I can recall a thread or two a few seasons ago that spoke to the seeming lack of quality O Line recruiting, or simply the lack of signing many linemen at all. Am I misremembering something or is this a potential issue we might be facing now or next year? I am ecstatic with our progress and results and it appears that we will be stout on defense, running back and receivers even next year. Is the O line depth going to be an area of concern?

It is a concern right now with the injuries.

yes. losing Nunn was evident Saturday and led to shuffling the line by moving Gossett from guard to tackle on right side. certainly seems to evidence a depth issue on the out side. O line play is a team within the team and other than plowing straight ahead running the ball was lacking against Troy. Troy has a solid defense, but the right side got exposed more than the left. Hopefully they can gel as a unit by Thursday and the performance will improve. I hope we stick with that line up rather than experimenting as it does take time to develop front line team work.

I had raised the question of whether Gossett would move to tackle. I really didn't even look that closely at the line to notice Saturday but that move makes sense. It always seemed more logical to keep your best linemen at tackle if you have to shuffle. I have seen very few teams, college or pro that don't have a drop off in blocking or protection when one of the offensive line starters goes down. You just can't shuffle those guys long without issues. I agree, hopefully a few days together will create some sort of meshing.

Saying the o-line is a team within a team is spot on. The best o-lines work as a single unit, and a cohesive group of 5 guys that know each other, and can anticipate each other's moves can overcome size speed and skill. Hopefully getting some time on the field Saturday and working together this week will show improvement Thursday. Building an o-line takes time and work, midseason injuries perhaps show more within that unit than any other on the larger team.

Finding big uglies for us has been tough. Should have been a focus this recruiting year and it concerns me we are not seeing more than a couple.

The last two years we had decent classes, but then this off season we had two guys leave the team. One of them was looking like our best backup at Tackle which would have been nice to have right now. Most of our OL roster is young so we should have better depth going forward once they mature more.

Wow, I didn't realize how thin we really are until I just looked at the roster. Just about every other lineman that doesn't play is a freshman. This could get really bad if anyone else goes down. How many of the freshmen OL are redshirted? Do we have any D Linemen who could jump over in a pinch? I realize that is probably a crazy statement but man I am concerned. Our staff has to be holding it's collective breath every week with this unit.

JTApps nailed it. The problem isn't how we've recruited the past three years - the problem is that we only have three OL combined in the 4th and 5th year classes, one of whom started as a DL and another who was originally a walk-on.

That's a failure of recruiting, and at one of the worst spots to try and make it up. If you miss on, say, cornerbacks for a class or two, you can plug in a freshman or sophomore there and have a decent shot at him playing well (as we have done the last two years).

Frankly we're incredibly lucky that the 2013 OL recruits have done so well. It's rare to have so many OL playing so well, still relatively early in their careers. That group spoiled us, and right now it appears the 2014 class isn't as game-ready yet.

bigdaddyg wrote:Wow, I didn't realize how thin we really are until I just looked at the roster. Just about every other lineman that doesn't play is a freshman. This could get really bad if anyone else goes down. How many of the freshmen OL are redshirted? Do we have any D Linemen who could jump over in a pinch? I realize that is probably a crazy statement but man I am concerned. Our staff has to be holding it's collective breath every week with this unit.

We already moved Collmar back from DL to start at guard. Problem is, while you can plug guys in at guard, it's tough to find guys with the size and mobility to play tackle who aren't already playing tackle. And that's where we're really hurting.

EastHallApp wrote:

bigdaddyg wrote:Wow, I didn't realize how thin we really are until I just looked at the roster. Just about every other lineman that doesn't play is a freshman. This could get really bad if anyone else goes down. How many of the freshmen OL are redshirted? Do we have any D Linemen who could jump over in a pinch? I realize that is probably a crazy statement but man I am concerned. Our staff has to be holding it's collective breath every week with this unit.

We already moved Collmar back from DL to start at guard. Problem is, while you can plug guys in at guard, it's tough to find guys with the size and mobility to play tackle who aren't already playing tackle. And that's where we're really hurting.

completely agree. You can kind of "hide" a guy at guard if you are not running a lot of counters that take timing and work to perfect. Tackle is the position that you can't just slot a guy in and hope for the best. If we don't have someone with good footwork and mobility our QB will run for his life and there will be nothing on the edge for our backs. I hope we have some wrinkles for Thursday that may include quick hitters from TL. I don't see him able to consistently sit in the pocket and wait for long ball plays to develop.

My question is this: IF we have a red-shirt o-lineman "ready", is THIS season important enough to burn that shirt? My thoughts are, yes, we do what we have to to field as strong a team as is possible.

One thing I have noticed with some of our opponents who have "huge guys on the lines" is that they are basically fat guys. It is probably easier to get a "fat" guy who is slow and has bad technique. There is probably a fine line there. Some of the teams we face that we demolish have really big lines. I agree with Moose. It is probably way more difficult than we realize to find quality big kids who can play the line fairly quickly. I kind of liken this to the big forward/center for basketball. A kid who is 6-9 and has skills rarely goes up against many other players his size in HS but once he hits college there are loads of them. The same may go for a 270lb HS lineman. He can steamroll 230 lb D linemen but once he gets to a good program like App he may just be average. There are only so many 6-6 300 lb kids to go around.

firemoose wrote:

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I was wondering the same thing with E-C. At least slot him at guard. IMO we need all hands on deck Thursday (and probably the rest of the year). We probably made the right move with Meaders last year by pulling the shirt.

I sure do miss the old Black & Gold paving crew days, with Kerry Brown, Jonathan Bieschke, Scott Suttle, Matt Isenhour.

one recruit that we lost last year was the OL that signed with FAU, exactly what we were looking for, 3 star, 6'5 280 extremely athletic, hardly any body fat, just a freak athlete. Anyway, he originally committed to FAU, but after making the trip to Boone, he decommitted from FAU, and committed to us. The kid was really excited about being a mountaineer, but unfortunately, his father was tight with the staff at FAU, and it appeared he had the final say on where his kid would play. I have no idea how he is doing at FAU, but we sure could use him right now.

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