I think the Offensive Line will take at least 3 years with a good OL coach. Probably need one of the best to get some good ground next year.
3 years to get where? Serviceable? Middle of the road in the B1G? Top 1/4th of the B1G?
I think if you get a couple of good players from the portal/juco they can become serviceable next year. Serviceable being not worst in the B1G, but still bottom half.
See what Illinois has done. I don't think they have the best OL, but they went from fucking awful to now they have the leading rusher in the nation.
I honestly don't know why our offensive line is this bad. I don't blame it on Raiola, because between recruiting and the last few years of shitty development, no coach could have came in here and fix this sinking boat.
It is a combination of stuff.
- Guys who are playing out of position.
- Turner needs to be an OG/C, but injuries forced their hand.
- I don't think they communicate that well. They are "ok" when they get their hands on their guy, but they really struggle with picking up blitzes and passing off stunts. Most of that is communication IYAM. Now part of that is losing 3 OL that you expected to have and trying different combinations. You have no synergy in communication because you don't have a group you can gel with.
- I don't think Whipple is doing them many favors.
- You get 4-7 QB runs a game and it would help them out a ton. There was at least 2 plays where I wished they would have had a read on or would have kept it bc the DE was spiking hard.
- I don't think you need to do QB run game, but you need to have a way to control the box though. If that is that swing pass off a box count RPO or a glance route to Trey when the safety is getting down in the box.
- We also ran it 12 fucking times with Grant who was averaging 5 yards a carry. Why not feed him more with back up QBs in the game? If there was ever a time to try and establish the running game it was then.
I don't blame Raiola that much because he is without 3 guys I think could help them. The one thing I would be critical of him is how bad we have been at pass pro in picking up blitzes. That to me is communication/technique which is controllable.
I think going forward you need to have an identity of what you want your OL to look like and what you want them to do. After that align your staff, S&C/Nutrition and your recruiting efforts around it. I think the biggest problem Frost had was that wasn't lined up. You don't do that and the negatives get magnified.