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Oculus Spirit [80022]
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Simpson is the highest drafted OL that I can remember in recent
Apr 25, 2020, 12:26 PM
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years. When was the last time that we had an OL get drafted earlier than the 4th round?
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All-Pro [666]
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Re: Simpson is the highest drafted OL that I can remember in recent
Apr 25, 2020, 12:27 PM
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Brandon Thomas I think went round 3 for SF
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110%er [7114]
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It's telling
Apr 25, 2020, 1:13 PM
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Despite comments about "the best OL ever" at Clemson by the staff, in my opinion OL has continued to be a weak point for our team when it comes to the rushing game. It's shown several times recently against top competition when our OL had difficulty making any running room between the tackles for Etienne, a GREAT running back who just needs a step and he's gone. Virtually all of Etienne's has come when he runs laterally, not vertically, against the teams we have to beat to win championships. Imagine how much more deadly TL16 and our offense would be if we were a real run threat between the tackles. It would open up the middle of the field, and we wouldn't have to rely on so many 50/50 balls to sustain drives because the run is stuffed by teams with comparable lateral speed on the edge.
I'm not saying that I want us to be bama or uga; but we would definitely be more dangerous on offense if we could run between the tackles on teams other than Wake Forest and Wofford.
Message was edited by: Flying Tiger®
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Head Coach [752]
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Re: It's telling
Apr 25, 2020, 2:15 PM
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I don't disagree with you, however can't totally blame the OL for ETN running laterally. The shotgun with offset back hamstrings the RB who has to wait for the ball to be snapped and then wait for the handoff before he can even take one step forward.... and he gets the ball 4yds deep in the backfield. If you are looking for power running.. this ain't it.
THe other thing that has to be taken into account is that on called RPOs (most of our offense) the OL can't be as aggressive, because all our run plays are relatively slower to develop... AND they never know if it's going be a run or if TL is going to pull it and pass. So they have to be prepared to control their guy for 4+ seconds rather than the 2-3 needed for a called run play with the QB under center and a back taking the handoff moving vertically towards the LOS 1-2yds deep. It just hits faster and everyone is going to be more aggressive.
Not a complete pass for the OL, but it just makes things a little harder.
Offense has the advantage due to knowing, snap count, direction of the play, and run v. pass ... RPO gives flexibility after the snap but at the expense of giving back some of the inherent advantage that the OL would otherwise have. I think that we could open up a lot of things with some occasional formation changes. Putting TL under center occasionally and running some plays out of that would, in my mind in and of itself, help greatly. It is ok to play action pass out of a "running" formation if you want to throw.
If we want to establish the run, then we need to do things to make that happen. If not, then ok.
And we need to step up our OL recruiting game.. .which we have.
My $0.02. But it's worth less than that.
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110%er [7114]
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Good points - well said
Apr 25, 2020, 2:45 PM
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I agree that our offense isn’t geared for a lot of design runs and that the RPO game does put more pressure on the OL. I’m not saying our OL is bad; just that in my view it has not been a strength. If you are forced to move laterally it neutralizes what would be a strength when facing teams with speed. We need to be able to utilize the middle of the field more.
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Head Coach [752]
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Re: Good points - well said
Apr 25, 2020, 8:55 PM
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Oh, I agree with you. Not a strength. Due to several reasons, IMHO. But i think we are fixing...
However,
My opinion is that we could do so much more schematically to open things up and help overcome that weakness... and with the same talent on the field produce a running game that would open up our passing game even more.
TL under center (with a ETN behind him for example). There is a pass threat. There is play action (frontside) where TL can throw or run. You can run a traditional option. There is a playaction boot (if to the left, TL is most accurate). ETN is a quick threat up the middle or off tackle. TL can drop back. TL can sneak. TL can take a step back and follow an OG. OR, we could go under center and shift out of that. Or start in the shotgun and shift into it.
Can run the same plays but give so much more for the opposing DC and players to think about... the more the Defense thinks pre-snap, the slower they react.
TL and ETN are super athletes.. we are not exploiting the threats that they present, IMHO.
Tight Ends.. another cause of lateral running. If our TE's aren't moving DE off the ball then OL pulling have to belly out and by definition outside sweeps get stretched laterally. If you want to establish the run, we also need to have some TE's that will no kidding road grade. I don't think that we have them.
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