O-Linemen Curse...

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John Galt

John Galt

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What is it with our ability (or curse) with keeping o-linemen healthy and on campus?

Jimmy Gjere - 4 star local recruit, multiple concussions, gave up football
Ben Lauer was a freshmen all-American - career ended after 1 year due to injuries
Alex Mayes - never played due to injuries
Connor Mayes - transferred and gave up football
Tyler Moore - transferred and gave up football
Teb Stieber - concussions, gave up football
Nick Connelly - concussions, gave up football

This is just off the top of my head, I think there may be a few more. Did the last staff beat these guys to death in practice? Was the S&C program lacking? Or are we just unlucky? I don't think it's unrealistic to think if most of these players had full careers we would have seen 1-2 more wins each year.
 


I wish the Gophers did not ask Sean Foster and Jimmie Terry to decommit. We could sure use them now.
 


Maybe O-line is simply just a position more likely to suffer concussions or other injuries than other positions.

And Mayes and Moore did not transfer due to injuries


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Lauer retired as a RS JR with one year left of eligibility. So did Isaac Hayes. Not sure if his was injury related or why he couldn't get on the field.

On top of the bad injury luck, I just think our higher rated OL recruits, especially MN recruits, have failed to live up to expectations. I thought guys like the Olson brothers and Pirsig would play in the NFL.

Not sure if it's recruiting, strength and conditioning, or a combination of both, but if the Gophers are going to win the west in the coming years they need to better develop the OL and DL. This is something Wisconsin and Iowa do extremely well every year. The good news is Fleck and staff have a good track record of developing OL at Western Michigan.
 

Clearly, it's because Kill and Claeys were terrible recruiters and terrible people in general. Their strength and conditioning coach was like the executioner from Game of Thrones.

Are we insinuating here that Wisconsin or Iowa wouldn't have taken these kids because they would've seen the injuries coming? Or, if Wisconsin or Iowa would've taken these kids, the injuries wouldn't have happened, and they would be NFL caliber lineman? That the concussions were only a result of practice methods, and that somehow the S&C coach could've made their brain less susceptible to injury in some way? I'm honestly trying to understand this narrative that's been going around for a while now, that somebody intentionally caused this.
 



Heracles said:
Clearly, it's because Kill and Claeys were terrible recruiters and terrible people in general. Their strength and conditioning coach was like the executioner from Game of Thrones.
Click to expand...

Who said that? They struggled to recruit and develop OL. That is a fact. We haven't had an OL drafted since Mason left. Epping was probably the best OL of the Kill era and he was a Brewster recruit.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Who said that? They struggled to recruit and develop OL. That is a fact. We haven't had an OL drafted since Mason left. Epping was probably the best OL of the Kill era and he was a Brewster recruit.
Click to expand...

You mean it wasn't because they bashed their heads with sledgehammers at practice?

What does recruiting have to do with injuries? Should they have seen this coming? Isn't that the topic here?
 

Heracles said:
You mean it wasn't because they bashed their heads with sledgehammers at practice?

What does recruiting have to do with injuries? Should they have seen this coming?
Click to expand...

I wasn't only talking about the injuries in post #8. I don't know why there have been so many injuries on the OL, but the overall OL development has been broken since Mason left and it needs to be fixed if we're going to become anything other than mediocre.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Lauer retired as a RS JR with one year left of eligibility. So did Isaac Hayes. Not sure if his was injury related or why he couldn't get on the field.

On top of the bad injury luck, I just think our higher rated OL recruits, especially MN recruits, have failed to live up to expectations. I thought guys like the Olson brothers and Pirsig would play in the NFL.

Not sure if it's recruiting, strength and conditioning, or a combination of both, but if the Gophers are going to win the west in the coming years they need to better develop the OL and DL. This is something Wisconsin and Iowa do extremely well every year. The good news is Fleck and staff have a good track record of developing OL at Western Michigan.
Click to expand...

...and I like Warinner. We need to make sure we keep him.
 



We have a OL curse & the refs are against us too. It isn't fair!


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GopherWeatherGuy said:
I wasn't only talking about the injuries in post #8. I don't know why there have been so many injuries on the OL, but the overall OL development has been broken since Mason left and it needs to be fixed if we're going to become anything other than mediocre.
Click to expand...

When Mason was fired, we also lost our best o-line coach Gordie Shaw.
 

Whytetale said:
When Mason was fired, we also lost our best o-line coach Gordie Shaw.
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Not to beat on a dead horse, but will Mason have not been fired if he had replaced his defensive coordinator?
 

hungan1 said:
Not to beat on a dead horse, but will Mason have not been fired if he had replaced his defensive coordinator?
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He had a good one in David Gibbs. Just couldn't hang onto him

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Was Maturi not good on paying assistant coaches?
 

Maverick said:
He had a good one in David Gibbs. Just couldn't hang onto him

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Click to expand...

I'm amazed that Gibbs is still only 49, he was 29 when he was hired by Mason. Gibbs has spent some time in the NFL but I'm surprised he or Shaw hasn't had more success since leaving.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Who said that? They struggled to recruit and develop OL. That is a fact. We haven't had an OL drafted since Mason left. Epping was probably the best OL of the Kill era and he was a Brewster recruit.
Click to expand...

I would agree with this. Epping was undersized but really good. Campion looked like he was going to breakout too before his concussions.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I'm amazed that Gibbs is still only 49, he was 29 when he was hired by Mason. Gibbs has spent some time in the NFL but I'm surprised he or Shaw hasn't had more success since leaving.
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more....

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GopherWeatherGuy said:
Who said that? They struggled to recruit and develop OL. That is a fact. We haven't had an OL drafted since Mason left. Epping was probably the best OL of the Kill era and he was a Brewster recruit.
Click to expand...
He seemed to be responding more to the original post than yours.

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Banging my head against the wall due to Limegrover’s play calling has resulted in a series of concussions on my end. Can only imagine the trauma our OLineman have had to endure during that dark era.


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John Galt said:
What is it with our ability (or curse) with keeping o-linemen healthy and on campus?

Jimmy Gjere - 4 star local recruit, multiple concussions, gave up football
Ben Lauer was a freshmen all-American - career ended after 1 year due to injuries
Alex Mayes - never played due to injuries
Connor Mayes - transferred and gave up football
Tyler Moore - transferred and gave up football
Teb Stieber - concussions, gave up football
Nick Connelly - concussions, gave up football

This is just off the top of my head, I think there may be a few more. Did the last staff beat these guys to death in practice? Was the S&C program lacking? Or are we just unlucky? I don't think it's unrealistic to think if most of these players had full careers we would have seen 1-2 more wins each year.
Click to expand...

I know that when I'm contemplating the reasons behind an injury-induced retirement, the first thing I think of is blaming the guys who were fired 10 months ago.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I know that when I'm contemplating the reasons behind an injury-induced retirement, the first thing I think of is blaming the guys who were fired 10 months ago.
Click to expand...

We definitely seemed to have more practice related injuries than normal. Especially in today's age where there is very little contact in practice compared to 10+ years ago. I have no idea if it was just bad luck or if it did have to do with the way they practiced.
 


hungan1 said:
Was Maturi not good on paying assistant coaches?
Click to expand...

That's a deeper issue than the AD. You need support from the President and BOR for increased funding. Something Maturi never had nor did any administration and coach for 50 years
 

John Galt said:
What is it with our ability (or curse) with keeping o-linemen healthy and on campus?

Jimmy Gjere - 4 star local recruit, multiple concussions, gave up football
Ben Lauer was a freshmen all-American - career ended after 1 year due to injuries
Alex Mayes - never played due to injuries
Connor Mayes - transferred and gave up football
Tyler Moore - transferred and gave up football
Teb Stieber - concussions, gave up football
Nick Connelly - concussions, gave up football

This is just off the top of my head, I think there may be a few more. Did the last staff beat these guys to death in practice? Was the S&C program lacking? Or are we just unlucky? I don't think it's unrealistic to think if most of these players had full careers we would have seen 1-2 more wins each year.
Click to expand...

No amount of S & C can stop a concussion. Technique maybe, but not S & C.
 

How many current walk-ons do we have committed for this year? With as many problems as we have on OL I wouldn't mind us grabbing a few every class, or obviously best overall talent we can get for those spots
 

Let's take a step back and compare the Badgers vs the Gophers Offensive Line Roster for 2017:

BADGERS VS GOPHERS OLINE 2017.jpg

1. The Badgers have 17 O Linemen vs 16 for the Gophers.
2. The average weight are 313 pounds for the Badger vs. 298 pounds for the Gophers. They out weight the Gophers by an average of 15 pounds.
3. 76.5% (13/17) of the Badger OL are 300 pounds or heavier while only 43.8% (7/16) for the Gophers.
4. 12 out of 17 Badger OL are homegrown while the Gopher have 8 out of 16. The Badger make every attempt to sign homegrown beefcakes whether by scholie or PWO and then coach them up. The Gophers may miss home grown serviceable OL that end up signing with other colleges:

Patrick Kasl, FR - WI (6' 5" 325 lbs, Wyoming MN),
Zach Johnson, SO - NDSU (6' 6" 312 lbs, Blaine MN),
Nash Jensen, FR - NDSU (6' 4" 349 lbs, Maple Grove MN),
Josh Howieson, RFR - NDSU (6' 5" 293 lbs, Baxter MN),
Bryce Kennedy, 2018 - SD (6' 7" 295 lbs, Virginia MN),
Adam Cook, 2018 - ?? (6' 7" 315 lbs, Robinsdale MN),
Ronnie Audette, 2018 - NDSU (6' 3" 310 lbs),
Conner Cruse, FR - UND (6' 6" 295 lbs, Cologne MN),
Kayode Awosika, RFR - BUF (6' 5" 295 lbs, Plymouth MN)

Not to mention ones like Jacob Smith, Drayton Carlberg, Matt Kegel, Frank Ragnow - ones that decided to go elsewhere no matter what.

The point is Wisconsin has a model that works well with them by having and developing massive OL.
 

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