Was the O-Line that broken in the final 5 games? Outside of Clemson, that group isn't a who's who of the top defenses in the ACC.
Yes, we were playing third string linemen at times. Hickey, Trudo, Palmer, Foy, Hayes, Robinson were all playing injured. I believe Robinson ended up being out for the year. Roberts had to burn his redshirt and Ward almost did. These guys were really the walking wounded.
Add injuries to Estime, Broyld, Custis, Lewis, Enoicy, Moore, Parris. Estime, Broyld, for most of the year with Enoicy the whole year. You would think that we were on a sitcom by the end of the year with GMcD playing Radar. I believe McFarlane was banged up also.
Finally, add to that the fact that Hunt down for the year, Long was out multiple games, and Wilson went down with either ribs or concussion (forget which one). At one point West was the backup QB.
Yes, there were many guys on last year's team that could have played well in the 90's. Ishmael, West, Erv Phillips, PTG, Custis, Hunt, probably AJ Long, Hickey, Ron Thompson, Davis, Lynch, Eskridge, Whigam, maybe Morgan.
I would not put PTG in that list. He, outside a couple of games, hurt the team more then he helped. If you go back and watch there are multiple times in most games where he really really hurt the offense. I am not sure what got into him last year, but he decided he wanted to get all Barry Sanders which he is not. His strength was making one cut and hitting the hole, last year he would dance behind the line. Multiple times he even ran backwards trying to shake defenders and loosing major yardage. He def made the OLine look worse than it was. Erv proved that the line was not as bad as he was able to make the hole after one cut. I heard rumors that there were possible some past behaviors that haunted him in his early career on the hill. We really needed Jerome last year or more of AM.
Haven't see enough of Custis. Whigham was getting abused last year and he was supposed to be one of our lock down corners. I don't see Long being more than a Nunes or R.J Anderson. I really love the kid but don't see him being more than a transition QB between Hunt and the next QB. I hope I am wrong but, if he doesn't get the nod, I hope he is willing to pull a Kevin Johnson. I think the next multiple year starter was recruited in this class or will be recruited in the 2016 class.
The scheme really did hurt us last year after the injuries. We needed to be more of a South North team and trying to play the East West game with so many playing injured killed us. It is much easier for a linemen to play head on when they are injured. Added to that, I don't think we had the type of players to play that type of scheme. Many youngins saw early Pt when they should have had a redshirt. Last year reminded me of the 2011 team and the effects injuries played on that team.
As much as we might blame the scheme, it def was not right for us and the OC was majorly indecisive, people seriously majorly under estimate how bad the injuries hurt us last year added with the 8 game stretch. We played some major teams head up in the beginning of the year.
If we could have avoided the injuries, I see us beating BC, Pitt, and NCS possibly Duke. We gave Maryland the game and out gained them by something like 400 yards. Think Rutgers game when we had something like 5 turnovers.
David Hale @DavidHaleESPN
