General Question

[AUesquire 1]

With some form of the spread being used by more and more teams around the country, it seems that the overall size of offensive linemen has dropped. I could be wrong and maybe it's just my own perception; however, AU/UGA was a good example this weekend. AU has a much smaller line than in recent years, in part because Tony Franklin purposely had them drop weight in the off season. Pugh is in the 270's while Bosley and Ziemba won't clear 290. The spread formation requires quicker, faster linemen and you've already seen some of our recruiting efforts target a couple of smaller OLinemen. In looking at Georgia's rotation, I saw one guy around 330, but most of them were in that 280-295 range.

If that's the case, I think it's a good thing as it almost appears that this game is being played by freaks, for lack of a better term, when everyone across an offensive line is going 6'7" and 335. I was at a practice in 04' and recall the offensive linemen running some sprints right by me. I remember the damn ground shaking and that every one of them in one group was well over 300 pounds, with guys like Marcus McNeil and King Dunlap. The year after I graduated high school from Jeff Davis, they won the 6A state championship. (Long time ago...**ahem 1979 cough**). There wasn't a guy over 205 across the line. Now, you'd better have kids at least 230-250 if you want to compete in 2A ball.

Personally, I wonder how healthy it can be to carry all that incredible size. I'm a big guy myself at 6'4" and 225 (Give or take a cheeseburger)but standing next to some of these players is downright scary. I've always wondered when...or if it would stop. Players have continued to get bigger each and every year and if the trend were to continue for say...about 10-12 more years, would we be ticked off if Auburn was offering some kid who was ONLY 6'6" and 345? The linemen on the 83' Sugar Bowl team would all be redshirted now until they beefed up. They had one tackle at 266 and I thought he was a freakin' monster.

Will the advent of the spread cause a smaller overall size in linemen? Could a heightened awareness about steroids result in smaller players? Would you like to see that or is it okay to be looking at the day when teams average 6'8" and 390 across the O-line?

[aunavy 0]

You are correct that our linemen have been "streamlined" this year. Unfortunately, I think it has really been detrimental to our overall line play especially when we tried to run the ball between the tackles. Frankly, our line just can't move the DL off the ball as we have done so well in the past.

I do not agree with the Tony Franklin model for linemen at the major D-1 level. Texas Tech's line is huge well in excess of 300 and most at the 330 level. I doubt anyone would suggest they are not pass blocking and, for once, running the ball effectively out of the spread formation.