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Ultimately I think a lot of us agree that if we go 8-4 the rest of our lives' in football we will never complain lol but... We were absolutely better than "8-4" this year and we should be better than that this year. Sustaining that is incredibly difficult though.. especially for us. OL play is the most underrated and least talked about aspect in all of sports, when you factor in it's importance imo. I don't really think anything compares.... only thing would be big time pitching (but that isn't exactly underrated lol) 

Anyways.. for us to consistently expect an 8-4 season or for us to ever have a chance to truly, regularly compete at a BIG time level... the OL has to be better to significantly better. It was a miracle Penix and Fryfogle torched OSU, it was basically a miracle that we had the game winning drive vs. PSU... there were DL draped all over MP those entire two games. Now PSU and OSUs DLs are two of the top 10 in the country. OSUs might be the best year in and year out. 

But... the last two bowl games we have played teams (SEC) that had big time athletes on the DL.. we struggled to say the least. We added ZC at Center and he could be as impactful of a transfer as there is in the country. Sales, Carpenter, Bedford, Jones, Benson had some people after them in HS, but we need to up the ante even more. Hopefully guys like Holtz, Wiginton, and Feeney develop... but to me... this year if we are going to be as good as we could be... Sales and Benson have to be ready to go and Nworah and Powell play sparingly. 

Carpenter 6'5 320

Sales 6'6' 320

Benson 6'6 320

Jones 6'8 360

Bedford 6'6 310 

That's beef, that's talent. There'd be some inexperience there. Sales and Benson wouldn't have any starts, but Sales would have been on campus since January, Benson will have been on campus 1.5 years, Carpenter will be on his 3rd year on a college campus and started some at UM. Idk if moving Sales or Bedford inside is an option, but I would like it to be lol... we still have Katic, as well.. and I think he's solid. I think the 5 I have listed have a chance to be a special group.. but we have GOT to start moving people. 

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No doubt about it, our OL needs to be better.  According to PFF data, we had one of the worst pass blocking OL in all of P5 football last year (63 out of 65).  We did a great job of getting the ball out quick to help with that, but we can't always rely on that.  Bedford rated as the worst pass blocking tackle in the conference, but the best run blocking tackle.  He seems like a great candidate to move inside.

I thought our run game was really vanilla last year, and Allen has said they kept it really basic because of how crazy the year was.  He's talked about adding more to it to make it less predictable.  Hopefully Sheridan does a good job of keeping defenses on their toes and helping out the OL.

I've said before that I'm not the biggest fan of Hiller.  Not that he's necessarily bad, but I don't really think he moves the needle.  Kind of like Hagen on the DL was.  We upgraded there when we got Peoples, and I'm not convinced we couldn't upgrade from Hiller.  We've had some good/great individuals under him, but the unit as a whole has never been anything special since he's been here.   He's never had a group higher than 8th in the conference in run or pass blocking.  I hope he proves me wrong this year.  The size and talent are there.

I agree with the 5 you have listed.  Carpenter at C, Benson and Bedford at G, and Jones and Sales at T.  That could be a really good group.  Not sure if there's any chance of Bedford or Sales moving to guard though.  I feel like that would have been done this spring, and I didn't see any talk about it.  Not that it can't still happen, but I'd think it's a long shot at this point.  Seems like Bedford could be a great fit at guard though.

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38 minutes ago, Leathernecks said:

No doubt about it, our OL needs to be better.  According to PFF data, we had one of the worst pass blocking OL in all of P5 football last year (63 out of 65).  We did a great job of getting the ball out quick to help with that, but we can't always rely on that.  Bedford rated as the worst pass blocking tackle in the conference, but the best run blocking tackle.  He seems like a great candidate to move inside.

I thought our run game was really vanilla last year, and Allen has said they kept it really basic because of how crazy the year was.  He's talked about adding more to it to make it less predictable.  Hopefully Sheridan does a good job of keeping defenses on their toes and helping out the OL.

I've said before that I'm not the biggest fan of Hiller.  Not that he's necessarily bad, but I don't really think he moves the needle.  Kind of like Hagen on the DL was.  We upgraded there when we got Peoples, and I'm not convinced we couldn't upgrade from Hiller.  We've had some good/great individuals under him, but the unit as a whole has never been anything special since he's been here.   He's never had a group higher than 8th in the conference in run or pass blocking.  I hope he proves me wrong this year.  The size and talent are there.

I agree with the 5 you have listed.  Carpenter at C, Benson and Bedford at G, and Jones and Sales at T.  That could be a really good group.  Not sure if there's any chance of Bedford or Sales moving to guard though.  I feel like that would have been done this spring, and I didn't see any talk about it.  Not that it can't still happen, but I'd think it's a long shot at this point.  Seems like Bedford could be a great fit at guard though.

Benson wouldn't have practiced at all this spring though right? so maybe they could be waiting to see if he's healthy enough? 

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I saw an article somewhere that Jones played at a whopping 390 last year.  Losing structure due to Covid hurt him in terms of his habits.  You get him down to 350-360 and that could be a big deal as far as improving his movement.   Katic starting as a freshman says a lot about his potential if he keeps grinding.  I’d love to know if Sales can get ready to start this year.  It is a lot to ask, but it can be done.  Scruggs and Cronk both started at LT as true freshmen.  

Edited by BobSaccamanno
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42 minutes ago, BobSaccamanno said:

I saw an article somewhere that Jones played at a whopping 390 last year.  Losing structure due to Covid hurt him in terms of his habits.  You get him down to 350-360 and that could be a big deal as far as improving his movement.   Katic starting as a freshman says a lot about his potential if he keeps grinding.  I’d love to know if Sales can get ready to start this year.  It is a lot to ask, but it can be done.  Scruggs and Cronk both started at LT as true freshmen.  

It was actually 395.  Don't forget those 5 extra pounds!  I'm sure they make all the difference.

Says he wants to get down to 345-350.  There were definitely a few times he got worked on the outside.  In the Penn State game, he got absolutely abused a few times.  Dropping 40+ pounds would make a big difference in him being able to block quicker guys.

I hope we quit bouncing Bedford and Jones back and forth.  I know they're worried about protecting Penix's blind side, but at what point is continuity better than the difference in their pass blocking ability, or the ability of someone behind them.

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