O line?

Casualfan

Well-Known Member
In my short time on earth, this maybe the worst Iowa oline I remember. Is it coaching, recruiting, or what?
 
it’s pretty bad. seemed better early on so will be interesting to see if we look a bit better going forward. But it’s definitely a glaring issue. We need to run some screens and draws maybe early as fitz will be bringing the blitz all night I’d guess
 
it’s pretty bad. seemed better early on so will be interesting to see if we look a bit better going forward. But it’s definitely a glaring issue. We need to run some screens and draws maybe early as fitz will be bringing the blitz all night I’d guess

Unfortunately we have a qb who can't run and a below average oline, doesn't look like a quick fix.
 
It's recruiting misses.

We have exactly 1 senior offensive lineman on the roster. One. And he's not even 6 feet tall by his own admission. I'm 6'1" and standing next to the guy after the Spring game I easily have two inches on him height-wise. Fellas, Fryowa should never be significantly taller than a P5 starting O-lineman.

We have 2 freshman starting at tackle and guard. That might seem really awesome, and it would be if they were kicking ass...but they are the ones getting their asses kicked. When your best O-lineman are freshman at those spots and they are getting beat every play, that says that you have no sophomores, juniors, or seniors better than them.

We have a former walk-on sophomore at the other tackle. Again, that would be cool if he was getting the job done, but he's on his back or chasing after a guy about to sack his QB more often than he's blocking.

That's a recruiting issue when you have underclassmen coming into a B1G who can't get the job done starting over older guys who've been in the program longer. That's bad development and coaching, you say? Even with zero coaching and zero development, a high school kid not named Wirfs or Scherff etc. should not come into your building and beat upper classmen who've been in the Iowa weight room for 3-4 years.
 
Agree.
So how did none of our OL gurus see this coming?
There had to have been some JUCO's out there better than this.
Transfer portal?
I
 
It's recruiting misses.

We have exactly 1 senior offensive lineman on the roster. One. And he's not even 6 feet tall by his own admission. I'm 6'1" and standing next to the guy after the Spring game I easily have two inches on him height-wise. Fellas, Fryowa should never be significantly taller than a P5 starting O-lineman.

We have 2 freshman starting at tackle and guard. That might seem really awesome, and it would be if they were kicking ass...but they are the ones getting their asses kicked. When your best O-lineman are freshman at those spots and they are getting beat every play, that says that you have no sophomores, juniors, or seniors better than them.

We have a former walk-on sophomore at the other tackle. Again, that would be cool if he was getting the job done, but he's on his back or chasing after a guy about to sack his QB more often than he's blocking.

That's a recruiting issue when you have underclassmen coming into a B1G who can't get the job done starting over older guys who've been in the program longer. That's bad development and coaching, you say? Even with zero coaching and zero development, a high school kid not named Wirfs or Scherff etc. should not come into your building and beat upper classmen who've been in the Iowa weight room for 3-4 years.
All of the above. And to add to the recruiting miss talking point, I believe Linderbaum came in as a DT which means the fact we have even 1 serviceable (?) offensive lineman is an extremely pleasant surprise.
 
It's recruiting misses.

We have exactly 1 senior offensive lineman on the roster. One. And he's not even 6 feet tall by his own admission. I'm 6'1" and standing next to the guy after the Spring game I easily have two inches on him height-wise. Fellas, Fryowa should never be significantly taller than a P5 starting O-lineman.

We have 2 freshman starting at tackle and guard. That might seem really awesome, and it would be if they were kicking ass...but they are the ones getting their asses kicked. When your best O-lineman are freshman at those spots and they are getting beat every play, that says that you have no sophomores, juniors, or seniors better than them.

We have a former walk-on sophomore at the other tackle. Again, that would be cool if he was getting the job done, but he's on his back or chasing after a guy about to sack his QB more often than he's blocking.

That's a recruiting issue when you have underclassmen coming into a B1G who can't get the job done starting over older guys who've been in the program longer. That's bad development and coaching, you say? Even with zero coaching and zero development, a high school kid not named Wirfs or Scherff etc. should not come into your building and beat upper classmen who've been in the Iowa weight room for 3-4 years.
Knowing all of this I have to question why the staff didn't look into the portal for help? Was the staffs assessment that all would be fine and a look at the portal wasn't nessasary or was it a complete failure to assess the problem correctly?
 
Kallenberger deciding to be done playing was a big loss. Like losing a 1+ yr starter suddenly in the transfer portal.

Ince and Schott injuries are also major problems. Not near 100% and missed 'jelling time' w/ rest of OLine.

Put those 3 w/ Linderbaum and OLine would be good enought.

'Jelling time' essential when running a zone run offense and having the same 5 has a track record of improvement (as expected) over the course of a season.
 
It's way beyond recruiting misses. It must also be a miss in evaluating the roster. It's not like 2012 when two tackles were done for the season in one game. They haven't lost guys to injuries this year. There have been plenty of opportunities to add at least serviceable players in the transfer portal.
 
If recruiting misses are the excuse for such a poor OL, then what is the excuse for the recruiting misses?
What are we doing differently?
 
Reading predictions preseason we had an abundance of experienced lineman. Maybe I missed something but when did this prove to be untrue. Has upgrading our skill positions led to this?
 
Millions are being spent on this program and they don't have any senior classmen who are competitive? All they have to show for it are first and second year students? Are they recruiting for the late shift at Micky Ds?
 
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