How good has our recruiting been regarding our offensive line? This years schedule is tougher than last year's schedule, and if our line can't block then all those skill players will be ineffective.
how good is our offensive line?
- Thread starter rowdy roddy piper
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Omg for the 100th time, Paul Thurston has played the entire last two bowl games and played well! We have more then two guys with experience. Plus Farmer and Foster have had enough reps that if they're not ready now, they never will be! I think the line will be better than last years
OMG, I thought the guy who had the high snap problem graduated. Glad to hear we have all that great experience coming back, I was mistaken. GBR #Pipeline
Coach Cavanaugh wants to know what this "rotation" thing is that you speak of.
Oh, and don't ask him about it any more in a media interview.
There is a ton of competition for the positions; and improved conditioning by reports out of Spring ball. Players are learning extra positions and different combinations are being worked with. The sportswriters and Rivals have done a good job reporting on this. Not sure how much more can be done; certainly the coaches feel the pressure to rotate players and gain more experience where they can.
Was it Oregon that lost their center for the bowl game and then played poorly ? Makes the good play of our "subs " ; pretty impressive. So our players stepped up when needed; but I believe in rotation, both for experience and the effect on players playing with reserve energy stepped up as an advantage late in the game. A rotation should hammer at the other team. These are big people doing a difficult job; rotation keeps them fresh and can give an advantage. GBR
I would agree with you about the conditioning. I am not sure about the rotating aspect, other than coach Riley made a point recently that they wanted to rotate more. Last year, that wasn't happening much per coach Cav and he probably had his reasons too.
There are a couple of guys with some experience, but as a whole, the line will be a new unit this year. Also agree that guys have to step up. They very well could be an outstanding unit. It's just unknown at this point. Our offensive line play last year under a completely new system was decent given all the new changes etc.. I thought coach Cav did a good job.
Recruiting offensive linemen is a crap shoot. Its a precarious position which has more uncertainties than any other position group on a football field. There are a few reasons:
1. Its a dangerous position. You can be a 5-Star or you can be a 4th string walk on, and your potential for a freak injury is roughly the same. A lot of great Offensive line recruits never see the field or reach their potential because of the high propensity for severe injuries to their lower extremities.
2. Toughness is magnified on the offensive line and you can never totally be sure if a kid has the right mentality to constantly "butt heads." If kid is 6'4 280lbs with monster strength and quickness at 16, there is a good chance he is bigger, stronger, and faster than everyone he faces in High School. But what happens when every opponent is just as big and strong? Can he handle it?
3. Recruiting rankings can't project many future star offensive linemen 2 or 3 years into the weight room. There are many kids playing high school football right now who are in the 6'3 to 6'5 240 to 260 lb range. Some of these dudes have never even played on the Oline... But many of them have the right body type, frames, work ethics, and mentality to become big time offensive linemen by adding weight and not losing athleticsm. Spencer Long is a great example. You can recruit a 4-Star, and he can get his ass kicked by a guy like Long 30 months after arriving on campus.
"Recruiting well" along the offensive line can be a bit misleading.
Now, Offensive tackles pan out far more than interior offensive linemen... Guards and Centers can often be "hit or miss." Tackles stick out like sore thumbs. In order to be a great tackle at this level, you must have a long frame, long arms, and tremendous feet. Elite offensive tackle are like unicorns. Everyone wants one, but they're hard to find. Ironically, Nebraska has 2.
LT- Nick Gates - Freshmen All-American last season was a former 4-Star recruit and arguably the most recruited offensive player on the Huskers roster.
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/maple/144685
LG- DJ Foster- Former US Army All-American will start. Dylan Utter started every game at LG last season. He's returning, and the coaches have already slated Foster ahead of Utter. 4-Star on Scout.
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/maple/133903
C- Paul Thurston - The coaches have moved Utter to center because Thurston has some class conflicts this Spring and they don't want Utter at Guard anymore. Don't let that move fool you. Thurston will be the starter at Center. He was a former Rivals 250 player and a 4-Star. He has also started the last 2 bowl games at Center and has played exceptional.
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/maple/99028
RG- Tanner Farmer or Corey Whittaker- This position battle will go down to the last few days of Fall Camp. Farmer is the former top 100 recruit/ Wrestler/ slash devastating run blocker. Whitaker has been around since 2012 but endured 2 different ACL injuries. Folks close to the program think Whitaker might be the most complete linemen on the team. He redshirted in 2012, tore an ACL in 2013, came back in 2014, tore another ACL in 2014, and has finally been healthy for a full 12 months. He was not heavily recruited, but was actually the top offensive linemen for the #1 team in California.
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/maple/150490
or
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/maple/132633
RT- David Knevel - Is a 6'9 320lb human Sun Block. I'm not drinking the Kool Aid when I say he's going to be a star. This Canadian Land Mass had offers from Alabama, Baylor, Wisconsin, Stanford, and many more out of HS. Some folks think he should already be slated to start at LT and just keep Gates at RT. Knevel will be the breakout player of 2016. 4-Star on Scout.
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/maple/128509
Has Nebraska recruited well up front? Sure.... but offensive line success takes more than recruiting well to be sustained.
I do believe Nebraska will have outstanding pass protection again. Their tackles are very good, and Riley's staff teaches pass pro as well as any staff in the country.
If the front line stays healthy, the OL should be solid and perhaps quite good. If things pan out as Corn predicts above, we will have an experienced backup in Utter along with either Farmer or Whitaker also in reserved. But what about quality backup tackles? Does the Farniok kid get a look? It would be great to get back to the days of red shirting great OL talent, but maybe we aren't there yet.
OL might be the #1 position that gets slapped with that "if healthy" label. There is some talent there, the coaches seem to like the pieces that they have. I don't get the impression that they feel like they're brimming with game-ready depth, however, and they are young at some key spots.
Some very nice OL will be true freshmen, and we know how that transition goes from being 100 lbs bigger than everyone in HS to playing against grown men in the trenches at a major D-1 school.
Some very nice OL will be true freshmen, and we know how that transition goes from being 100 lbs bigger than everyone in HS to playing against grown men in the trenches at a major D-1 school.
The depth at tackle is NOT good.
Christian Gaylord, 6'7 300 lbs Redshirt Freshmen had offers from Texas and Ohio State. He's very athletic and was highly recruited, but still lacks proper upper body strength and has never played...
Sam Hahn - 6'6 300 SR Walk On transfer from South Dakota State - Certainly looks the part, but hasn't contributed much...
That's it... They may move Whitaker to Tackle if needed... Its certainly a concern going forward.
Farniok may get a look, but true freshmen offensive tackles are usually a recipe for disaster, even big name recruits like Farniok.
Chances are one of the other tackles will play, a lot if there is an injury. Will it be Gaylor, Hahn or Whitaker?
Its a great question. I think it won't be decided until September.
Who will start at RG and who are the back up tackles, and what order will they fit in are the 2 primary questions on the Oline.
There is one other outside possibility:
Utter could get the nod at Center, and they may move Thurston over to RG, but only if Farmer isn't ready to go or if Whitaker is needed at Tackle. Either way, I believe Thurston is a starter in 2016.
Great posts everyone, thanks. Lots of great info and opinions. It isn't as bad as I thought.
Barnett will only be a redshirt FR. I would guess he is still a year away.
I am surprised Hannon hasn't transferred.
Just so everybody maintains proper perspective, Ohio St has better OL recruits. Carry on.
Can David Knevel just get it over with and legally change his name to Paul Bunyan? 
I'm excited to see what the O-line is capable of this year. I agree with most of the posters on this thread, though; we've been recruiting really well lately (Barnett, Farniok, Raridon) and some of the elite talent that has been waiting in the wings are ready to step up and go, but I would say we're still 1-2 years away from consistent, dominant O-line play, and only if recruitment and development keeps trending upward.
I'm excited to see what the O-line is capable of this year. I agree with most of the posters on this thread, though; we've been recruiting really well lately (Barnett, Farniok, Raridon) and some of the elite talent that has been waiting in the wings are ready to step up and go, but I would say we're still 1-2 years away from consistent, dominant O-line play, and only if recruitment and development keeps trending upward.
I do think Garrison recruited some pretty darned talented kids his lat two years. IMO, we are going to see better development from Cav. I'm excited to see what some of these guys can do.Can David Knevel just get it over with and legally change his name to Paul Bunyan?
I'm excited to see what the O-line is capable of this year. I agree with most of the posters on this thread, though; we've been recruiting really well lately (Barnett, Farniok, Raridon) and some of the elite talent that has been waiting in the wings are ready to step up and go, but I would say we're still 1-2 years away from consistent, dominant O-line play, and only if recruitment and development keeps trending upward.
Coach Cavanaugh wants to know what this "rotation" thing is that you speak of.
Oh, and don't ask him about it any more in a media interview.
I never once heard this argument when we were great. The fact is everyone wants rotation when we have difficulty running. There were zero complaints about rotating the line against UCLA. I don't see the NFL teams I watch closely rotate linemen. They always play the best 5 so if someone goes down the best player remaining rotates in even if another lineman has to switch positions. I see that all the time. So I'm with Coach on this.
The pros can go free agent if a started gets lost. If your coaching college developing talent is a must but I can see where this staff would be happy with ONE great season to go out on.
Name the other major programs that rotate offensive lines.
what builds depth is beating crap teams decisively and then getting your backups some game experience beginning in the late 3rd quarter.
I misspoke, name the other major programs that rotate offensive linemen when the game is not in hand.
You gonna point out misspoken words or answer the question?
You really didn't know what I was talking about? The discussion is rotating OL. That is what I meant. I only added the caveat of 'when the game is in hand' because I didn't want any BS answers about how Alabama played 9 OL during the Florida A&M game last year.
The discussion is how people think that Nebraska should rotate offensive linemen. So the question is, what other major programs rotate offensive linemen? And since semantics are very important and so is clarity, please do not include garbage time. Because we all want the back-ups to play when the game is in hand.
You guys know that NU used to play multiple guys along the line back when they were the #1 rushing school every year, right? Let's not carry it to a stupid extreme and act like one series we play these 5 guys, next series we play the other 5 guys. But why are we suddenly acting like o-linemen are the one position on the field that is immune to getting tired? If you can give a guy a rest every now and then, that's a good thing.
We talk all the time about wanting a good rotation along the d-line...why would we not want that on the o-line? Unless the backups just suck, you want fresh guys to wear them down.
We talk all the time about wanting a good rotation along the d-line...why would we not want that on the o-line? Unless the backups just suck, you want fresh guys to wear them down.
Very good.
*** T O did rotate; wanted to win the 4th quarter. Of course we subbed a lot when game was out of hand; but T O sometimes caught a critic for playing hard deeper into the 3rd quarter until he thought the game out of reach from an unlikely comeback.
*** People speak in absolutes on their own opinions at times here; according to their great memories. Many teams talk of their top 8-10 line rotations; probably more on D.
*** N did rotate more deep into T O's career. He said something about depth and a substitute with 95% of starters talent ; can be better than a tired starter playing at 80% - and they were to pound them .
*** Rotation is good for recruiting IMO. Also you will likely find players who are more of a gamer or excel against certain fronts or types of players. Even coaches are subject to their own preconceived notions.
Daggers all around.
An Oasis of memory and logic amongst the omnipotent !!! Thanks !! Why not have those svelte O-linemen play special teams also : they are warmed up and you avoid the drop off. Have many on here never played?
