Tell me about the O-line

[orangenauburn]

to be fair bnoro - you have Macky in your profile pic ... a little bias perhaps?

I agree with the poster who said Robinson will be a player ... serviceable as a back up this year ... pushing for starter time next year

 

[billsin01]

I seriously just said that based on rating services Trudo deserves a fair shake. Chill Phat i think that Mac is average and you think that anything Doug does is better than average. We simply and seriously disagree.

I won't try to speak for Phat here, but I think his point was simply that recruiting services mean absolutely nothing whatsoever to begin with. They mean even less once kids are on campus. This isn't baseball where a bonus baby is going to get extra rope b/c of the cash laid out to sign him. It's not even basketball where starting assignments and minutes are sometimes doled out based on egos to make sure the team is getting as much as it can out of each player. The number of stars a guy got is forgotten by coaches second the players get to campus (obviously not by fans). Macky may have gotten an extra look and a quicker scholly offer b/c of his name (I'm not sure, just conjecture), but I'm fairly certain he's not going to fend off challenges by more talented, equally dedicated players on the basis of said name.

 

[bnoro]

to be fair bnoro - you have Macky in your profile pic ... a little bias perhaps?

I agree with the poster who said Robinson will be a player ... serviceable as a back up this year ... pushing for starter time next year

Profile Pic was the best one I could find for the whole team. I have never spoken with or met Macky and have no bias toward him or any other player (except for Twon). Just sick of all the BS haha

 

[kcsu]

I won't try to speak for Phat here, but I think his point was simply that recruiting services mean absolutely nothing whatsoever to begin with. They mean even less once kids are on campus. This isn't baseball where a bonus baby is going to get extra rope b/c of the cash laid out to sign him. It's not even basketball where starting assignments and minutes are sometimes doled out based on egos to make sure the team is getting as much as it can out of each player. The number of stars a guy got is forgotten by coaches second the players get to campus (obviously not by fans). Macky may have gotten an extra look and a quicker scholly offer b/c of his name (I'm not sure, just conjecture), but I'm fairly certain he's not going to fend off challenges by more talented, equally dedicated players on the basis of said name.

Fair enough my point is that i dont think he is very good. I realize that everyone considers Chibane the weak link but in watching the games on TIVO i would say that Mac is just as bad as Chibane. We had nothing out of those two on short yardage situations i mean nothing. By the fourth game once teams had film on us we couldnt get a yard when we needed it if our life depended on it. Again by all accounts the kid is super and well liked by all. He just doesnt have the strength and size to be an above average D1 center. We shall see and im sure he will be much better this year so who knows he may end up all conf and im the last guys on this board to tell you if he is a good center or not all im going by is what i see. As to the scholorship there is no doubt that being Macs Grand kid got him the scholorship which isnt a bad thing i just find it funny that people have a hard time admitting it as it happens all over the country.

 

[billsin01]

Fair enough my point is that i dont think he is very good. I realize that everyone considers Chibane the weak link but in watching the games on TIVO i would say that Mac is just as bad as Chibane. We had nothing out of those two on short yardage situations i mean nothing. By the fourth game once teams had film on us we couldnt get a yard when we needed it if our life depended on it. Again by all accounts the kid is super and well liked by all. He just doesnt have the strength and size to be an above average D1 center. We shall see and im sure he will be much better this year so who knows he may end up all conf and im the last guys on this board to tell you if he is a good center or not all im going by is what i see. As to the scholorship there is no doubt that being Macs Grand kid got him the scholorship which isnt a bad thing i just find it funny that people have a hard time admitting it as it happens all over the country.

Yeah, I agree with the last point. He doesn't get a scholly w/o the name but I also agree that it's not all that rare (Tregg Duerson -- son of Dave Duerson -- got an ND scholly and literally looked me running around out there. I think he lasted one semester). Obviously Mac can play a bit, which is good.

I don't watch closely enough to argue certain OL vs. others. My general opinion on it is that it simply needs to improve significantly and that it stands out as an eyesore considering that a key coaching hire (adkins) and the freaking head coach are supposedly OL coaches. I also get a bad feeling b/c I'm not sure how likely it is to see OL play jump drastically in Year 4 or Year 5 with the exact same coaching. (note: I'm not saying anything derogatory, merely that it's an area that has to improve significantly for us to think about getting where we want to go.)

 

[MattyL]

Yeah, I agree with the last point. He doesn't get a scholly w/o the name but I also agree that it's not all that rare (Tregg Duerson -- son of Dave Duerson -- got an ND scholly and literally looked me running around out there. I think he lasted one semester). Obviously Mac can play a bit, which is good.

I don't watch closely enough to argue certain OL vs. others. My general opinion on it is that it simply needs to improve significantly and that it stands out as an eyesore considering that a key coaching hire (adkins) and the freaking head coach are supposedly OL coaches. I also get a bad feeling b/c I'm not sure how likely it is to see OL play jump drastically in Year 4 or Year 5 with the exact same coaching. (note: I'm not saying anything derogatory, merely that it's an area that has to improve significantly for us to think about getting where we want to go.)

I guess I'm in the camp that finds it very hard to believe that Marrone would simply hand out a scholly to a kid b/c of his last name. Especially when, as it turns out, the kid ends up starting every game of his Soph year. Macky might end up starting close to 40 collegiate games in his career. That doesn't typically happen to a kid who didn't deserve the scholly.

 

[bnoro]

I guess I'm in the camp that finds it very hard to believe that Marrone would simply hand out a scholly to a kid b/c of his last name. Especially when, as it turns out, the kid ends up starting every game of his Soph year. Macky might end up starting close to 40 collegiate games in his career. That doesn't typically happen to a kid who didn't deserve the scholly.

Yep. Even if he gave an undeserving kid a scholly, I don't think he would start him every game if the kid wasn't the best on the team.

 

[billsin01]

Yep. Even if he gave an undeserving kid a scholly, I don't think he would start him every game if the kid wasn't the best on the team.

i agree with this. I was more pointing out that the practice of giving kids offers based on names isn't that unusual -- Tregg Duerson was one I pointed out. And didn't MJ's kid end up at Illinois even though he was not overwhelmingly talented? And the Golic brothers ending up at ND -- one seems decent the other is depth at best.

But no, I don't think Marrone would start him if he didn't deserve it. I also don't think he'd offer if he didn't think he had a solid chance of contributing. I just tend to think that the coaches probably gave him an extra look and were maybe a bit easier with an offer than they may have been if he didn't have connections to the program. Doesn't mean it's unfair or a bad decision -- obviously since he's a returning starter at this point. I just don't think it's irrational to think he got a bit of extra consideration due to the name. And that's not a bad thing either since all these kids get ranked and reviewed somehow. Would you rather take a kid with another inch or two and 20 more pounds of muscle when you know the kid in your backyard will work hard, comes from a school that is important to recruit, has connections to the program and has at least some relevant skills?


Anyway, I admit, I don't know. I could be totally wrong. As I said in a previous post, this is obviously conjecture and, I would add, somewhat irrelevant since he's already proven to be at bare minimum a solid contributor.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Fair enough my point is that i dont think he is very good. I realize that everyone considers Chibane the weak link but in watching the games on TIVO i would say that Mac is just as bad as Chibane.

With our oline last year we had a collection of guys with strengths and weaknesses that just didn't mesh. It's sometimes hard to tell who's missed an assignment unless you have an idea how the they play was supposed to be blocked. There were alot of chip blocks that were light brushes or even misses on the left side interior of the line which is why the left side A gap and B gap were constantly exploited.

If you grade guys on a 1-5 scale (5 being highest) how would you rate them?

On passing plays I saw:
Pugh = 5, Chibane = 1, Macky = 3, Tiller = 2.5, Hay = 1.5

On running plays I saw:
Pugh = 4, Chibane = 2, Macky = 2, Tiller = 4, Hay = 3

 

[Crusty]

I have to admit that I am totally confused about Mac. He seems too small and not athletic enough to overcome the size/strength issues. He seems to lose match-ups all the time from the games I have seen. Perhaps, I am wrong about that but it seems to be what I see most often.
I don't think much about the last name scolly thing. I do know that nobody has beaten him out for his spot and his position has not seemed to be a priority so the staff must see something in him or, perhaps, other needs have been greater priority.
Perhaps he will fit better with the new changes to the offense. Anyway, he's Orange so I continue to root for him.

 

[JackBauer44]

Mackey got owned in one game last year and that was Wake. They also has an all conference nose guard. People give Mackey way too much .

 

[CuseCrew08]

How many teams in the BE would Macky start at C for this year? How many in the ACC?

I have no idea, I am curious to see what people think.

 

[MikeSU02]

Yep. Even if he gave an undeserving kid a scholly, I don't think he would start him every game if the kid wasn't the best on the team.

Yeah, I'm definitely not as bullish on Macky as you are, but I can't imagine DM is thinking to himself, "you know what, I'll just keep riding this out to appease Mac and the old guys at Tipp Hill and we'll deal with it".

I look at the OLine as something that can be coached up as a unit. So maybe Macky isn't all world, but we know what he can/can't do (along with the other guys) and develop our system with what we have.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Mackey got owned in one game last year and that was Wake. They also has an all conference nose guard. People give Mackey way too much ****.

Nikita Whitlock. That guy was a beast until the 2nd half when he was absolutly gassed. Funny thing is he's actually not any bigger than Macky and play NG.

 

[Hoov50]

i agree with this. I was more pointing out that the practice of giving kids offers based on names isn't that unusual -- Tregg Duerson was one I pointed out. And didn't MJ's kid end up at Illinois even though he was not overwhelmingly talented? And the Golic brothers ending up at ND -- one seems decent the other is depth at best.

Marrone is more selective when it comes to legacy recruits than most, even more so than Robinson. I had a player play for me who had he not missed his junior year with an injury I really thought was D1 material. His father actually played with Marrone. Robinson's staff was ready to offer him when he was fired. When Marrone came along they no longer had a scholarship left. I still think he could have played for SU, but it does illustrate that Marrone isn't just handing out scholarships based on a kid's last name!