him for 2 years. The remaining 2 lineman were Michels and E. Olson, and with Michels concussion we really only got 1 long-term lineman out of this class. Hopefully Campion gets better and can contribute next year, but for right now, we basically have 1 serviceable lineman from 2 years of recruiting. No wonder we're having some struggles.
 

John Galt said:
Good analysis Gopher in Philly, I like it.

Since there's been so much talk about how we didn't recruit a single lineman in 2008, I decided to check out who we got in 2009.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/minnesota/football/recruiting/commitments/2009/minnesota-31

Campion never made it into school that year, and E Jacques was moved to D-line. Wills was a solid contributor, but was a JC guy so we only got him for 2 years. The remaining 2 lineman were Michels and E. Olson, and with Michels concussion we really only got 1 long-term lineman out of this class. Hopefully Campion gets better and can contribute next year, but for right now, we basically have 1 serviceable lineman from 2 years of recruiting. No wonder we're having some struggles.
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Wow. That is amazing. When we have o-lineman problems for the next two years (hopefully improving each day), we really only need to look at that fact because it says it all. You CANNOT do that and be successful. I think that is a huge problem with our offense, we aren't able to establish any type of running game because we physically have no push. I may not know if Kill will succeed, but I will bet the farm that he will work to shore up that problem in the next few years.
 

We all know that he's not prone to dish out compliments, so it told me something when he said the young guys could be "special" in 2-3 years. Hopefully with this comes "solid" next year...
 

That's some good input all-around. Probably the only meaningful stuff I've read on this website lately. When you don't spend much time on here, it gets hard to dig through the crap to find the good stuff
 

I posted this in another thread just for comparisons:

OL for each team broken down by year:
Minnesota (19) - 3 SR, 1 JR, 3 SO, 12 FR
Wisconsin (16) - 3 SR, 3 JR, 4, SO, 6 FR
Iowa (18) - 3 SR, 4 JR, 5 SO, 6 FR

The lone junior is walk on Jacob Glickstein. Ideally, you'd like to sign 3 or 4 OL each year, enabling all of them to redshirt unless they are a great talent and can start right away. It's usually not a good sign when you have a lot more freshman (frosh and redshirts) than sophomores, juniors, and seniors combined.
 

I hate bringing up the S word (Seantrel), but I remember during his recruitment I asked the CDH offensive line coach if he thought Seantrel could really step in and play right away at a high level and he said that he thought Seantrel definitely could. He was saying that like it was absolutely freaskish that a kid could go from HS to being a really good college offensive line.

My whole point in bringing this up is that I often think about when I watch the Gophers because barring some freakshow like Seantrel, even the most talented kids are not ready to produce at all until their 3rd season in a program (RS SO) and usually not until their 4th year in a program.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I hate bringing up the S word (Seantrel), but I remember during his recruitment I asked the CDH offensive line coach if he thought Seantrel could really step in and play right away at a high level and he said that he thought Seantrel definitely could. He was saying that like it was absolutely freaskish that a kid could go from HS to being a really good college offensive line.

My whole point in bringing this up is that I often think about when I watch the Gophers because barring some freakshow like Seantrel, even the most talented kids are not ready to produce at all until their 3rd season in a program (RS SO) and usually not until their 4th year in a program.[/QUOTE]

That's exactly right.

Here's the funny thing. As fans, we've become so accustomed to the way things are now instead of the way they are at most schools, many fans probably consider Eddie to be one of the "veterans" of the O-Line. In all reality he either shouldn't be playing yet, or should be surrounded by juniors and seniors with 20-30 starts under their belts.

I think the TEAM will be better next year, as they'll have gone through 2 full offseasons with the staff but I don't expect the O-Line to be significantly better until Eddie is at LEAST a senior.
Click to expand...
 

GophersInIowa said:
I posted this in another thread just for comparisons:

OL for each team broken down by year:
Minnesota (19) - 3 SR, 1 JR, 3 SO, 12 FR
Wisconsin (16) - 3 SR, 3 JR, 4, SO, 6 FR
Iowa (18) - 3 SR, 4 JR, 5 SO, 6 FR

The lone junior is walk on Jacob Glickstein. Ideally, you'd like to sign 3 or 4 OL each year, enabling all of them to redshirt unless they are a great talent and can start right away. It's usually not a good sign when you have a lot more freshman (frosh and redshirts) than sophomores, juniors, and seniors combined.
Click to expand...

These numbers look much worse when you break out the redshirts...you see that very few Olinemen in these programs aren't redshirted. Remember, last year, Wisconsin graduated 4 Seniors that are playing (3 Starting) in the NFL...and one wasn't a full time starter for Wisconsin last year but has started in the NFL. This is why I keep saying we wont know who Coach Kill is until year 3...it just takes time to develop offensive and defensive linemen, and you can't win in the B1G without them.
 

KoolAid said:
That's some good input all-around. Probably the only meaningful stuff I've read on this website lately. When you don't spend much time on here, it gets hard to dig through the crap to find the good stuff
Click to expand...

A big Plus 1, KoolAid. It's threads like this that keep me coming back - substantive discussion, some positive some negative, but at least realistic and informative.
 


Arbogast said:
For those wondering Ed has been dealing with a pulled quad. Probably a good reason why he was getting blown up all game.

http://www.twincities.com/gophers/ci_19077078
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Im sure this isn't helping...but he was getting beat wide from play 1 against USC and continues to struggle against speed rushers who know how to dip their shoulders off the end. The good news is that Ed and Tommie did extremely well with stunts and blitzes while playing LT-LG together. Something that has been a huge problem all season. I would love to see these guys stay on the left and build a dominant tandem for the next 2 1/2 years together.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I posted this in another thread just for comparisons:

OL for each team broken down by year:
Minnesota (19) - 3 SR, 1 JR, 3 SO, 12 FR
Wisconsin (16) - 3 SR, 3 JR, 4, SO, 6 FR
Iowa (18) - 3 SR, 4 JR, 5 SO, 6 FR

The lone junior is walk on Jacob Glickstein. Ideally, you'd like to sign 3 or 4 OL each year, enabling all of them to redshirt unless they are a great talent and can start right away. It's usually not a good sign when you have a lot more freshman (frosh and redshirts) than sophomores, juniors, and seniors combined.
Click to expand...

How many of the 12 are true freshman that are playing? Next year we probably need to RS a few of these guys to space them out - or we need some position changes. The good news is that no true frosh should have to play next year unless he is a stud.
 

Were you talking about RSing SO's next year (true freshman who had to play this year)?

I don't think we would do that. I think Tommy Olson is the only true freshman playing along on the OL this season (maybe Bush has? I'm not sure).

But Campion, both McAvoys and Bjorklund haven't played, I believe Bush as well, we also had a walk from Minnetonka...Christensen, I believe.

That makes 6 guys in that class and 6 guys in the class of the freshman playing this year (Tommy Olson, Gjere, Epping, Ferguson, Lenkiewicz, Bak (wo)).
 

GopherinPhilly said:
I went back and watched the OLine play from the Purdue game and came away with the good, bad and the ugly.

The Good: Tommy Olson is a player...no doubt about it. Kid has great feet and understands position and leverage better than any lineman on the team. That said, he needs 2 years in the weight room to fully compete inside. Sad we had to burn his redshirt on this crap year.

The Bad: Pretty much everyone else. Ed Olson is not the answer at left tackle...he doesn't have the feet or the hands for it...he can play the position in our option run game, but straight pass protection he needs a back or TE to chip the end or he wont be able to stay in front of a speed guy. The seniors were all horrible. Linkeiwics is sooooo undersized I fear for him out their...but man, he plays hard and I love seeing that. We should call him Rudy!

The Ugly: Epping is getting destroyed....blown up play after play. Getting thrown backwards into the QB/RB exchange and getting beat to the point of attack. I watched him on about 20 plays and he stands almost straight up when he steps, his first step is wrong most of the time, he has no understanding of leverage and the most egregious of all OLine sins...his feet stop moving at contact. That's why you always see his guy beating him at the point of contact...Epping's head is in the right position, his hands are right, he is too tall, but should still be able to block, but he just stops for a second at impact and the DLine just crosses his face to make a play....over and over this happens. I recognize this problem as I had the same issue my Sophomore year in HS...it was coached out of me with a steel rack, a one man blocking sled and hours upon hours of one on one drills. Epping needs the same thing...if he can fix his feet problem, I think he will be a good linemen...if not, well, you see what we got.
Click to expand...

Thanks Philly. Excellent analysis. We watched the game on DVR and found ourselves constantly rewinding to
watch the OL play. We were shocked at how plays were blown up over and over and over again with Epping
being the main culprit. I was impressed at how Tommy Olson played throughout the game.

For the entire team, it is just too bad the schedule now breaks down the way it does with the next 4 games in a
row being Nebraska, Iowa, MSU & Wisconsin. It would be nice if IU was in there somewhere... Call me delusional
but Nebraska has been a bad road team the last few years and Iowa was awful last Saturday, so you're sayin'
there's a chance...
 

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