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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 869355, member: 289"] I decided that now that we have completed the football season, I’d look back at what I said in my season preview and talk about how things worked out. I’ll focus on the players and my discussion of various departments of the team. OFFENSIVE LINE Then: Last year’s line was the key to the 6-1 run that ended the season but we’ve lost Justin Pugh, our best linemen in years and Zach Chibane. Sean Hickey was nearly as good as Pugh at the other tackle and Mackey McPherson has been a big surprise, starting out, (in people’s view), as a guy who was given a scholarship just because he was Dick MacPherson’s grandchild, becoming an undersized center and becoming one of the anchors of the line. The Sporting News even has him as their pre-season All-ACC center. He’s built himself up from 259 to 286 pounds. That scholarship looks like a good investment now. Rob Trudo looked like a coming star when he got a shot at guard last year. But we still need to replace Pugh and Chibane. I don’t think we can really replace Pugh, who was both a great player and a leader. But we need to fill his position with someone who can get the job done. Surprisingly, his replacement is Ivan Foy, the guy Trudo displaced at guard. Foy’s been a guard all through high school and college. A recent article in the Post Standard says that he’s shown the quickness needed for the position but needs to learn the “nuances”. We’ll see. I think most of the problems on his side of the linearly last year were due to Lou Alexander, who was terrible. Chibane’s guard spot will go to Nick Robinson of Baldwinsville High School. I saw him play in some local high school games, (at the highest level we have in this state) and he was a monster, dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides. I’m kind of surprised he wound up on offense but he’s all football player and I predict he’ll be a success wherever they play him. I’m not sure about depth here although I’ve heard good things about Jason Emerich at center and Kyle Knapp at tackle. The group may be a bit undersized. The projected starters average 291 with Foy the only 300 pounder at 318. Everybody else is under 290. But I like that. I believe linemen need to “Get thar firstest with the mostest”. Getting there first is the most important part of that. In the G-Rob era we had 320 pound linemen whose greatest skill was pulling the quarterback or running back up off the turf and saying they were sorry. The Broncos have been known for years for their 280 pound O-linemen- and for all the points they score. Now: For years we had mediocre or poor offensive lines. Even our successful teams had trouble sustaining drives- it was mostly big plays by great players. When we ran out of great players, we stopped scoring. The last two seasons have been very encouraging. We again had a good offensive line. Allen and Hunt were sacked only 18 times and we averaged 4.6 yards per rush. What I really like is that we did that while replacing to very good linemen from the previous year. Replacing people is what college football is all about and it’s the sign of a good program when you can do it. We have to do it again. Mackey McPherson will be gone and he’s been ben a stalwart performer and a team leader, as you’d expect from his lineage. But the other four starters, Sean Hickey, Nick Robinson, Rob Trudo and Ivan Foy. Hickey might be ready to jump to the pros but I haven’t heard that he will. Jason Emerich looks like he could be a good center, replacing Mackey. I’ve heard good things about Kyle Knapp, Michael Lasker and Omari Palmer. Kendall Moore could move inside. So it sounds like we will have a another good O-line next year. Hunt, Morris, MacFarlane and the receivers will get a chance to show what they can do. [/QUOTE]

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