O Line Development

knuckles

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Alvarez had 3 losing seasons but since then the Wiscy O-line has been generally dominant. Year in and year out for twenty years Wisconsin's O-line established the team identity. So the question is why, in year 5, do we not have even an average O Line? Why has the player development in that position group been so mediocre? We can complain about Mitch's ability, but considering that Wisconsin routinely succeeded with marginal QBs behind a great line, this seems a little misplaced.
 


looks like the plan was to build up the line after this year with a good recruiting class.

some (ie Dienhart) projected our O line (below) top in the Bigten west for this year

Starters:
73 Bjorklund, Joe OL 6-5 300 RS SR injured
65 Campion, Josh OL 6-5 307 RS SR concussion
67 Bobek, Brian OL 6-2 289 RS SR
78 Lauer, Ben OL 6-7 317 RS JR injured
79 Pirsig, Jonah OL 6-9 316 RS JR concussion

Backups
77 Bush, Foster OL 6-5 306 RS SR
68 Hayes, Isaac OL 6-2 316 RS JR
63 Christenson, Jon OL 6-4 303 RS SR injured

Developing
60 Leidner, Matt OL 6-2 283 RS SO walk on
70 Fahning, Chad OL 6-6 290 RS SO walk on
76 Mayes, Alex OL 6-6 310 RS SO Shoulder Surgery
55 Mayes, Connor OL 6-5 328 SO Has Played for injured starters
53 Rasmussen, Luke OL 6-7 284 RS FR
62 Weyler, Jared OL 6-4 293 RS FR
64 Oldenkamp, Matt OL 6-6 273 RS FR

Freshmen:
66 Stieber, Ted OL 6-6 305 FR
71 Moore, Tyler OL 6-4 306 FR
58 Oseland, Quinn OL 6-6 291 FR
75 Kuehn, Noah OL 6-6 297 FR
74 Connelly, Nick OL 6-7 286 FR
61 Dovich, Bronson OL 6-5 288 FR
 

Our line is, as very well documented, in shambles as far as injuries. It does seem to be just kind of a freak injury bug or something. I never thought out o-line would be outstanding this year, but I did think that our o-line wouldn't be a problem. I thought are line would be average and experienced, but honestly we haven't had a ton of o-line talent. I think that is changing with recent recruiting classes; this freshman class and our current recruiting class. We seem to be recruiting more talented o-lineman and I think the o-line will hopefully be a strong suit of ours in a couple of years.
 

career ending injuries to guys like Gjere are also adding a little to the current situation but we are not as deep as I thought at the beginning of the season
 


It almost seems like they're too big and don't have the quickness. Should they drop 15-20 lbs, and would it help with both blocking and injuries?
 

Remember Greg Eslinger and Mark Setterstrom?
 

Starters:
73 Bjorklund, Joe OL 6-5 300 RS SR injured
65 Campion, Josh OL 6-5 307 RS SR concussion
67 Bobek, Brian OL 6-2 289 RS SR
78 Lauer, Ben OL 6-7 317 RS JR injured
79 Pirsig, Jonah OL 6-9 316 RS JR concussion

Substitute Mayes for Lauer and this is the line that has played for the majority of this year. Lauer didn't play most of last year. Players always get banged up, it's a part of the game. I don't buy all this talk that injuries have decimated our line. The line is just not that good.
 

Substitute Mayes for Lauer and this is the line that has played for the majority of this year. Lauer didn't play most of last year. Players always get banged up, it's a part of the game. I don't buy all this talk that injuries have decimated our line. The line is just not that good.
+2 No excuse for having a division 2 offensive line. Maybe the reason many of these guys are hurt all the time is they are physically be dominated by better talent, Kent State just shutdown our running completely. That was a huge red flag to me. Even with no passing game you move the ball on the ground against them.
 



+2 No excuse for having a division 2 offensive line. Maybe the reason many of these guys are hurt all the time is they are physically be dominated by better talent, Kent State just shutdown our running completely. That was a huge red flag to me. Even with no passing game you move the ball on the ground against them.

Agree. There's no reason why the Gophers shouldn't have been able to run through Kent St. like we did with Streveler against San Jose St. last year. The only difference is we lost Epping and Olson and replaced them with Bobek and Mayes. I knew Epping and Olson were two of our best lineman last year, but were they that un-replaceable??
 

Starters:
73 Bjorklund, Joe OL 6-5 300 RS SR injured
65 Campion, Josh OL 6-5 307 RS SR concussion
67 Bobek, Brian OL 6-2 289 RS SR
78 Lauer, Ben OL 6-7 317 RS JR injured
79 Pirsig, Jonah OL 6-9 316 RS JR concussion

Backups
77 Bush, Foster OL 6-5 306 RS SR
68 Hayes, Isaac OL 6-2 316 RS JR
63 Christenson, Jon OL 6-4 303 RS SR injured

I think Christenson would be a starter if healthy. In a perfect world, the ideal lineup to me would be:
LT: Lauer
LG: Christenson
C: Bobek
RG: Campion
RT: Pirsig
 

Limegrover is not doing either of his jobs very well. Will Jer do something about this?
I suspect he won't so we are probably screwed.
 

Substitute Mayes for Lauer and this is the line that has played for the majority of this year. Lauer didn't play most of last year. Players always get banged up, it's a part of the game. I don't buy all this talk that injuries have decimated our line. The line is just not that good.

I agree they're not great players...probably not an NFL'er in the bunch. That said, I'll challenge you a bit on the rest of your post. How can you say injuries haven't hurt the line? Not only have multiple players missed entire games (Lauer, Campion, Christenson), other guys have played hurt or missed partial games (Lauer, Bjorklund), and many guys have switched positions to patch the holes. Campion went from G to LT to RT. Pirsig went from RT to LT. Bush had to play G the other day. Our offensive scheme is not a simple one (despite what people on here say -- RUN UP THE MIDDLE!). I can see how all the missed time and shuffling of players would cause confusion. BUT, you're right that the bottom line is that offense starts up front on the line, and these guys have underperformed badly this year.
 



They've been pretty injury ridden (even last year to some extent), but Limegrover needs a dedicated OL coach, or be just that guy. I agree with the OL talent they recruited I expected more, not gud.

But there is a larger issue that RBs can only do so much with a line and the QB has not made their life easier by making plays. Every time we miss a pass or just make a poor choice there the other team can move up on the line closer, and they're clearly not afraid to do so.
 

Sigh......I miss the O-lines we used to have just a few seasons ago.....All-Americans, Award winners, etc, etc......
 

I agree they're not great players...probably not an NFL'er in the bunch. That said, I'll challenge you a bit on the rest of your post. How can you say injuries haven't hurt the line? Not only have multiple players missed entire games (Lauer, Campion, Christenson), other guys have played hurt or missed partial games (Lauer, Bjorklund), and many guys have switched positions to patch the holes. Campion went from G to LT to RT. Pirsig went from RT to LT. Bush had to play G the other day. Our offensive scheme is not a simple one (despite what people on here say -- RUN UP THE MIDDLE!). I can see how all the missed time and shuffling of players would cause confusion. BUT, you're right that the bottom line is that offense starts up front on the line, and these guys have underperformed badly this year.

I'm mainly comparing this year's line/injuries to last year's line, which was much better. Lauer only started half of the games last year. Christensen really didn't play at all until the Bowl game. Campion only missed TCU due to the concussion, which is not a lingering injury or he would not be playing at all. Pirsig, Campion, Bjorkland were all starters last year.

I don't think losing Epping and Olson and replacing with Bobek/Mayes or Christenson when healthy were seen to be as major of a step back as they now appear to be. So maybe that's it, maybe those two losses are worse than we thought.
 

Or Maybe?

I'm mainly comparing this year's line/injuries to last year's line, which was much better. Lauer only started half of the games last year. Christensen really didn't play at all until the Bowl game. Campion only missed TCU due to the concussion, which is not a lingering injury or he would not be playing at all. Pirsig, Campion, Bjorkland were all starters last year.

I don't think losing Epping and Olson and replacing with Bobek/Mayes or Christenson when healthy were seen to be as major of a step back as they now appear to be. So maybe that's it, maybe those two losses are worse than we thought.

Or maybe...it's like I said this off season, my greatest fear was replacing Cobb. The line was the same last year, with no where to run. But, Cobb made something out of nothing time after time. Leidner was utilized as more of a running threat than this year.
The injuries are an excuse. It should be an opportunity, next man up. The Vikings have much more significant line issues and competed very well today with a different attitude approach.
 

The Vikings stayed in the game with their defense. The offensive line play was terrible most of the day with no time to throw and no where to run. The game was close but not because of what the offensive line did. Gophers line play has not been good but play calling and the opponent knowing we can't throw the ball means stacked boxes and more guys on the line that can be blocked.
 

Or maybe...it's like I said this off season, my greatest fear was replacing Cobb. The line was the same last year, with no where to run. But, Cobb made something out of nothing time after time. Leidner was utilized as more of a running threat than this year.
The injuries are an excuse. It should be an opportunity, next man up. The Vikings have much more significant line issues and competed very well today with a different attitude approach.

i dont think the RB position is much different. I liked Cobb but it doesn't appear that is the big difference. Epping more than anyone is the harder spot to replace. and it shouldn't have been.

other teams across the country replace 2-3 OL every year and dont have as big a drop as we have seen. other teams have used a freshmen QB and done just fine (northwestern is one) our offense is not complicated. every DC is taking the week off before they play us. Injuries happen in all football teams and other guys step up because they have been around the program and have learned what to do.

its just going to one of those long years where nothing is going right for the Gophers and we all get to say "wait until next year!"
 

Admiral Halsey did not retreat when the chips were down. Limey retreats to more conservative play calling when he thinks that will result in fewer turnovers. His intent seems to be not to do harm. But, where is his intent to do well by scoring? If it is true that when Demry croft came in and the play calling was to the edge each time, how does that open up the field to increase chances of scoring? Limegrover has not recruited well enough and now he has much to make up for his lack of effort or success previously. Instead of trying not to fail, why not try to succeed
 

i dont think the RB position is much different. I liked Cobb but it doesn't appear that is the big difference. Epping more than anyone is the harder spot to replace. and it shouldn't have been.

other teams across the country replace 2-3 OL every year and dont have as big a drop as we have seen. other teams have used a freshmen QB and done just fine (northwestern is one) our offense is not complicated. every DC is taking the week off before they play us. Injuries happen in all football teams and other guys step up because they have been around the program and have learned what to do.

its just going to one of those long years where nothing is going right for the Gophers and we all get to say "wait until next year!"

Have to disagree with you about Cobb. Look at the last few years, he was the only RB who had any kind of success week in and week out behind our o-line. The other guys did not have nearly the same level of success when given an opportunity. Now we have a couple of freshmen that look promising but they are not in Cobb's league yet. Cobb was great at making something out of nothing.
 

Or scheme relies on people to win one-on-one match ups at the point of attack. That's not going to be successful when there is injuries/lack of talent.
 

If injuries are such a problem, why not let a healthy player play and let the injured player heal? If Bjorkland's knees are bone-on-bone, is Isaac Hayes that much more of a liability? I know we don't want to burn a redshirt, but I would if they're an upgrade. And if Kill doesn't want to do that on the line, what about the redshirt freshmen?

If injuries are the problem, get them out of there. If injuries aren't the problem, get them out of there. Even if the backups aren't as good, at least it might offer some competition and motivation.
 

Three plays in. Three plays out. Use two units for the offensive line. Keep them fresh.
 

It almost seems like they're too big and don't have the quickness. Should they drop 15-20 lbs, and would it help with both blocking and injuries?

I was thinking this too, thinking 305-310 was a great size for an o-line, especially when you want to run, but if you need
to pull a guard or even a center like Mason's teams did, you'd have to be at like, 290-295.
Bobek is the only healthy o-lineman who's really contributing, and the only one sub-300 lbs.

IDK, it's out of my knowledge of football positions, but it's something to think about.
 

Have to disagree with you about Cobb. Look at the last few years, he was the only RB who had any kind of success week in and week out behind our o-line. The other guys did not have nearly the same level of success when given an opportunity. Now we have a couple of freshmen that look promising but they are not in Cobb's league yet. Cobb was great at making something out of nothing.
Spot on. Cobb made the line look much better than they were.
 

Have to disagree with you about Cobb. Look at the last few years, he was the only RB who had any kind of success week in and week out behind our o-line. The other guys did not have nearly the same level of success when given an opportunity. Now we have a couple of freshmen that look promising but they are not in Cobb's league yet. Cobb was great at making something out of nothing.

Every week you heard the game announcers talk about Yards after Contact with Cobb, that's because he got
contacted at the line of scrimmage, a lot, and still pushed to get 3-4-5 yards. It wasn't like he was meeting
the linebacker or safety a whole lot...
 

Mason talked about that during the game, how he liked the 6'0" to 6'2" guys for run blocking because of the leverage they could have running the football. Pass blocking OLs are usually better with the 6'5" on up guys because of their long arms.
 

I was thinking this too, thinking 305-310 was a great size for an o-line, especially when you want to run, but if you need
to pull a guard or even a center like Mason's teams did, you'd have to be at like, 290-295.
Bobek is the only healthy o-lineman who's really contributing, and the only one sub-300 lbs.

IDK, it's out of my knowledge of football positions, but it's something to think about.

305-310 is also the average weight of freshman coeds in Iowa City.
 





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