2022 OL

[kyleb740]

It’s very easy to point to the big blue wall being a huge part of UKs success under Stoops. 2022 is setting up to be a new experience with a limited amount of snaps returning. I think this remains our biggest worry for next year offensively if not on the whole team.

Going back to the returning snaps of OL.

2018: 67.8% of the 2017 snaps returned. Would have been more if Landon Young didn’t hurt his knee.

2019: 56.2% of the 2018 snaps returned. If you include Young’s 2017 snaps since he was healthy again then that number rises to 70.8%.

2020: 76% of the 2019 snaps returned.

2021: 60.1% of the 2020 snaps returned. Rosenthal got 499 snaps at LSU in 2020 which isn’t included in the figure.

2022: 37.7% of the 2021 snaps are returning. If Dotson decides to come back that rises to 45.3%. Manning got 350 snaps for Auburn in 2021 which isn’t factored in.

UK has improved its recruiting so the talent is there but it’s mostly unproven. Couple this with Levis struggling against pressure and this is my largest concern for the offense. The good news is that Coen and Levis will have time to continue to build out the playbook. We saw some really good play designs against a UGA d that even our experienced O-line couldn’t handle this year. Hopefully we will see more concept plays (screen, play action) in 2022 which Levis excelled in.

 

[Girthang]

It’s very easy to point to the big blue wall being a huge part of UKs success under Stoops. 2022 is setting up to be a new experience with a limited amount of snaps returning. I think this remains our biggest worry for next year offensively if not on the whole team.

Going back to the returning snaps of OL.

2018: 67.8% of the 2017 snaps returned. Would have been more if Landon Young didn’t hurt his knee.

2019: 56.2% of the 2018 snaps returned. If you include Young’s 2017 snaps since he was healthy again then that number rises to 70.8%.

2020: 76% of the 2019 snaps returned.

2021: 60.1% of the 2020 snaps returned. Rosenthal got 499 snaps at LSU in 2020 which isn’t included in the figure.

2022: 37.7% of the 2021 snaps are returning. If Dotson decides to come back that rises to 45.3%. Manning got 350 snaps for Auburn in 2021 which isn’t factored in.

UK has improved its recruiting so the talent is there but it’s mostly unproven. Couple this with Levis struggling against pressure and this is my largest concern for the offense. The good news is that Coen and Levis will have time to continue to build out the playbook. We saw some really good play designs against a UGA d that even our experienced O-line couldn’t handle this year. Hopefully we will see more concept plays (screen, play action) in 2022 which Levis excelled in.

At some point it had to come to losing so many snaps. I hoped it wouldn't happen, but it's unavoidable if we aren't rotating guys through during the season like we once were.

What Coach Schlarman brought to that unit was HUGE. I think that is the biggest factor going forward into next year and thereafter. He was at a whole nother level in all phases of phases of profession. I hope we can get that from our OL coach going forward, but it's not something quantifiable.

RIP Coach.

 

[bigbluedon]

UT has another OL in the portal. 6’3 and 310. USC just offered. Anyone know if we are interested?

 

[BigTyrone]

I'm not at all concerned about the interior line, but both tackle spots are giant question marks.

 

[catben]

It's time for the young guys that have redshirted and practiced for a year or longer to step up and I think they will.

John Young
Jager Burton
David Wohlaugh Jr.
Jeremy Flax
Paul Rodriguez
Josh Jones
Jonathan Berry

 

[sieken]

UT has another OL in the portal. 6’3 and 310. USC just offered. Anyone know if we are interested?

Doubtful, I think we are good at the guard spots.

 

[BlueRaider22]

2022: 37.7% of the 2021 snaps are returning. If Dotson decides to come back that rises to 45.3%. Manning got 350 snaps for Auburn in 2021 which isn’t factored in.

What would it be if Manning is factored in?


Great post, BTW.

 

[JC CATS]

It’s very easy to point to the big blue wall being a huge part of UKs success under Stoops. 2022 is setting up to be a new experience with a limited amount of snaps returning. I think this remains our biggest worry for next year offensively if not on the whole team.

Going back to the returning snaps of OL.

2018: 67.8% of the 2017 snaps returned. Would have been more if Landon Young didn’t hurt his knee.

2019: 56.2% of the 2018 snaps returned. If you include Young’s 2017 snaps since he was healthy again then that number rises to 70.8%.

2020: 76% of the 2019 snaps returned.

2021: 60.1% of the 2020 snaps returned. Rosenthal got 499 snaps at LSU in 2020 which isn’t included in the figure.

2022: 37.7% of the 2021 snaps are returning. If Dotson decides to come back that rises to 45.3%. Manning got 350 snaps for Auburn in 2021 which isn’t factored in.

UK has improved its recruiting so the talent is there but it’s mostly unproven. Couple this with Levis struggling against pressure and this is my largest concern for the offense. The good news is that Coen and Levis will have time to continue to build out the playbook. We saw some really good play designs against a UGA d that even our experienced O-line couldn’t handle this year. Hopefully we will see more concept plays (screen, play action) in 2022 which Levis excelled in.

Think any will be available in the portal?

 

[JHB4UK]

3 easy September home games will be great development time for the rest of 2022

 

[yoshukai]

Think any will be available in the portal?

The next big portal movement will be after spring practices conclude .

 

[The-Hack]

3 easy September home games will be great development time for the rest of 2022

Yeah, but UF is in Gainesville, so there’s that.

 

[Colonial Farm 80]

I'm not at all concerned about the interior line, but both tackle spots are giant question marks.

I more or less agree. All of this will get addressed in spring practice. There is no shortage of talent on hand, but there is a shortage of experience pending another round of transfers after this semester ends. Coach Wolf knows how to handle this. It is an area of uncertainty, but that is simpler to fix when the candidates are big and talented. I am more worried about the secondary.

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

Read a piece today that had the guy they said is the most accurate at picking the whole first round picks and Kinnard was not one of them. He had several OL going first round, a couple from smaller schools, but no Kinnard. Had an Alabama OL going as the first pick. What round is Kinnard projected to go in? Seemed to be the best OL grading out in the SEC and one of if not the best in the country?

 

[UKSanders]

It's time for the young guys that have redshirted and practiced for a year or longer to step up and I think they will.

John Young
Jager Burton
David Wohlaugh Jr.
Jeremy Flax
Paul Rodriguez
Josh Jones
Jonathan Berry

All of the guys with potential to play tackle really need to seize the opportunity this off-season. Not sure who ends up there, but

Flax - would love to see him shed about 20-30 pounds and hit spring practice about 325-330 as I would think that would help his quickness/ability to lock down the RT spot

Wohlabaugh - think he fights for the starting RT or maybe 2nd string

Josh Jones - he has the height at 6’6, wonder if he has the feet and/or reach to play either OT spot?

Deondre Buford - coaches have spoken highly about his potential…would LOVE for him to lay claim to the starting LT spot allowing Goodwin to back him up

Ideally, coming into spring, it would be good to have a decent line the coaches can trust

LT: Buford, Goodwin
LG: Horsey, Jager Burton,
OC: Q. Wilson, Cox, RJ Adams,
RG: Manning, John Young, Paul Rodriguez
RT: Flax, Wohlabaugh, Josh Jones

Man, looking at that OL, I really wish Dare would’ve returned with the determination to increase his draft stock and lead this line…with his return, it would’ve been stacked again.

 

[catben]

All of the guys with potential to play tackle really need to seize the opportunity this off-season. Not sure who ends up there, but

Flax - would love to see him shed about 20-30 pounds and hit spring practice about 325-330 as I would think that would help his quickness/ability to lock down the RT spot

Wohlabaugh - think he fights for the starting RT or maybe 2nd string

Josh Jones - he has the height at 6’6, wonder if he has the feet and/or reach to play either OT spot?

Deondre Buford - coaches have spoken highly about his potential…would LOVE for him to lay claim to the starting LT spot allowing Goodwin to back him up

Ideally, coming into spring, it would be good to have a decent line the coaches can trust

LT: Buford, Goodwin
LG: Horsey, Jager Burton,
OC: Q. Wilson, Cox, RJ Adams,
RG: Manning, John Young, Paul Rodriguez
RT: Flax, Wohlabaugh, Josh Jones

Man, looking at that OL, I really wish Dare would’ve returned with the determination to increase his draft stock and lead this line…with his return, it would’ve been stacked again.

Cox is starting next season, either at C or G. I look for Horsey to start at LT with Goodwin sharing time by the end of the year.

 

[OFortuna]

Cox is starting next season, either at C or G. I look for Horsey to start at LT with Goodwin sharing time by the end of the year.

Cox emerged from the pack last season, though we hadn't heard a lot about him, to not only win a starting job but SEC lineman of the week honors as well before going down with injury, so these things do happen. Let's hope one or more on the outside will follow a similar career path next year -- minus the injury part, of course.

 

[Old_Red]

Yeah, but UF is in Gainesville, so there’s that.

Just once to have Florida in Lexington in November.

 

[UKSanders]

Cox is starting next season, either at C or G. I look for Horsey to start at LT with Goodwin sharing time by the end of the year.

yeah, I agree Cox should be somewhere... I didn't pencil him as a starter for 2 reasons

1 - not sure how he is recovering from the injury, so maybe he isn't starting week 1??
2 - where will he be playing predominantly? The depth appears better with known commodities at OG than OC, so maybe he overtakes Q. Wilson as the starting OC. However, Cox has never played there at UK while Wilson has drawn good comments from the coaching staff as the backup OC.

Either way, provided Cox returns to pre-injury form, he is a really nice bonus to have knowing he will be a great contributor along the interior OL.

 

[satcheluk]

It wouldn't surprise me if they put Godwin at swing tackle with him leaning right early and gradually getting more snaps at left as he earns their trust.

 

[vhcat70]

Read a piece today that had the guy they said is the most accurate at picking the whole first round picks and Kinnard was not one of them. He had several OL going first round, a couple from smaller schools, but no Kinnard. Had an Alabama OL going as the first pick. What round is Kinnard projected to go in? Seemed to be the best OL grading out in the SEC and one of if not the best in the country?

Where I don't recall, but recently saw 43rd overall pick projection.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

I'd love to see Dotson come back and Cox slide to C. Based on comments, the staff really likes Jager but he just doesn't look big enough to me.

I love horsey but if he's the starting lt we won't get where we want to go.

 

[kyleb740]

What would it be if Manning is factored in?


Great post, BTW.

It’s tough to factor in Manning in UK’s returning production but he played 21% of Auburn’s total LG snaps and 17% of Auburn’s total RG snaps. He was definitely second choice at both spots in 2021 but actually graded out by PFF as their best OL, though their OL graded out poorly; he would have been the 6th highest UK OL by grade. He started the last 3 games for them after another OG got hurt. To read Auburn fans reactions after he left, it sounded like he wasn’t a contributor and that their OL in general was a mess. Looking at the stats though I feel much better about the pickup and that he will contribute especially with UK’s coaching.

Like someone mentioned the inside of the line feels solid as long as someone steps up at C. The T are very much a huge ?

 

[BlueRaider22]

The T are very much a huge ?

Might see a lot of 2 TE sets......

 

[optimus-blue]

I'd love to see Dotson come back and Cox slide to C. Based on comments, the staff really likes Jager but he just doesn't look big enough to me.

I love horsey but if he's the starting lt we won't get where we want to go.

Burton is over 300. Should be 315-320 by Season

 

[K_TIME]

I'd love to see Dotson come back and Cox slide to C. Based on comments, the staff really likes Jager but he just doesn't look big enough to me.

I love horsey but if he's the starting lt we won't get where we want to go.

I don't know....I think Dotson was not overly well suited for the new zone blocking scheme and he wasn't all that great in bowl game on the right side (he whiffed for a sack and he did this all year....any twists on his side...he struggles a ton to get off his initial DT to the DE that is twisting inside.)

I think the moment we took the Auburn transfer....he was always going to be looked at as starter material.

I still hope we look like:

LT Transfer/Wolbaugh
LG Horsey
C Cox
RG Manning-Tatum
RT Goodwin/Flax

I don't want to see Horsey at LT....he's not strong enough IMO

 

[kyleb740]

I had forgotten Horsey got 16 snaps at LT @ Miss St and 8 snaps there @ UL. He did well in those snaps. Showed good use of his hands. I think the problem is he probably doesn’t have the quick feet to play LT. I do think that he could be a decent RT at the college level so if he is going to move it could be there.

 

[kyleb740]

If I had to guess the staff wants to see what they have at LT in the spring and if no one can show out then we go to the portal. I do wish we had an established/good edge pass rusher on the D to give the LTs a challenge in the spring. Currently we don’t. Maybe Josh Allen wants to come work out with the team in April 😀

 

[zcats]

I don't know much but I believe Cox starts at G or C. He was a mid year AA and is very agile and strong as a mule. If healthy, I think he is in the lineup.

 

[sieken]

If I had to guess the staff wants to see what they have at LT in the spring and if no one can show out then we go to the portal. I do wish we had an established/good edge pass rusher on the D to give the LTs a challenge in the spring. Currently we don’t. Maybe Josh Allen wants to come work out with the team in April 😀

Depends.... Weaver was working back from a knee injury. He should be able to test that left side in the Spring. Not as strong as JA was his senior year but he's getting there. Weaver and Wright should be a decent challenge to whoever gets reps at the Tackle spots.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

think Dotson was not overly well suited for the new zone blocking scheme

I totally agree. We heard coen say as much. However coen also modified his scheme to be more inside zone to accommodate Crod and probably Dotson too. So with Crod coming back, imo we should expect more of the same inside some concepts. That's why I hope Dotson comes back.

 

[zcats]

I totally agree. We heard coen say as much. However coen also modified his scheme to be more inside zone to accommodate Crod and probably Dotson too. So with Crod coming back, imo we should expect more of the same inside some concepts. That's why I hope Dotson comes back.

Dotson is a huge man and strong. His lateral quickness is not top notch as is the case with most guys his size. He is a pretty good guard in the SEC.

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

All of the guys with potential to play tackle really need to seize the opportunity this off-season. Not sure who ends up there, but

Flax - would love to see him shed about 20-30 pounds and hit spring practice about 325-330 as I would think that would help his quickness/ability to lock down the RT spot

Wohlabaugh - think he fights for the starting RT or maybe 2nd string

Josh Jones - he has the height at 6’6, wonder if he has the feet and/or reach to play either OT spot?

Deondre Buford - coaches have spoken highly about his potential…would LOVE for him to lay claim to the starting LT spot allowing Goodwin to back him up

Ideally, coming into spring, it would be good to have a decent line the coaches can trust

LT: Buford, Goodwin
LG: Horsey, Jager Burton,
OC: Q. Wilson, Cox, RJ Adams,
RG: Manning, John Young, Paul Rodriguez
RT: Flax, Wohlabaugh, Josh Jones

Man, looking at that OL, I really wish Dare would’ve returned with the determination to increase his draft stock and lead this line…with his return, it would’ve been stacked again.

Not sure about it now since Wohlford has left but Manning was planning on working out at center some in addition to guard in the spring.

 

[cathouse]

Cox is starting next season, either at C or G. I look for Horsey to start at LT with Goodwin sharing time by the end of the year.

Man, if Horsey is our starting LT, Levis better be ready to scramble.

 

[southindycat]

Yeah, but UF is in Gainesville, so there’s that.

Well, at least there aren't any hard September games, right? Three easy, one toss up?

 

[seccats04]

Man, if Horsey is our starting LT, Levis better be ready to scramble.

Yea. I hope we have a better plan than that.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

Cox is starting next season, either at C or G.

This

 

[pickled cat]

It's time for the young guys that have redshirted and practiced for a year or longer to step up and I think they will.

John Young
Jager Burton
David Wohlaugh Jr.
Jeremy Flax
Paul Rodriguez
Josh Jones
Jonathan Berry

I agree with you cat. These guys were great recruits when we signed them, now it’s time to show how they’ve developed.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

Think any will be available in the portal?

It's the one position that not many good guys hit the portal because there is a very good chance he will get to play quite a few snaps. Now if he just doesn't like the school, coaches or whatever sure. But much better chance to get outstanding guys where not much subbing is done.

 

[3kidsandme]

All of the guys with potential to play tackle really need to seize the opportunity this off-season. Not sure who ends up there, but

Flax - would love to see him shed about 20-30 pounds and hit spring practice about 325-330 as I would think that would help his quickness/ability to lock down the RT spot

Wohlabaugh - think he fights for the starting RT or maybe 2nd string

Josh Jones - he has the height at 6’6, wonder if he has the feet and/or reach to play either OT spot?

Deondre Buford - coaches have spoken highly about his potential…would LOVE for him to lay claim to the starting LT spot allowing Goodwin to back him up

Ideally, coming into spring, it would be good to have a decent line the coaches can trust

LT: Buford, Goodwin
LG: Horsey, Jager Burton,
OC: Q. Wilson, Cox, RJ Adams,
RG: Manning, John Young, Paul Rodriguez
RT: Flax, Wohlabaugh, Josh Jones

Man, looking at that OL, I really wish Dare would’ve returned with the determination to increase his draft stock and lead this line…with his return, it would’ve been stacked again.

Cox may be the best lineman we have returning he’s starting somewhere.

 

[UKSanders]

Cox may be the best lineman we have returning he’s starting somewhere.

yep, I agree, sort of...

if you see one of my replies above to someone making your same point, I just didn't place him as a starter just yet b/c
1- I wasn't sure if he should be at guard or center
2- curious to see how he performs coming off a significant injury.