Prognosis positive for the future of the OL

[Don]

The offensive line is one area of a football team that needs cohesion and teamwork. It is also the one area of a team that if you have cohesion and team work you don't need superstars to have a really good offensive line. I see good young talent that barring catastrophe could basically be playing together the next 2 years at least with several more young guys get a chance to fully redshirt and not be pressed into action like Byrne and Evans before they are quite ready.

We are taking some lumps now no doubt and didn't play great last week, and have occasional breakdowns but progress is being made. More progress will be made when we have better experience in the system by the wr and a more experienced qb who doesn't take off and start running at the first sign of trouble and force the young ol to basically watch there backs all the time, the qb and the line playing and learning together and learning to trust each other and the system together will shoe huge dividends by next year.

I'm not sold on the younger talent we have in other places like the defensive backs as that takes more individual talent than an OL but, I think by the middle of next year when we now have several good , not great, lineman playing with 15 or so games together working with a qb who trusts them we could see some of the best offensive numbers and consistent pass and run numbers we will ever see here.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Age and experience will definitely help, but there needs to be a huge talent upgrade on this roster. This is not ACC caliber talent. Even with experience, the current roster is going to struggle. We have a tendency to overrate our talent. The recruiting rankings tell us who we are.

 

[texascpa]

Man, I hope you're right Don. They seem to be regressing, but that's probably a symptom of the injuries we've had. That said, they weren't stellar before those injuries either.

 

[JHarris44]

Never like to 'hate' on any one player..so lets call it being critical? As a former medicore olineman, watching Lasker play pains me. Hopefully with Conway back he never sees meaningful playing time again.

 

[TheCusian]

Age and experience will definitely help, but there needs to be a huge talent upgrade on this roster. This is not ACC caliber talent. Even with experience, the current roster is going to struggle. We have a tendency to overrate our talent. The recruiting rankings tell us who we are.

Indeed. But even with that there is enough to win vs 2/3 of the conference teams we play. BC, Wake are comparable to us. NC State and Pitt are close enough. VaTech too. We are not catching Louisville, Clemson, or FSU for at least 2-3 years - if ever.

 

[SWC75]

I remeber Joe Namath doing the color for the 1/1/1989 Hall of Fame Bowl and saying he'd noticed that SU's offensive line was full of sophomores and he felt their "lack of experience" would be telling, so we predicted an LSU win. What he didn't realize was that that group had stated a a total of 105 games and gone 20-2-1. Besides, no one is inexperienced in a bowl game- they've just played an entire season and made a bowl game!. SU won 23-10.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Indeed. But even with that there is enough to win vs 2/3 of the conference teams we play. BC, Wake are comparable to us. NC State and Pitt are close enough. VaTech too. We are not catching Louisville, Clemson, or FSU for at least 2-3 years - if ever.

That's true, but we're not catching LSU or Miami next year either. Everyone keeps saying Pitt is an equal. How many times have we beaten them in the past 10 years? They've dominated us.

 

[djorange1989]

I remeber Joe Namath doing the color for the 1/1/1989 Hall of Fame Bowl and saying he'd noticed that SU's offensive line was full of sophomores and he felt their "lack of experience" would be telling, so we predicted an LSU win. What he didn't realize was that that group had stated a a total of 105 games and gone 20-2-1. Besides, no one is inexperienced in a bowl game- they've just played an entire season and made a bowl game!. SU won 23-10.

I remember watching that game, Joe kept saying LSU was going to wear us down. The good news is poor Joe didn't try and kiss anyone at halftime. to my knowledge.

 

[TheCusian]

That's true, but we're not catching LSU or Miami next year either. Everyone keeps saying Pitt is an equal. How many times have we beaten them in the past 10 years? They've dominated us.

That wasn't the question. Pitt has won a lot of games vs us. They've recruited better than us. They have won by a total of 4 points in the last two home games. And they're not FSU or Clemson talent wise.

And yeah, we're not going to catch those two teams either. But 2/3 of the teams we play every year in conference are winnable from a talent standpoint.

 

[Doc5120]

Never like to 'hate' on any one player..so lets call it being critical? As a former medicore olineman, watching Lasker play pains me. Hopefully with Conway back he never sees meaningful playing time again.

Sorry if it's been posted elsewhere, but is Conway back for VT?

 

[Chip]

Sorry if it's been posted elsewhere, but is Conway back for VT?

Back yes. To what extent, we don't know. But he was left off the injury report that was released last night.

Hudson and Butler were added to the walking wounded. Both out tomorrow.

 

[cusefan88]

Conway-Roberts-Byrne-Adams-RT will grow together. I got my money on Clark winning the RT battle in the spring. He's already 6'8 304.

 

[CuseOnly]

Conway-Roberts-Byrne-Adams-RT will grow together. I got my money on Clark winning the RT battle in the spring. He's already 6'8 304.

Not sure about that, McGloster has played pretty well at RT.

 

[cusefan88]

Not sure about that, McGloster has played pretty well at RT.

Well let's hope for some hearty competition that will push all the players.

 

[SWC75]

I remember watching that game, Joe kept saying LSU was going to wear us down. The good news is poor Joe didn't try and kiss anyone at halftime. to my knowledge.

Good news for Tom Hammond, too.

 

[SoBristol]

It is not just cohesion, teamwork and experience. It takes power to get a push and strength/agility to move an opposing DT and create a lane. We have had linemen who can do these things - Tiller for example or Pugh. Winning individual battles.

I don't see much of that from our young linemen. Maybe they get stronger year to year - but right now they are struggling.

 

[JHarris44]

Sorry if it's been posted elsewhere, but is Conway back for VT?

It looked to me like they were rotating in the first half (Conway and Lasker) and from my seat, when Dungey got blindsided and dinged up, I saw the back of Lasker's jersey. Then, I never noticed Lasker in the game again unless he was in on specials.

 

[PhatOrange]

It looked to me like they were rotating in the first half (Conway and Lasker) and from my seat, when Dungey got blindsided and dinged up, I saw the back of Lasker's jersey. Then, I never noticed Lasker in the game again unless he was in on specials.

yes, it was Lasker when Dungey got hit a few times and one time was just a real poor effort.

 

[SWC75]

It helps to have your best guys healthy. Yes, you need depth but there's usually going to be a significant difference between the guys who were intended to start and the guys who weren't.

 

[JoeSU]

It looked to me like they were rotating in the first half (Conway and Lasker) and from my seat, when Dungey got blindsided and dinged up, I saw the back of Lasker's jersey. Then, I never noticed Lasker in the game again unless he was in on specials.

I was about to post the exact same thing.

 

[NKR1978]

I prefer "Death Blow" to "Prognosis Negative."

 

[Dcuse]

It is not just cohesion, teamwork and experience. It takes power to get a push and strength/agility to move an opposing DT and create a lane. We have had linemen who can do these things - Tiller for example or Pugh. Winning individual battles.

I don't see much of that from our young linemen. Maybe they get stronger year to year - but right now they are struggling.

I disagree with this for the most part. From watching this line,one on one they have locked up pretty well. The problem has been with stunts and blitzes where one or two guys end up blocking nobody because of bad communication. When defensive guys have gotten to us behind the line, it's been because of one of our guys rotated to the wrong guy and left somebody unimpeded to the backfield.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Age and experience will definitely help, but there needs to be a huge talent upgrade on this roster. This is not ACC caliber talent. Even with experience, the current roster is going to struggle. We have a tendency to overrate our talent. The recruiting rankings tell us who we are.

The NFL tells us who we are.

 

[NC'cusefan]

The best is yet to come. Give all of those redshirts a chance to get in next year.

 

[SoBristol]

I disagree with this for the most part. From watching this line,one on one they have locked up pretty well. The problem has been with stunts and blitzes where one or two guys end up blocking nobody because of bad communication. When defensive guys have gotten to us behind the line, it's been because of one of our guys rotated to the wrong guy and left somebody unimpeded to the backfield.

Seems you are focusing only on pass blocking -- my comment was about run blocking. On run blocking, our guys don't get a decent push. There are reasons we have to pass on first and goal from the one. Maybe they will get better.

Pass blocking -- well, Dungey is getting hit a lot, and moving the pocket to avoid pressure. There may be several reasons for that, as you suggest. It does not help that the defense does not need to respect our running game.