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Legit Question About O-Line Progression


War to the Eagle

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For anyone with coaching experience or those close to the program: How long does it typically take for young offensive linemen to improve or for a new offensive line to gel? We're just in a unique situation we haven't been in for almost ten years, where our line is almost brand new.

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Most of these guys have been in the system for one or more seasons and have probably been playing football for 5+ years.  They should already have the basic skill set necessary to line up and play. 

Having said that, I understand that some time is needed to get in the groove but what we are seeing on offense right now goes way beyond simply not gelling as a group...

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I know Herb Hand gets a lot of hate because of the play of our line and what he left...but I was impressed with the OL at Texas today...we seem to be caught up on the Auburn family...but the makeup of an offensive line is to be nasty and so far I haven't seen that nastiness from our line...I do agree with the announcer tonight, Ashley needed help and never got it...lack of coaching!!!

If our D-Line is so 'elite', why not move them over to OL....I'm sure most of them played both ways back in high school.... 

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20 combined starts between them heading into the season. It was going to be bad all along. This same group won't be world beaters next season but they will be improved big time. You can't drop such a green OL into the SEC and expect them to be a positive for the team. Is it discouraging they are way behind where even those with low expectations thought they'd be? Absolutely. But seeing as you can't really upgrade your OL personnel that much in 1 off-season I'm just hoping the line starts to show something tangible to build off of for next season.

SOMETHING. ANYTHING. 

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We are 6 games into the season. What you see is what we are at this point. I would not expect anything different for the remainder of the year. Will it be better next year? Not sure. I think we have to do something at center and right guard before we improve next year. Not sure how we get a grad transfer at those 2 positions. Our center (which ever one is playing) continues to get mauled by the opposing team. There is a never a push by our guy. Our right guard seems always a count too late to the block or blocking the right guy. These 2 positions problems IMO are not "technique" or "chemistry", I believe it is a pure talent thing. We have to have an upgrade at those positions next year or we are looking at a lot of the same thing.

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I've been wondering if the O-Linemen are simply skipping out on their S&C sessions.  So often some of them are simply being overpowered.  

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Ashley did need help. That was an elite pass rusher that must be located and chip blocked by Cox. Especially coming from the weak side. Then you let Cox release to a check down in the flat. 

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1 hour ago, alexava said:

Ashley did need help. That was an elite pass rusher that must be located and chip blocked by Cox. Especially coming from the weak side. Then you let Cox release to a check down in the flat. 

Amazing how all of us saw that, the BSPN crew saw and even commented on it, but Grimes, Lindsey and Gus all failed to see it.

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43 minutes ago, AU-24 said:

Amazing how all of us saw that, the BSPN crew saw and even commented on it, but Grimes, Lindsey and Gus all failed to see it.

This is one of my biggest knocks on Gus and his offensive staff.  They NEVER make adjustments.  The others are not playing to your strengths (we all knew O line and RB were questionable and were not considered strengths this year) and not developing players (especially QB's).  

I don't know if it's from just plain stubbornness or ignorance or both.  

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12 minutes ago, auelvis87 said:

This is one of my biggest knocks on Gus and his offensive staff.  They NEVER make adjustments.  The others are not playing to your strengths (we all knew O line and RB were questionable and were not considered strengths this year) and not developing players (especially QB's).  

I don't know if it's from just plain stubbornness or ignorance or both.  

I’ve been a supporter of Gus for sometime now. Something as simple as not using a FB to chip block, when your young, second string offensive linemen is being abused by an elite pass rusher along the line, has really changed my opinion of him and the whole offensive staff.

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29 minutes ago, AU-24 said:

This is one of my biggest knocks on Gus and his offensive staff.  They NEVER make adjustments. 

This.   Huge problem.

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I think a key issues is that we have not had much in terms of elite O Line talent last few years. Yes, Ashley was highly rated by some Agencies but I don't recall other guys being elite players. I think went u start with a group who is not elite, unless u found a few diamonds in the rough, the jelling, improvement, producing at SEC level is going to take that much longer.  Just my thoughts. Need to start with a great foundation of talent and then develop to maximize that talent. 

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Are our opponents citing Greg Robinson as a reason not to come here? Why are we getting out butts kicked in OL recruiting from a school that prides itself for punching you in the mouth in the run game?

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Just now, Tiger said:

Are our opponents citing Greg Robinson as a reason not to come here? Why are we getting out butts kicked in OL recruiting from a school that prides itself for punching you in the mouth in the run game?

Why in hell would they do that 

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2 minutes ago, alexava said:

Why in hell would they do that 

Just like any other position in the Gus offense our opponents can say "it will not prepare for you the next level one iota, come to our school instead". G-Rob, for as great as he was for us is absolute garbage in the NFL.

It just so happens our offense and our playcalling requires our OL to dominate the DLs. So when we miss on our top OL prospects this is what we end up with.

I'm just wondering why we struggle to attract top OL players.

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He was a #2 pick and had 5 years to succeed. You can’t put that on any coach. If anything it should be a selling point. You got a garbage player drafted 2nd overall. Folks get crazy in what you can blame a coach for. 

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1 hour ago, AU-24 said:

I’ve been a supporter of Gus for sometime now. Something as simple as not using a FB to chip block, when your young, second string offensive linemen is being abused by an elite pass rusher along the line, has really changed my opinion of him and the whole offensive staff.

:bow:

It's boneheaded situations like this that test any fans loyalty to the staff as a whole.  The dang announcers saw what was happening from the booth, yet our own OC had to see it from his box, the Gus/Grimes saw it from the sidelines and collectively they refused to make the necessary adjustments on the line.  The announcer who was supposed to be unbiased, sounded so frustrated that our coaches were leaving our guy out there on his own and he was getting schooled on every damn snap - He emphasized, "get him some help" over and over.

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as far as grimes goes he used to have some nasty linemen and i am pretty sure when he came back he said during the spring that they were not mean enough. it is a head scratcher for sure. but as far as losing quality lineman to other schools maybe they are getting money and other items for signing?

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3 hours ago, AU-24 said:

I’ve been a supporter of Gus for sometime now. Something as simple as not using a FB to chip block, when your young, second string offensive linemen is being abused by an elite pass rusher along the line, has really changed my opinion of him and the whole offensive staff.

This should have been seen in films and planned for during the week.  But, then again Gus doesn't change anything based on what the defense is doing.  I don't know if he even watches the upcoming defenses. 

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20 minutes ago, around4ever said:

This should have been seen in films and planned for during the week.  But, then again Gus doesn't change anything based on what the defense is doing.  I don't know if he even watches the upcoming defenses. 

The whole game was painful to watch. To me, the most painful was the scenario that we’ve described above.

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18 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

as far as grimes goes he used to have some nasty linemen and i am pretty sure when he came back he said during the spring that they were not mean enough. it is a head scratcher for sure. but as far as losing quality lineman to other schools maybe they are getting money and other items for signing?

For a few years now, people have said AU has missed out on the highest ranked Olinemen and RB's.  It's got to be the $$! 

I'm sure it can't be that they actually watch Auburn games, see the product our coaches put on the field?  Surely they see that they'll get top shelf training, development and elite coaching that will not only allow them to compete at the highest level in the college ranks but also get them drafted in the early rounds in the pro's?  [SARCASM]

When you look at the teams we're losing these olinemen to, how are they developing those talented players, how are those teams playing overall, are they putting a quality product on the field, are they winning at a high level, are those teams dominating in the trenches consistently? Are those highly recruited players showcasing their talents on those teams?

Surely they aren't just avoiding Auburn because all they really want is the $$ and swag on the side?  [SARCASM]

I like you aubiefifty ~ I know my response to your post may sound condescending and crass, I mean no ill will towards you in any way.  I just get so frustrated and irritated when folks point to other programs cheating, paying players to get recruits as if that's the only reason the 4-5* recruits would want to sign with those programs. 

I'm an AU alum with 2 kids currently enrolled at AU and I'm spending hard earned $$ on season tickets, travel expense, etc. and if I don't like what I see on the football field or the product our coaches are putting on the field, then what the hell do the parents of a top rated 4-5* recruit think?  

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i have no problem with that. we can disagree and still be civil. no heartburn here...........

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39 minutes ago, keesler said:

For a few years now, people have said AU has missed out on the highest ranked Olinemen and RB's.  It's got to be the $$! 

I'm sure it can't be that they actually watch Auburn games, see the product our coaches put on the field?  Surely they see that they'll get top shelf training, development and elite coaching that will not only allow them to compete at the highest level in the college ranks but also get them drafted in the early rounds in the pro's?  [SARCASM]

When you look at the teams we're losing these olinemen to, how are they developing those talented players, how are those teams playing overall, are they putting a quality product on the field, are they winning at a high level, are those teams dominating in the trenches consistently? Are those highly recruited players showcasing their talents on those teams?

Surely they aren't just avoiding Auburn because all they really want is the $$ and swag on the side?  [SARCASM]

I like you aubiefifty ~ I know my response to your post may sound condescending and crass, I mean no ill will towards you in any way.  I just get so frustrated and irritated when folks point to other programs cheating, paying players to get recruits as if that's the only reason the 4-5* recruits would want to sign with those programs. 

I'm an AU alum with 2 kids currently enrolled at AU and I'm spending hard earned $$ on season tickets, travel expense, etc. and if I don't like what I see on the football field or the product our coaches are putting on the field, then what the hell do the parents of a top rated 4-5* recruit think?  

Totally agree. And beyond that, five well-scouted and well-developed 3* OLs in a coherent, competent offense would be performing at a much higher level than these guys, who average ~4*s. 

We don't need 4-5* guys to look like we know what we're doing. Gus needs to fix that first before anyone comes crying about talent. 

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My question is how did the line go from The Washington Gam (where they looked decent) to the Miss State game where they look like the worse line we have ever fielded. I just don't understand that

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