Elijah Pritchett started 13 games this year on the Bama O-Line. Any chance he looks at UK ?
Alabama OT in portal
- Thread starter doc4UK
- Start date
I read earlier that he was about to hit the portal and that there was mutual interest. I’m sure Wolford already reached out to him
Never can have enough lineman
Bama's OL wasn't nearly up to their normal level this year. Milroe was very mobile but he still had a lot of pressure and the running game was mediocre by their standards. Is this player more than likely better than what we have on the roster - probably. But, judging from the overall performance of the OL this year, I wouldn't expect this player, or any player for that matter, to just plug in and be all-SEC. But, surely he'd be at least somewhat of an upgrade from last year and the year before.
Wolford needs to use his connections to get this done. OT's are very hard to come by in the portal because everyone wants them and I'd doubt we'll find a better one if we wait.
Fair point...so we paid NIL money for a starter and a guy that may be a depth? I doubt the kid from New Mexico is down with not starting....the Kid from MAC looks like a RT starter from day one.
We’re needy enough on the o-line that it may be worth rolling the dice on someone with his prospect pedigree. Just because he’s a former 5 star that played for Alabama doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a great college player now though. He was a weak link on their line this year, giving up 31 QB pressures when their next highest individual in that stat allowed 13.
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I seen a projected Depth chart with Unamba at LT, but he played RT last year. The kid from BGSU is def the starting RT next year. A 4 star transfer that is supposedly good. He should upgrade RT. Pritchett has play some Lt though has primarily been a RT also.
Unamba is an 85 overall #633 in the portal according to 247. That’s with a lot of guys not getting a ranking. Doesn’t look like a starting LT in the SEC but just hoping for the best at this point
He was bad last season at Alabama. Gave up a large number of hits, hurries and sacks.
Numbers are what they are but its hard to read much with a qb as piss poor as milroe. He held the ball way too long.
My bigger concern is the ego issue we had to deal with the last few years. Cant have a personality disrupt everything because they think they're too good for uk.
He did hold the ball too long, but he's also VERY mobile so he may have run away from/avoided as many sacks as he created. Just a thought...
There is a post on X from an Alabama writer that shows his hurries, sacks, hits and they are more than double the other 4 OL starters. Alabama fans are very excited he's leaving.
I respect Schlarman, but he is one of the main reasons why the OL talent has been so bad. He was never a great recruiter but when he got sick, he quit recruiting, and the OL talent really went south. Stoops did a poor job of handling this situation.
Biggest loss in the Stoops era.
Which offset all the times he tried to scramble and got sacked instead of just stepping in the pocket. When i watched them against very good teams, i noticed him breaking down way more than the ol.
I don't dispute that. Im just saying numbers are deceiving when there is a poor decision maker at QB.
Yeah, was thinking the same…maybe he got Coach Schlarman confused with someone else?
He actually was a really good recruiter, finding the guys he wanted. He was bashed by ignorant fans early, but after a few years, his lines really excelled and he was a big part of getting his guys here.
Schlarman was a really good run blocking OL coach but we mostly struggled pass blocking under him as well and not many people realize that because we always ran the ball so well. It wasn’t until his last year or so when Young and Kinnard were older that we became decent pass blocking. And those two guys made the NFL so I don’t know how great of a pass blocking coach he was. Plus he had Drake Jackson, who was probably the second best center we’ve ever had.
Schlarman was more of a tough guy who built the culture than he was a well rounded coach IMO. I know he also developed Fortner into an NFL player and Bunchie into an AA but his lack of recruiting and mostly below average pass blocking brings him down a notch IMO.
Schlarman was more of a tough guy who built the culture than he was a well rounded coach IMO. I know he also developed Fortner into an NFL player and Bunchie into an AA but his lack of recruiting and mostly below average pass blocking brings him down a notch IMO.
This! He brought tough guys and developed them to fit his running scheme. The line was tough as nails, but as the OP pointed out above they were not the best in pass pro. He brought in guys that were the most physically gifted but they weee mentally and physically tough and would run through a wall for him.
We went from that to guys that are soft. Most got mad at the ESPN guy for saying UK’s line was soft but he was right. It hasn’t been fixed either. I know they changed the scheme but apart from Eli, most haven’t had the mental and physical toughness to play against the SEC. Heck most of them couldn’t block MAC guys.
One problem I see is Marrow recruited many of the OL we have had since Schlarmann and almost zero have panned out. Then add in they keep changing the scheme and it is an absolute train wreck. Yes Marrow has brought in a few 4 star OL and I don’t think one of them has played except Burton. He has not been good. You need a coach that can bring in the type of guys he needs and develop them into his scheme. Instead we have changed coaches 4 times the last 5 years.
Yep, along with the revolving coaches carousel, the constant scheme changes have not helped. Overall though and after watching the poor OL play the last 3 or so years, I find it odd that some folks here choose to belittle what Schlarman accomplished when those were some of the better offensive years.
Schlarman was a good coach, but he has been mythologized. For me, it's the whole depth development that's been exaggerated. Kentucky got an influx of o line talent for a moment and he used it as practically a 2nd team That's to be commended, not dismissed. But it was temporary.
Then that talent started to matriculate and depth returned to normal under him. And that's fine. But people talk like depth was a constant tradition for years and keep acting like not getting it back is a failure we choose to make.
Then that talent started to matriculate and depth returned to normal under him. And that's fine. But people talk like depth was a constant tradition for years and keep acting like not getting it back is a failure we choose to make.
I think it’s The Big Blue Wall that was mythologized more than Schlarman’s reputation. The OL punched above its weight because of Schlarman 2014-2017. Then he got better recruits (Jackson, Young, and Kinnard), developed them, and finally the team had the double whammy most blue bloods get every year: good/great position coach and also blue chip talent. It’s hard to thread those needles as a mid tier program.
Schlarman’s strength wasn’t recruiting but he made up for it by developing the blue chips he did get, but even more the quality 3*’s like Haynes, Stallings, Stenberg, and Horsey off the top of my head. 4-5 years with him built a disportioncate number of 3* recruits into all-conference material. Thats a lot better than the national mean.
In another universe, UK’ (2021?) OL class of blue chips all pan out - Goodwin, Hall, and the kid from E Ky - and we aren’t even having this conversation. Alas, UK doesn’t recruit at the clip to overcome those guys not panning out, so are left competing in the portal against other schools whose OL recruiting also didn’t pan out….all for a MAC school’s Poor Man’s Bunchy Stallings. If Bunchy, Haynes, or Stemberg were born 5 years later they’d be making $300k easy.
Schlarman’s strength wasn’t recruiting but he made up for it by developing the blue chips he did get, but even more the quality 3*’s like Haynes, Stallings, Stenberg, and Horsey off the top of my head. 4-5 years with him built a disportioncate number of 3* recruits into all-conference material. Thats a lot better than the national mean.
In another universe, UK’ (2021?) OL class of blue chips all pan out - Goodwin, Hall, and the kid from E Ky - and we aren’t even having this conversation. Alas, UK doesn’t recruit at the clip to overcome those guys not panning out, so are left competing in the portal against other schools whose OL recruiting also didn’t pan out….all for a MAC school’s Poor Man’s Bunchy Stallings. If Bunchy, Haynes, or Stemberg were born 5 years later they’d be making $300k easy.
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Guys that Sclarman recruited who went to the NFL:
John Toth
Bunchy Stallings
George A-A
Luke Fortner
Logan Stenburg
Landon Young
Darrian Kinnard
Young was the only guy rated higher than a 3* which shows not only could JS identify talent but could coach it up. I’d say his legacy is a little more than a myth.
John Toth
Bunchy Stallings
George A-A
Luke Fortner
Logan Stenburg
Landon Young
Darrian Kinnard
Young was the only guy rated higher than a 3* which shows not only could JS identify talent but could coach it up. I’d say his legacy is a little more than a myth.
JS died in 2020. UK at that time UK had a good 2 deep across the OL. They did in ‘21 under Wolf. The problem was the guys he had brought in didn’t fit Wolf’s system and he didn’t play them. Then the next year we had a new OL coach. Had to start all over again. None of the problem is from what he did. I’m sure he wasn’t recruiting his last year here, the guy fighting cancer.
The ‘19 class really only had Eli. The ‘20 class was solid on paper with Buford, Flax, and Young. Buford and Flax were Clink recruits and Young was Marrow. They picked up the slack so to speak, while JS was battling cancer. He left the line in good shape.
2020 we had no backup left tackle for departing starter. Had to go the portal to get new starter and a new freshman was his backup. Backup center wasnt developed and had to move Fortner over. Flax never played that year backing up Darrian Kinnard at right tackle. And Kinnard was a real threat to be early entrant in to the draft that year. Austin Dotson backup guard, he never played that year. Good starters, no depth or development plan
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