O-Line Depth

HawkleberryFinn

HawkleberryFinn

Well-Known Member
We're not deep at OL this year, but depth is a going to be a huge concern next year. The medical losses of Brett Waechter and Spencer Williams really hurt. Lucas LeGrand and Jake Newborg not panning out hurt too. I haven't heard of any OL "stories" coming out of camp. It would be nice to see Austin Schulte or Coy Kirkpatrick come on--we're hurtin.
 
It had a hell of a lot more problems last year. If you look at this year. I think we are going to know exactly how much depth we have after the first game. If Paulson and Kallenberg can hold their own...well...that's a good thing. If they can't...well...pray that Wirfs and Jackson don't get hurt. I'm of the mind that the options are much better than last year. Banwart has been discussed several times...sounds like he's right there at one of the guards. There is another Paulson...and a few others. Let's see how NIU goes.

I actually think the depth gets better next year...with some other young players getting another year with Doyle. You will also have Ezra Miller too. It's really hard to imagine there will be anyone Better than Ezra next year. I never get tire of that. Man, it's going to be nauseating after four years though.
 
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HawkleberryFinn said:
I think the 2019 OL class will be good. But to expect them to be contributors year 1 is stretching it.
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See James Daniels, Tristan Wirfs. Miller is 305 heading into his senior year and competing exceptionally well against the best high school DEs in the country at all the high level camps. He's going to be very difficult to keep off the field if he comes in at 310 and moves like he does. I know it's difficult...but I think he plays guard out of the gate and that's a spot that may have an opening. You have Wirfs, Jackson at the tackles, Banwart goes to center, and the Paulsons lead the pack at the guard spots. Miller will be trying to beat one of them out.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
See James Daniels, Tristan Wirfs. Miller is 305 heading into his senior year and competing exceptionally well against the best high school DEs in the country at all the high level camps. He's going to be very difficult to keep off the field if he comes in at 310 and moves like he does. I know it's difficult...but I think he plays guard out of the gate and that's a spot that may have an opening. You have Wirfs, Jackson at the tackles, Banwart goes to center, and the Paulsons lead the pack at the guard spots. Miller will be trying to beat one of them out.
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Here is a podcast with Tim Polasek from this past summer:

They asked him about true freshmen playing this year (right around 18 min). He says the freshmen they have this year are "a little different than Wirfs and the guys we have coming in next year, though I can't comment on them yet." He goes on to say that this year's freshmen OL probably will not contribute this season as they need more development, though they have to prepare like they might.

It seems that Polasek thinks some of next year's class might be able to step in right away.
 
Banking on freshmen saviors is never a good policy. It also reflects the health of a position group. Our deficiencies are due to attrition and unrealized development.
 
HawkleberryFinn said:
Banking on freshmen saviors is never a good policy. It also reflects the health of a position group. Our deficiencies are due to attrition and unrealized development.
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There is a great distance between a savior and a contributor. A savior indicates that without that person, the unit would be doomed.

A contributor means he is slightly better than the returning players, giving a slight boost to the overall talent level, or at least he is even and gives a boost to the depth.
 
HawkleberryFinn said:
Banking on freshmen saviors is never a good policy. It also reflects the health of a position group. Our deficiencies are due to attrition and unrealized development.
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We are talking about one freak, ala James Daniels, to break into a unit dominated by older guys. Even our offensive line coach, a year before he gets here, alluded to it.
 
I don't understand why OL has been a weak link for the last couple years. And apparently some believe the OL is again a concern this year.
Don't we have a reputation as 'OL U' - placing many Iowa OL in the NFL?
If so, why the apparent fall off in talent and depth?
 
We had more experience coming in last year, but they weren't in good shape injury wise to start off the year.

Starting tackle Boone Meyer had a leg problem which would keep him out.
Starting center James Daniels wasn't 100 percent - Can't remember what?
Backup tackle Ferguson was out for season since spring ball.
Further down the depth chart. ----------
LeGrand was out by the end of fall camp.
Landen Paulsen was still recovering from injury.
Than you lose tackle Ike Boettger early in the season.

________________

This year you have a center and guard to replace.
Levi Paulsen is coming back from injury at the end of last year.
LeGrand and a couple of developmental guys are gone for good.

The interior starters are seniors and juniors. The Tackles sophomores. All of the starters have game experience. In the second string Kallenberger, Banwart, Dawa, and Landen Paulsen have no game experience. So they are pretty green at the second level.

It looks like more of the usual on offensive line this year, which at Iowa isn't a bad thing. It's a little light on experienced starters. I would put the ceiling fairly high for this group going in, as far as what they are capable of. And we don't know much about the #3s & developmental guys, which is not unusual at this point of the year.
 
SCHawkeye2 said:
I don't understand why OL has been a weak link for the last couple years. And apparently some believe the OL is again a concern this year.
Don't we have a reputation as 'OL U' - placing many Iowa OL in the NFL?
If so, why the apparent fall off in talent and depth?
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Some of this goes back to when Greg Davis wanted to recruit fast guys at wide receiver and other skill positions. So they went in heavy on recruiting speed guys and went a little short on scholarships of offensive linemen. They brought in a larger bunch of preferred walk-ons to develop. Iowa also lost some key recruiting battles for local talent for the offensive line.

The results weren't bad on the offensive line, but the fact that we had a large contingent of walk-ons has been something to bitch about, for those so inclined. Recruiting speed guys went ok at runningback, but the fast guys at receiver either couldn't catch the ball or understand the routes/reads.

Over all, Iowa has had four average years and one very good season out of five years. So the glass is half full, half empty, or both. In any case we can stop blaming Greg Davis this year. This one is totally on the current staff.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
It had a hell of a lot more problems last year. If you look at this year. I think we are going to know exactly how much depth we have after the first game. If Paulson and Kallenberg can hold their own...well...that's a good thing. If they can't...well...pray that Wirfs and Jackson don't get hurt. I'm of the mind that the options are much better than last year. Banwart has been discussed several times...sounds like he's right there at one of the guards. There is another Paulson...and a few others. Let's see how NIU goes.

I actually think the depth gets better next year...with some other young players getting another year with Doyle. You will also have Ezra Miller too. It's really hard to imagine there will be anyone Better than Ezra next year. I never get tire of that. Man, it's going to be nauseating after four years though.
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i think the OL depth gets better in '19 just because they'll get PT this season. when i think of depth i think of players with experience. so, our depth is lacking experience this season, so to me, that isn't depth. it's potential depth, but not actual depth.
 
ArvadaHawk said:
i think the OL depth gets better in '19 just because they'll get PT this season. when i think of depth i think of players with experience. so, our depth is lacking experience this season, so to me, that isn't depth. it's potential depth, but not actual depth.
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ArvadaHawk, where's the best place to watch the Hawks in the Denver area?
 
HawkleberryFinn said:
ArvadaHawk, where's the best place to watch the Hawks in the Denver area?
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i'll be honest with you finn, i don't live in CO anymore. but, i was told that it used to be the Sports Column. if you're gonna be in D-town on a football saturday, call them and find out. my recollection is that it used to be owned by an iowa alum or alums. honestly, i used to get too worked up to drive that far, drink on a saturday morning (remember MT time so game time is 10am) so i would just watch from home.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
We are talking about one freak, ala James Daniels, to break into a unit dominated by older guys. Even our offensive line coach, a year before he gets here, alluded to it.
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Back in the latter Fry days, Ross Verba fit that description. From day one, I was a huge Verba fan and knew he would be something special - and not just in college either. That said, it still made me wonder either if he was really that, that good to be playing as a true freshman, or whether it was that the alternatives were just that bad. I believe I came to the conclusion it was more than a little of both.
 
ArvadaHawk said:
i'll be honest with you finn, i don't live in CO anymore. but, i was told that it used to be the Sports Column. if you're gonna be in D-town on a football saturday, call them and find out. my recollection is that it used to be owned by an iowa alum or alums. honestly, i used to get too worked up to drive that far, drink on a saturday morning (remember MT time so game time is 10am) so i would just watch from home.
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Yeah, I hear ya on that "time" thing. We were in Seattle for the Illinois game last fall. Bar was still cleaning up from the night before when I ordered my Bloody Mary!
 
ArvadaHawk said:
i'll be honest with you finn, i don't live in CO anymore. but, i was told that it used to be the Sports Column. if you're gonna be in D-town on a football saturday, call them and find out. my recollection is that it used to be owned by an iowa alum or alums. honestly, i used to get too worked up to drive that far, drink on a saturday morning (remember MT time so game time is 10am) so i would just watch from home.
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It used to be owned by Donny Stalkfleet along with the SpoCo in Iowa City. He now owns neither of them. That bar was the hangout back in the day - always athletes in there. My friend got in a fight with Colin Cole there almost 20 years ago hahaha
 
Guess my observations of our OL over the past decade

2008 OL was the last great Iowa OL. 2009/2010 could have been up there but we had some injuries, especially the 2010 season, specifically the MSU game where KF decides to leave his starting OL and RB in the game late and they get injured.

We don't recruit enough high level OL players that can come in and play right away. We seem to get one per class that stands out, but rarely do we get a class full of OL that contribute at the same time. We all thought the Paulsens would be two OL guys that would be startng by now, but they're still backups and haven't seen that much action. Iowa recruits developmental players, so they're already further behind what other schools bring in.

You could make a point our recruiting isn't that great, especially considering we seem to put OL into the NFL pretty regularly.

Injuries and players leaving the program. Just can't have the latter happen as much as it does.

Iowa OL appear to be very well taught. Individually they are sound, but as a group they struggle

And I think the biggest reason for that is

It's hard for five OL to consistently win battles against 8-9-10 man fronts. Throw in opposing teams know our tendencies, and when QB audibles the defense can literally point to the gap the RB will go to. We had two NFL running backs the last few years (and Canzeri who developed nicely) make a lot of plays out of nothing. It'll be interesting to see if this crop of RB can do the same.
 
Ree4 said:
It used to be owned by Donny Stalkfleet along with the SpoCo in Iowa City. He now owns neither of them. That bar was the hangout back in the day - always athletes in there. My friend got in a fight with Colin Cole there almost 20 years ago hahaha
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Wow, your friend was either a badass or really stupid.
 
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