If our OL cannot protect well this year ...

#28
#28
Nico ee-ah-MAH-LAY-ah-va said:
It takes forever to develop good OL. It is rare in this league for freshman and arguably sophomores to contribute. Look at UGA's starting line: the youngest player is a RS SO(basically a junior). The rest are RS JRs, so they are on their 4th year.

The strength and size requirements to be a successful OL in the SEC are very high, and is not something you can develop in one year. These kids out of high school need to get to playing weight and shape.

People continuously misunderstand how difficult that is. These guys have to be 300+ lbs of muscle to stop a DT from folding you up, but fast enough to keep up with DEs and LBs blitzing and stunting. Also the wear and tear on joints at that size is significant.
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He's been here 4 years now and the drop off from our starters to the second string is significant. No excuse for that whatsoever.
 
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#29
#29
Remy said:
then hold on to your hats kids cause just think how much better we'll be without Mays and Spraggins next year.

My tongue has poked a hole through my right cheek.
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Portal fixes all. People will want to block for Nico. For the right price of course
 
#34
#34
With early signing in 2 weeks and the portal opening in December as well we have to focus on the o-line. We have serious attrition there including center Cooper Mays, who has been one of their most valuable players the past two seasons. Tennessee should keep that in mind when it maps out its NIL strategy.
 
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#35
#35
Mays is probably our best OL and he’s currently projected to go undrafted - he’s rated just past the last round. If he’s not drafted, he’ll sign as an unrestricted free agent and that might work better for him in terms of finding a roster spot.

But the point for this thread is that we don‘t have a single OL projected to be drafted in the 2025 draft even though we lose a large number of OL this year. For comparison, Georgia has 4. We will definitely lose a lot of experience on the OL but I’m hopeful our talent level can improve.

I love guys who play with great heart but I really love extremely talented guys who play with a lot of heart. We’ve got some young talent and will no doubt supplement that with some portal additions. - hopefully we will close the talent gap some more and have a better overall OL next year.
 
#37
#37
BigOrangeFanatic said:
Instead of portaling for guys, how about develop the ones you have? It's unbelievable GE has been unable to develop any players that he's recruited to TN in the 4 years hes been here.
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And he relies on transfers like Campbell and Heard who are marginal at best. And Dayne Davis as a regular says it all.

What has Ellarbee been doing?
 
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#38
#38
VOLfrombama said:
Replacing Mays will be an issue. I would expect them to get a C from the TP first and foremost. Satterwhite could take over the C position and overtook Lang before fall camp was over. Heard is the LT for now. It would not surprise me to see them slow roll David Sanders since they are pretty hesitant to play many true Fr. If he can come in over 300 pounds, he might have a chance to break the 2 deep or maybe even start at RT. LJ3 and Perry have a clear advantage there because of their knowledge of the system and hopefully conditioning.

As far as development by GE, Sham will start at one of the G positions. He will be a Junior and was close to starting before he got hurt at the end of Fall Camp.

I also think LJ3 might take over RT. He looked much improved in the few snaps we have seen him imo.

Perry has been lauded but hasn't broken the rotation yet. He could factor in at RT.

Lang may be a good G if they will just let him focus on being one. Brian Grant has also had some buzz around him.

So we will see how the development of GE is looked upon soon enough when the season ends and the TP opens. If they go OL heavy, then I would say there isn't as much faith in his development.
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Pretty much spot on with this post. I'm not sure CJH would trust a C from the portal to come in and pick up his offense right away. I believe they are counting on Satterwhite. Heard, LJ3, and Sham will probably be the starters, with competition between the others for RG. Sham has been getting playing time at LG lately. Hopefully the backups get in early against UTEP Saturday. I do think they will go to the portal for a least 1 O-lineman, they have in the past, if only for more depth.
 
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#39
#39
CAVPUT said:
Awfully hard for a true freshman to play on the OL in this league. Having weight is one thing. Strength is quite another. Older defensive linemen will bully a big kid right out of HS with superior strength, technique and experience. We've tried it a few times with mixed results. Sanders might be the exception, but I kinda doubt it.
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They will not need Sanders to play day one
 
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#40
#40
The thing to remember on the O-line is that when CJH took over he had no o-linemen in his 1st class. Those would be the seniors this year. His 2nd class there is only 1 left who would be a senior next year. They went heavy on the defensive side that year. That is one reason the defense is so stout this year. So out of 2 classes you have just 1 o-lineman on the roster. The next class will be juniors next year, that is Sham, LJ3, and Lang. That is a pretty good class I expect good things out of all of them next year. There is more talent in the class behind that and in the one coming in. Things are going to get better. It takes time to develop good o-lineman. Nichols was inline to take over for Mays, but he didn't want to sit for another year.
 
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#41
#41
BigOrangeTrain said:
lol. Center is arguably just as important as the QB in Heupels system. You can’t just portal experience like Coop. I am not worried about guard and tackle. They will be fine. But center? Unless Sham, Satterwhite or Lang vastly improves, we are in deep trouble next year.
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Agree we will have drop off after Coop. But what is the vast improvement comment. What gives you the thoughts that they are not right where they should be.
 
#42
#42
agent|orange said:
I'm not sure how much worse it can be when we gave up multiple sacks late in the game when UGA was rushing 3 guys. I specifically remember several plays where 2 OL were just .... standing there blocking air as Nico was sacked.

It's a coaching issue more than anything and teams have been exploiting pre-snap movement, delayed blitzes and stunts to completely bewilder our OL.
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Georgia blitzes on like 70 percent of their defensive snaps. And if they smell blood in the water they go even more. Maybe banks picked up a thing or two from Kirby Saturday
 
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#44
#44
I'm not worried about it. Heard has been good since getting healthy and Karic has a 6th year of eligibility remaining if he chooses to use it, so the left side of the line should be fine.

At RG we should have Umarov back, who was projected to see a lot of playing time this year before getting hurt. At RT we'll see a competitive between three giants: Larry Johnson III, Bennett Warren and Jeremias Heard. Jeremias is the most athletically gifted OL on the roster. At center I've got no reason to think Lang and Satterwhite aren't viable options. It projects like:

LT: L. Heard
LG: Karic
C: Lang/Satterwhite
RG: Umarov
RT: LGIII/Warren/J. Heard

If you get a portal guy that's a bonus. If Sanders comes in ready to play that's a bonus. If Reddick, Bussell, Anderson, Duncan, Perry, Grant, or Ginther decide they want to make a career out of playing football that's a bonus.

That being said, none of Elarbee's HS recruits have been good - so I think it's fair to doubt guys like Lang, Satterwhite, Umarov, Warren, etc.
 
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#45
#45
fossilfiction said:
Hold the phone dude, best go look at my track history before pointing that stupid finger at me. This team is doing better than I thought they would in all honesty. It's ignorant to lump me in with any group becuase I think the line is what they are right now.
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That’s no reason to go insulting his finger fossil. I’m sure his finger has many good qualities.
 
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