OL vs DL
While we still have a bit of “off-season” left (especially before the first of the big OV dates tomorrow), I thought I’d take a quick note at the roots of why Eli Rasheed’s DL has developed so much faster than the OL.
This totally aside from the fact that developing OL usually takes longer than DL.
The answer, actually, is right there in CMC’s first two recruiting classes.
Let’s look at those classes, DL vs OL.
‘16
Jamahl Johnson DT 6’1” 319
Enyi Uwazurike DE 6’6” 250
Josh Bailey DT 6’3” 270
JaQuan Bailey DE 6’3” 235
Jerrion Nelson DE 6’2” 245
JC
Justin Stewart DE 6’3” 225
This ‘16 group was an interesting assortment of connections. Jamahl Johnson was a CPR commit. Enyi was a Toledo recruit who was a big academic risk. And JaQuan was arguably only signed away from Virginia Tech because of this brother.
That’s three contributing players right there.
A year later Ray Lima, Matt Leo and Kamilo Tongamoa were added. Lima was a fixture, and Leo and Tongamoa both saw snaps.
Now, over to the other side of the ball:
‘16 OL
HS
Sean Foster OT 6’8” 285
Keenan Forbes OG 6’3” 281
Josh Mueller OL 6’6” 275
JC
Oge Udeogu OG 6’4” 310
Karson Green OL 6’5” 290
So many swings and misses. Sean Foster was the only eventual contributor, and that wasn’t all that many starts across six years. Forbes was a straight up parallel of the risk signing Enyi—with the polar opposite result. Udeogu was chronically injured, though he was successful elsewhere as a grad transfer—and he and Green added zero help.
The only contributors added in ‘17 were JC Josh Knipfel and HS Colin Newell. Nothing wrong with those two, Knipfel paralleled Lima—but he filled one of five spots. In those two first classes, they added a grand total of three contributors.
Depending on how you define “contributors”, the DL had six on the same time period. Four of them major contributors. And that’s magnified by the simple fact that as Jon Heacock’s defense evolved, his three man front only requires 3/5 as many players as the OL needs.
Oh yeah…and in Year 3, Will McDonald was signed.
And this is the root of the OL’s slow development, right here. Had OL recruiting scored better early on, the room would established credibility sooner, and be in vastly better shape now.
Well, it’s getting there. It just took longer to upgrade recruiting…and of course, as mentioned, those guys take a bit longer to develop.
And yes, of course Coach Rasheed had something to do with it.
While we still have a bit of “off-season” left (especially before the first of the big OV dates tomorrow), I thought I’d take a quick note at the roots of why Eli Rasheed’s DL has developed so much faster than the OL.
This totally aside from the fact that developing OL usually takes longer than DL.
The answer, actually, is right there in CMC’s first two recruiting classes.
Let’s look at those classes, DL vs OL.
‘16
Jamahl Johnson DT 6’1” 319
Enyi Uwazurike DE 6’6” 250
Josh Bailey DT 6’3” 270
JaQuan Bailey DE 6’3” 235
Jerrion Nelson DE 6’2” 245
JC
Justin Stewart DE 6’3” 225
This ‘16 group was an interesting assortment of connections. Jamahl Johnson was a CPR commit. Enyi was a Toledo recruit who was a big academic risk. And JaQuan was arguably only signed away from Virginia Tech because of this brother.
That’s three contributing players right there.
A year later Ray Lima, Matt Leo and Kamilo Tongamoa were added. Lima was a fixture, and Leo and Tongamoa both saw snaps.
Now, over to the other side of the ball:
‘16 OL
HS
Sean Foster OT 6’8” 285
Keenan Forbes OG 6’3” 281
Josh Mueller OL 6’6” 275
JC
Oge Udeogu OG 6’4” 310
Karson Green OL 6’5” 290
So many swings and misses. Sean Foster was the only eventual contributor, and that wasn’t all that many starts across six years. Forbes was a straight up parallel of the risk signing Enyi—with the polar opposite result. Udeogu was chronically injured, though he was successful elsewhere as a grad transfer—and he and Green added zero help.
The only contributors added in ‘17 were JC Josh Knipfel and HS Colin Newell. Nothing wrong with those two, Knipfel paralleled Lima—but he filled one of five spots. In those two first classes, they added a grand total of three contributors.
Depending on how you define “contributors”, the DL had six on the same time period. Four of them major contributors. And that’s magnified by the simple fact that as Jon Heacock’s defense evolved, his three man front only requires 3/5 as many players as the OL needs.
Oh yeah…and in Year 3, Will McDonald was signed.
And this is the root of the OL’s slow development, right here. Had OL recruiting scored better early on, the room would established credibility sooner, and be in vastly better shape now.
Well, it’s getting there. It just took longer to upgrade recruiting…and of course, as mentioned, those guys take a bit longer to develop.
And yes, of course Coach Rasheed had something to do with it.
