Spring notes 2025 – first up - OL
The most important position on the field – offensive line
Every year I’ve pointed out which teams on our schedule are likely to struggle on the offensive line due to a lack of returning experience. I have little to no confidence in transfers; they’re like the JUCOs of yesteryear. Maybe one here or there works out – eventually – but rarely it seems are they an immediate fix. See OU last year. The examples are numerous. jmo.
This year, having lost 4 starters on the OL, we’re the one that is young and green. We have 4 positions open so this spring is about evaluations. The staff should have an idea coming out of spring and we’ll have tons of work to do this summer but we may not know who the 5 are until after the 2nd scrimmage of the fall. jmo.
Everybody on offense depends on the offensive line. Everybody. I’m not worried about any of the other position groups on that side of the ball. None of them. They will either succeed or fail based off the strength or lack thereof of the offensive line. jmo.
Our OL this year looks to have more talent, more athleticism, more strength, and more power, but a lot to learn and a long ways to go. My top 5 guys are Lance Heard, Sham Umarov, William Satterwhite, Bennett Warren, and DavisDavid Sanders, Jr. We have other options so we just have to let the staff work and see what they can come up with. jmo.
One thing our OL departures were really good at over the last 4 years was creating creases for our RBs to get through. Space and pace gave us opportunities to exploit lite boxes and misalignments but it all started with the guys up front creating cracks in the defensive front. They were pretty good at that. We have to get their replacements ready to avoid a major drop off in our run game. Wishful thinking like OU demonstrated last year is foolish. We have a lot of work to do. jmo.
Side note – of the 10 power 4 teams on our schedule last year only 1 (MSU) had less returning production than we had. In all we went 7-3 against that field. We were #108 in returning production last year; this year we’re pegged at #58. While we were 15th in the conference last year in returning production going into the season Kentucky was #1. They had 9 power 4 teams on their schedule and won just one of those games. My argument last year was that going forward we’d have to rely more on talent, athleticism, and coaching as opposed to experience. Our team did a pretty good job adjusting to our new circumstances last year; hopefully, this year we can build on that. jmo.
good conversation?
