ADVERTISEMENT

FOOTBALL The O-Line last season was terrible...

I couldn't tell you the last time our OL was "good"

It was decent for Brent's senior year when we made the championship game, and it was decent when Mathers had his great year, but it's been a huge black eye on the team most other years and a big achilles heel.

How we've kept the same OL coach(es) amazes me. Tony Franklin talked about how he liked our OL this year, but I personally never bought it. They might have looked good in the preseason going up against our pedestrian front 7, but any time we faced an opponent with a real front 7 we had trouble. Not gonna pull up our YPC stats, but I bet they're terrible.

I complained and complained and complained during Brent's sophomore and junior years because I felt the roster management was terrible from the OL perspective. We simply didn't have enough on the roster IMO. We then went and signed 6 OL players with the 2018 class to increase our numbers at the position and another 4 OL players in the 2019 class.....and it really didn't seem to help. We should, hopefully, start to see the fruits of these classes going forward at the OL position. But one really has to wonder at this point if it's a coaching issue.
 
I couldn't tell you the last time our OL was "good"

It was decent for Brent's senior year when we made the championship game, and it was decent when Mathers had his great year, but it's been a huge black eye on the team most other years and a big achilles heel.

How we've kept the same OL coach(es) amazes me. Tony Franklin talked about how he liked our OL this year, but I personally never bought it. They might have looked good in the preseason going up against our pedestrian front 7, but any time we faced an opponent with a real front 7 we had trouble. Not gonna pull up our YPC stats, but I bet they're terrible.

I complained and complained and complained during Brent's sophomore and junior years because I felt the roster management was terrible from the OL perspective. We simply didn't have enough on the roster IMO. We then went and signed 6 OL players with the 2018 class to increase our numbers at the position and another 4 OL players in the 2019 class.....and it really didn't seem to help. We should, hopefully, start to see the fruits of these classes going forward at the OL position. But one really has to wonder at this point if it's a coaching issue.

The OL was horrible his senior year. That dude got it done just on pure will. It's a shame Brent wasn't given better pieces around him. We could have gone on a Boise type run with him as the QB. I don't want to oversimplify because stats can be misleading and don't always tell the whole story. However, this is pretty telling. Brent was sacked 40 times his senior year. As quick as he got rid of the ball it's hard to believe. Just tells you how bad our line was and how poor the backs were in protection. He was sacked once every 12 pass attempts as a senior. Think about that.

The last time the line was good was his freshman year. He was sacked only once every 29 pass attempts as a freshman. In total he was sacked more as senior than the other three years combined. And when you consider the running game only averaged 3.6 yards per carrie the OL was garbage that year. It was good his freshman year and kept getting progressively worse each year. Boggles the mind that the head coach didn't go out and recruit the best possible line to protect his own son.

It was even worse this year, which is why Asher had to run around for his life.
 
It’s a wonder Little Stock didn’t get killed. First, he was clocked in Pro Day with 4.7 speed which is avg. for a RPO QB. Many DE’s and blitzing LB’s run 4.6 and 4.5. Then throw in a terrible offensive line.

He sufffered an ACL tear in HS before the title game with Maryville.
Then he comes to MT and running for his life suffers a cracked sternum (from a sack), broken collarbone, right shoulder injury and a high ankle sprain.
 
It’s a wonder Little Stock didn’t get killed. First, he was clocked in Pro Day with 4.7 speed which is avg. for a RPO QB. Many DE’s and blitzing LB’s run 4.6 and 4.5. Then throw in a terrible offensive line.

He sufffered an ACL tear in HS before the title game with Maryville.
Then he comes to MT and running for his life suffers a cracked sternum (from a sack), broken collarbone, right shoulder injury and a high ankle sprain.

I have two points of divergence from this.

1) A 4.7 - 40 for any QB is decent. Anything faster and you're talking a dual threat. IMO, Brent was more of a pro-style pocket passer with some athletic ability to operate outside of the pocket. I wouldn't consider him a dual threat. And to that end Franklin ran Brent way too much especially considering the shoulder injuries.

2) The cracked sternum wasn't from a sack. He was injured after running up field, got tackled, and a 300 lb lineman jumped on him after he was already on the ground, which was a late hit and not called.
 
if you didn't already know it by just watching... here's a ranking that has MT line 122 out of 130
It's pathetic that a 14th year head coach has a unit ranked that poorly. And it's ridiculous that he is still a head coach but, hey, MT makes beer... and gives more blood than wku... and has a great APR...
 
I have two points of divergence from this.

1) A 4.7 - 40 for any QB is decent. Anything faster and you're talking a dual threat. IMO, Brent was more of a pro-style pocket passer with some athletic ability to operate outside of the pocket. I wouldn't consider him a dual threat. And to that end Franklin ran Brent way too much especially considering the shoulder injuries.

2) The cracked sternum wasn't from a sack. He was injured after running up field, got tackled, and a 300 lb lineman jumped on him after he was already on the ground, which was a late hit and not called.
Was the collarbone break from a sack? Maybe I got them confused.
 
I have two points of divergence from this.

1) A 4.7 - 40 for any QB is decent. Anything faster and you're talking a dual threat. IMO, Brent was more of a pro-style pocket passer with some athletic ability to operate outside of the pocket. I wouldn't consider him a dual threat. And to that end Franklin ran Brent way too much especially considering the shoulder injuries.

2) The cracked sternum wasn't from a sack. He was injured after running up field, got tackled, and a 300 lb lineman jumped on him after he was already on the ground, which was a late hit and not called.
So, if he was a pro-style QB with avg. speed, then Franklin was trying to use him in his offense like Dasher?
 
So, if he was a pro-style QB with avg. speed, then Franklin was trying to use him in his offense like Dasher?

IIRC, he actually broke the right collarbone on a sack against UTSA that cost him a good portion of his sophomore year. Actually now that I think about it he may have thrown the ball away. I vividly remember though he was forced out of the pocket to his right and the UTSA D-linemen drove him into the turf on his right side. On the injury against Syracuse where he fractured his sternum, I believe his left collarbone was dislocated in that injury. Hard to believe that dude led a fourth quarter comeback win with those injuries. Brent was a warrior. Not a lot like him around anymore. I will always have nothing but respect for that man.
 
I would exclaim "unbelievable!" On the other hand, it is entirely believable that this horribly stagnet football team has one of the worst OLs in College Football.

What sickens me even more is that I think the OL and DL are the most important positions on the team. It all starts on the line of scrimmage. I would not be surprised to learn that MT's DL was low rated this past season. Either way, MT had a poor overall record to match that ridiculously low OL rating.
 
In 2012, we had 2 OL coaches. Earlabee and the other dude that went to Texas Tech. We destroyed GT that year and played for the SBC title. Good year for the OL. 2013, Wade's first year. Big rebound in the latter half and beat Marshall. After that, we went downhill.
 
It's coaching. We have 2 dudes coaching the line that don't know their butts from a hole in the ground. Technique is not being taught and there is miscommunication all the time on the line. We have talent and plenty of size. We have more 3 stars on the line than we've ever had here. We have 2 dumba$$es coaching them. You could have a Ferrari but if Ray Charles is driving it, you're just gonna have an expensive mess to clean up and that's what we have at MT right now.
 
ADVERTISEMENT