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Really? The two classes that should be the backbone of our line this year are the classes of 2021 and 2022 as RS juniors and seniors. 2022 was already recruited by the time Raiola got here.
In those two recruiting classes combined, we took 3 linemen, total. Three (you need to take 4-5 per year to build an OL room, something Frost basically never did).
In 2021 we took Prochazka and Lutovsky. Prochazka has been plagued by injury. Lutovsky is a mainstay on the IOL.
In 2022 we took Justin Evans (recruited by Mike Dawson but coached by Raiola the entire time). He was a last minute offer - literally, he was offered 12/10, visited 12/14 and enrolled 12/15. He was a two star from NJ. Now he is the starting center and doing a good job.
We've had to backfill these from the portal and Raiola has pulled Ben Scott, a Hawaii connection, Spindler and Pritchett (who is playing much better this year than he did last year at Bama).
The class of 2023 is probably too young to be playing much now. In the B1G the typical pattern is that you are developed enough to start or play considerable minutes or by your RS junior year. It was a class assembled quickly after Rhule took over, and a lot of that class is gone. The 4 linemen are still here. Gottula is a member of the class and he was pressed into action early because of injury last year and did pretty well, considering. This year he is struggling after spending most of the offseason out of action after surgery. The other 3 (Sledge, Knutson, Maciejczak), on those guys we'll find out next year.
Raiola has recruited a number of guys in the classes of 2024-25 that are still in development, 8 as I recall, with another four committed in the class of 2026. The class of 2024 are only RS freshmen this season. It is unusual to see RS freshman OL play significant minutes successfully in the P2.
