Okay, I'll Say It: I Don't Trust the Offensive Line

Let’s hope it doesn’t get as bad as the infamous PSU warning cone, barricade, garbage can. lamp post, and waiting for the bus bench.

is due to the fact that the Big Ten currently has probably the best 3 centers in the country this year. Ferentz is an above average center and using his lack of preseason accolades, which are dubious at best, is not fair.

We’ve seen Ferentz use the preseason depth chart as a motivation tool. See: DJK, getting with the program.

I think it’s probably some combination of your three reasons, though, unfortunately with (2) being the most significant. But my (4) here is another hail Mary hope.

That is all.

Maybe not Bruggeman yet, but solid. I agree LG is a concern, and Zus is inconsistent. “Having said that”, this is still the tackles and center (and for part of the year, the RG) of a unit which was able to block pretty well for us against teams like OSU and Wisconsin last year, and for a back, though very good in his own way, wasn’t as good as Coker is, and who shouldn’t have played nearly as much in the OSU game because he still wasn’t recovered. Sure these guys have some work to do, but the “other” blocker, the fullback, is the position that really scares me.

He has shown us that you don’t need 5 big name players to build an OL. Especially true in the running game. I’m with you on the gaurds, I don’t think they’re road-graders, however, if the 5 of them can function as 1 complete unit, they can get the job done.

Is he trying to rock the Wesley Snipes ’do from Demolition Man?

…and found out there’s no such film as “Starting Briefly While Nolan MacMillan was Hurt”.

Nolan MacMillan was actually the one who started briefly while Gettis was hurt. Gettis was sidelined at the beginning of 2010 with an ankle sprain, and that’s how MacMillan cracked the lineup. Once Gettis was healthy, he started and MacMillan sat.

Gettis seems to get way more shit than he deserves in OL discussions. As far as I could tell, he performed ably last year. It wasn’t until both he and MacMillan were hurt that our OL play started to suffer.

AJ, I think you’re getting a little paranoid. These guys have experience playing together and I think they will perform pretty well as a unit. The tackles and center should be solid to excellent, and guard is probably the easiest position to replace, right? It could be that Gettis is getting the nod for now due to experience and seniority, but if he fails to perform when it’s game time there are plenty of talented younger dudes ready to step in and kick some ass. Iowa’s cocaching staff has a good reputation for putting together quality offensive lines, so I trust them to put together a strong starting unit from what looks on paper to be a deep OL corps.

Now, if the Hawks fail to win the battle in the trenches and move the ball on the ground vs. Tennessee Tech and ISU, then it is time to start worrying.

a) the tackles and center appear to be very solid to good.

b) hopefully, we’ll be starting the year with decent health from the OL.

c) KF/Morgan’s “expertise.”

d) Coker put up 219 yards against Mizzou in the bowl game. (No, Mizzou wasn’t impressive in rushing defense last year, but they weren’t horrible, either).

e) I’m having trouble thinking of too many times last year (maybe the AZ game) where I said: “Jesus, this OL needs to get it’s shit together.” The Iowa running game looked nice against a couple of good teams (MSU, Wisky).

One big thing I think will help or hurt the OL is Vandy’s ability to make quick decisions and get passes made fairly quickly. If Vandy turns into a statue in the backfield because McNutt/Davis aren’t open or because the TEs are getting held up, then the OL could seem sketchy even if we do have 2 or 3 all-big-ten caliber players on the line.

Also, as others have mentioned, FB is a concern, and a competent-to-good FB can make the OL look good or even better than they really are.

Reiff: obviously with your Larry David tags, you wrote that paragraph with the intention to nitpick, but while Reiff might not be as much of a grinder as Bulaga was, I think he might be more agile and projects better at LT in the pros.

Gettis: Fifth year in the program, finally healthy, the beneficiary of mad strengthening-and-conditioning and is probably correcting Reese on blocking schemes when Reese is just having one of those days. I think he’ll finally show us that his blocking attitude has developed into, “Fuck you, I’m Adam Gettis,” this season. Just look at how he and Carl Davis are laughing about the crack Kirksey just made about….

Ferentz: Awkward with a microphone, experienced with a football. As has been noted, there’s a lot of talent at center in the league, so preseason accolades are to be taken with a bigger grain of salt than they usually should be. He looked great in the bowl game and seems to have a little of that Bruggemann nastiness to his game, though not Rob’s size.

Zusevics: 6’5", 300 bills. Not being Kyle Calloway is a good thing. No offense to KC, but his lack of agility was a bigger problem than his seal-block-ability.

Which brings us to….the other guard position. It sounds like Nolan “China Doll” MacMillan is injured again. So the odds-on replacements are World’s Strongest Hawk Woody Orne and Hype Machine Brandon Scherff, with a potential dark horse to emerge during fall camp. It wouldn’t even be surprising if someone like Van Sloten gets pushed down inside, as “best 5 available” seems to be de rigueur for our offensive line.

In sum, YOU’RE WRONG, JACOBI! YOU’RE JUST WRONG!!!

It could be very, very good and it could be a sack machine. I just don’t want to see Coker or our RBs getting stuffed repeatedly at the line like two years ago.

I think the Big Ten is down this year and I think PItt and ISU are not very good, or even as good as last year. So success might not be an indication of greatness.

Saw Scherff last week at wal mart, kid is mammoth. Gettis is irrelevant.