First off, this is really another OL thread... just taken from a different angle.
Think about it, Florida is supposed to have a decent defense this year, but how do you rate their 2015 DL compared to any of their last 10? Compared to what you usually see from them. Forget our OL for a second....
...Probably dead last. Yes, they have some good players, but no sure fire first-rounders playing right now. This is actually our easiest matchup w them in some time. They are way down from their own own standards historically.
Same thing with Missouri. Way, way down from last couple of years.
UGA doesn't have anything earth shattering. No nose tackle that can't be handled or ends that figure to end up with tons of sacks (yes their LBs are solid). DL remains their weakest link other than CB.
Arkansas' 2015 defensive line is not as good as Ole Miss was in 2014. They lost two NFL guys off of last year's unit. Even Bama has a dropoff when that happens. So will Arkansas.
And Bama is Bama (but outside of Hand, no sure fire NFL guys on that line and that is actually pretty rare for them).
South Carolina doesn't have much of anything sensational. Even Oklahoma doesn't have what they had last year (although they obviously still have some players)
Point is, is that IF we had to pick a year to have a suspect o-line, this is actually it. We have a very mobile and dangerous QB-so a lot of ends won't be trying to haul ass up the field like they were on Worley; we have All Conference caliber skill players all over the place-so holes don't always have to be huge and yards will still be gained when the blocking isn't perfect; and we aren't exactly facing the Steel Curtain anywhere around the conference. We also figure to have a defense that can get us some really good field position, probably fairly often. AND we are breaking in fewer true freshmen than at any point recently-so assignments should be better.
All this panic and consternation about "this guy sucks" "that guy sucks" "that rep in that drill" etc etc etc is so pointless by now. We have our guys. They have theirs.
We start last year over with Dobbs at QB and with that same OL even still minus Gilliam, and we would have beaten UGA (only lost the third quarter) and easily have beaten UF and finished 2014 at 8-4 and everyone is walking around saying our OL was a 5 out of 10 as compared to the 3 out of 10 we ended up getting the stigma of having.
A year of additional maturity means our 3 or 5 out of 10 in 2014 is now a 6 out of 10. Which is not awesome. BUT, we are gonna play a bunch of 6 and 7 out of 10 d lines. We aren't playing any Terrance Cody's or Dante Fowlers or Marcel Darius' that I can locate. The relative difference isn't nearly as much in 2015.
I think our practices will prove harder than almost all of our games. And I would encourage people to at least consider that for a second each time they have the OL freakout. Yes, we need to get healthy. We need to get the guard spot tightened down, but Crowder will be better than he was last year. We know Jashon is better. Kerbyson is clearly better-we can all see it ....and Coleman Thomas literally began at ground zero, so he had no choice but to improve.
Combine that with the fact that in almost every game we will play against an easier defense than we did in 2014 and roll out a far more diverse and dangerous playbook than we did in 2014 (so no selling out against us) and I think the games are gonna go a lot different this year. On an absolute basis we still have OL issues. On a RELATIVE basis they are nowhere near last years.
Hell, even our coaches have had an extra offseason to manage around the issue, and that has to count for something.
I obviously have no idea what will actually happen, but I do not see a team on the schedule that we can't score 30 points against. Medley is solid. The defense will help at times, and we simply aren't playing anything all that scary across the ball.
So for every "not Coleman Thomas" try to also repeat a "but no Dante Fowler" and "but no Shawn Ray"
Think about it, Florida is supposed to have a decent defense this year, but how do you rate their 2015 DL compared to any of their last 10? Compared to what you usually see from them. Forget our OL for a second....
...Probably dead last. Yes, they have some good players, but no sure fire first-rounders playing right now. This is actually our easiest matchup w them in some time. They are way down from their own own standards historically.
Same thing with Missouri. Way, way down from last couple of years.
UGA doesn't have anything earth shattering. No nose tackle that can't be handled or ends that figure to end up with tons of sacks (yes their LBs are solid). DL remains their weakest link other than CB.
Arkansas' 2015 defensive line is not as good as Ole Miss was in 2014. They lost two NFL guys off of last year's unit. Even Bama has a dropoff when that happens. So will Arkansas.
And Bama is Bama (but outside of Hand, no sure fire NFL guys on that line and that is actually pretty rare for them).
South Carolina doesn't have much of anything sensational. Even Oklahoma doesn't have what they had last year (although they obviously still have some players)
Point is, is that IF we had to pick a year to have a suspect o-line, this is actually it. We have a very mobile and dangerous QB-so a lot of ends won't be trying to haul ass up the field like they were on Worley; we have All Conference caliber skill players all over the place-so holes don't always have to be huge and yards will still be gained when the blocking isn't perfect; and we aren't exactly facing the Steel Curtain anywhere around the conference. We also figure to have a defense that can get us some really good field position, probably fairly often. AND we are breaking in fewer true freshmen than at any point recently-so assignments should be better.
All this panic and consternation about "this guy sucks" "that guy sucks" "that rep in that drill" etc etc etc is so pointless by now. We have our guys. They have theirs.
We start last year over with Dobbs at QB and with that same OL even still minus Gilliam, and we would have beaten UGA (only lost the third quarter) and easily have beaten UF and finished 2014 at 8-4 and everyone is walking around saying our OL was a 5 out of 10 as compared to the 3 out of 10 we ended up getting the stigma of having.
A year of additional maturity means our 3 or 5 out of 10 in 2014 is now a 6 out of 10. Which is not awesome. BUT, we are gonna play a bunch of 6 and 7 out of 10 d lines. We aren't playing any Terrance Cody's or Dante Fowlers or Marcel Darius' that I can locate. The relative difference isn't nearly as much in 2015.
I think our practices will prove harder than almost all of our games. And I would encourage people to at least consider that for a second each time they have the OL freakout. Yes, we need to get healthy. We need to get the guard spot tightened down, but Crowder will be better than he was last year. We know Jashon is better. Kerbyson is clearly better-we can all see it ....and Coleman Thomas literally began at ground zero, so he had no choice but to improve.
Combine that with the fact that in almost every game we will play against an easier defense than we did in 2014 and roll out a far more diverse and dangerous playbook than we did in 2014 (so no selling out against us) and I think the games are gonna go a lot different this year. On an absolute basis we still have OL issues. On a RELATIVE basis they are nowhere near last years.
Hell, even our coaches have had an extra offseason to manage around the issue, and that has to count for something.
I obviously have no idea what will actually happen, but I do not see a team on the schedule that we can't score 30 points against. Medley is solid. The defense will help at times, and we simply aren't playing anything all that scary across the ball.
So for every "not Coleman Thomas" try to also repeat a "but no Dante Fowler" and "but no Shawn Ray"
