Why Will Our O-Line Be Better?

[Levibooty]

I'm not completely convinced about Swindle's ability one way or the other. I do think he could help himself and the team a great deal by fixing his problem with the snap. That over the course of the year cost us a lot of 1st downs. I do remember one dreadful play where he was actually knocked backwards on his butt by a DL and I grimaced at that play.

 

[wildcatbd21]

I agree about not being convinced about Swindle. If he can get it right between his head, He can be serviceable at LT. I have a feeling we will see Swindle, Krok (if healthy), and Meadows cycling the early part of the year to find the right fir at tackle.

Toth is going to start at Center. He will be in his third year as a starter. He is on the watch list for the Remington Award. I feel good about him there. Backing him up will probably be Bunchy Stallings. He is coming of his RS season as a highly rated recruit.

The guard spot will have experience coming back with starters West and Meyers returning. Mosier and Haynes both played as backups last year too. So 4 players with experience returning.

Add to the returning players, several other RS Freshman coming in. I think outside of GAA, the rest of the incoming lineman will RS. I did not list him at a position. He is listed as a Guard. But I think he can find a spot at any position along the line.

I guess my reasoning for them to be better is the same as everyone else. Experience coupled with GAA being a very gifted freshman that will force himself into the rotation somewhere along the line.

 

[highlysuspicious]

SWITCH TO A ZONE BLOCKING SCHEME

 

[Caveman Catfan]

I bet Stallings runs 3rd string at center and may get looking backing up elsewhere on the line. Meyers received praise at center behind Toth this spring.

 

[mrschwump]

I bet Stallings runs 3rd string at center and may get looking backing up elsewhere on the line. Meyers received praise at center behind Toth this spring.

Some truth here. Seems I recall a comment this spring from Schlarman that if Bunchie wanted to see the field it would be at OG or something like that.

 

[C1180]

Some truth here. Seems I recall a comment this spring from Schlarman that if Bunchie wanted to see the field it would be at OG or something like that.

The center will call the signals for the OL in the new OCs system. I think that experience will be paramount and it will be hard for a first or second year player to break in to that position.

 

[thepip]

I believe our shot at a bowl mainly hinges on our O-Line since we still have not recruited ourselves out of Joker's Defense and that will take a couple more years.

IF the O-Line improves, we could score more points this year, which could mean 1-2 more wins and a bowl.

I'm not convinced the O-Line will be much better. I don't believe Swindle has the ability to play in the SEC and neither do a couple of our other O-Linemen. It is what it is....Our center is legit SEC and we've got a bunch of talented RS Freshmen coming up in the ranks, but it will take them time to acclimate to the SEC.

Specifically, tell me why our O-Line will be better this season? Does experience matter if you simply don't have the athletic ability to pass block in the SEC?

I have a good feeling about the upcoming class, what I do not have faith in is Schlarman.

 

[tdcat]

Actually our interior OL play was a much bigger problem than that of the OT's. This was stated many times by the coaching staff. Swindle did have a problem jumping off sides but you have to remember he was lining up against guys with NFL talent almost every week and had and inexperienced team surrounding him including young receivers who couldn't get open and a young QB who struggled to read defenses and get rid of the ball. It is easier for the fans to see the tackles get beat than the interior line but our guards and center struggled much more. West played well when he was healthy but everyone else got manhandled a lot or missed assignments.

You just cannot expect an OL to hold 5-6 seconds against quality defenses.Towles needs to learn to step up into the pocket and get the ball out. His completion percentage when rolling out was miserable. He has to set his feet to be accurate. OL play was not good in the passing game but these problems were less important than the fact that our young receivers couldn't get separation and Towles couldn't read the game fast enough. Football is a great game because to be successful you need a complex movement of many parts. The OL will be better because of better depth and experience of the entire team.

All of the crticism of Towles, Brown and the OTs misses a big point. Often the interior OL gave up too much push. There was no pocket to step up into for Towles. Towles had to run or give up a sack to the DE. Our OTs were often hung out to dry because of interior DL penetration. If interior. OL improves, OL could look much better. Towles can step up away from DE pressure and have passing lanes. Improved TE play will mean effective chipping on the DE. Towles should make better decisions. WRs should also be improved. I expect all of these things to happen and also believe Dawson will be a positive. OL, like offense overall, will be perceived much improved by end of year.

 

[CatDaddy4daWin]

I have a good feeling about the upcoming class, what I do not have faith in is Schlarman.

Why? Because he had so much talent to work with? I think you have to give him a pass for the past couple of years due to our inexperience and lack of talented depth. It's really hard to say one way or another if Schlarman is a good OL coach. You can't put all of the ineffectiveness of the line on Schlarman. Coaches can't work miracles by themselves.

 

[Dallas-Wild]

Why? Because he had so much talent to work with? I think you have to give him a pass for the past couple of years due to our inexperience and lack of talented depth. It's really hard to say one way or another if Schlarman is a good OL coach. You can't put all of the ineffectiveness of the line on Schlarman. Coaches can't work miracles by themselves.

This....totally wrong to put all on Schlarman

 

[bigblueinsanity]

I expect OL play to be much improved. More talent, more depth, and a better scheme all will be a big help to a unit that certainly failed to impress last season.

As for Towles, I don't think there was any doubt Brown wanted Towles running more than he should have. That's why there were so many designed runs for him. Towles was really good at scrambling; so I had no problem with that. But all the designed runs were borderline madness, especially considering RB was maybe the most talented position on the team.

 

[Blue Decade]

I agree. Towles simply doesn't have very good pocket presence and he doesn't have good vision as a QB. He can't see people wide open at times. I think Barker could be the answer eventually this season.

LOL! Towles was a sophomore last year, playing behind 1 of the least effective offensive lines in the SEC and getting hit more often than any other SEC quarterback. Towles will be 1 of the most improved players on our 2015 football team. Nothing against Barker, but he won't see the field this year unless Towles gets hurt, or unless Kentucky is ahead by 25 points. I am very enthusiastic about Barker starting in 2017-18, but the Barker fans will have to wait until then unless Towles suffers an injury.

 

[BlueRaider22]

1. 2014's offense -
-60% of the o-line two-deep were Fresh/Soph.......60%?!. Ideally, this should be 0-20%.
-Now, what percentage of the o-line two-deep were Seniors? 20%.......and only 1 started.
-Towles didn't have time to sit back and wait. He had a porous o-line that didn't give him time.....and he was throwing to WR's who were rarely where they were supposed to be......and he was doing this all this as a first yr starter (and underclassman). Imagine being a rookie carpenter and you're trying to build a house on shifting sands using 2nd hand wood and rusty old nails....... I would've told Towles to be quick on the running trigger as well.
-Schlarman hasn't had much to work with.......so you can't say he's done poorly. On the other hand you can't necessarily be accurate on judging whether or not he's done well either.

2. 2015's offense
-http://kentucky.247sports.com/Board/296/Contents/What-Does-2015-Hold-For-the-Football-Cats-37429292
-The above link is a thread on TOS. "The Professor" does a great job illustrating how the team is improving through analytics.
-Each part of the offense exists symbiotic in nature. A good QB can make the o-line better, etc, etc, etc. Logic will tell you that WR's, RB's, and QB should be improved......(how much is yet to be determined?)......ergo the o-line should benefit from this.
-The best o-lines are comprised of veteran upperclassmen. Since last yr well over half of the two-deep were underclassmen......and almost everyone is back for this yr......it's logical to assume that the o-line will be improved.
-This yr we add a lot of quality depth. I can't think of a time when depth actually didn't make a position better to some degree.


So, overall, logic and analytics indicate that we will likely be better next yr. The question is how much?

 

[WildCard]

All of the crticism of Towles, Brown and the OTs misses a big point. Often the interior OL gave up too much push. There was no pocket to step up into for Towles. Towles had to run or give up a sack to the DE. Our OTs were often hung out to dry because of interior DL penetration. If interior. OL improves, OL could look much better. Towles can step up away from DE pressure and have passing lanes. Improved TE play will mean effective chipping on the DE. Towles should make better decisions. WRs should also be improved. I expect all of these things to happen and also believe Dawson will be a positive. OL, like offense overall, will be perceived much improved by end of year.

Good point about the interior line in pass protection, td. DTs seldom get sacks but if the 1 and/or 3 techs cave in the middle of the pocket it can be worse than a hard outside rush by a DE. Those outside speed rushes can sometimes be avoided and IF there is no significant penetration up the middle, a "middle escape" might be possible. But, as you note, if the middle is pushed back there is no "stepping up" nor is there much space for a tuck and run. And a LB is usually in good position to quickly cut off a "middle escape".

Peace

 

[zcats]

Yep, these guys had a really bad situation to dig out of and the OL was really a mess. You can't judge any of them including Brown based on the first two years. They just had very little to work with and a tough schedule.

 

[Brock28]

We will be decent in the middle, but our tackles worry the hell out of me. I do think our overall depth is the best it's been in years. We have some sec bodies now. Let's see if a couple of them can step up and surprise me at the tackle positions.

 

[Levibooty]

If you look at the starting offensive lines of SEC teams the one dominant trait is that they are mostly made up of Sr. football players. There is just no good way to substitute for maturity and experience on the OL. We will absolutely be more experienced and mature on the OL this year and it is hard to gauge how much that will enhance our performance but it most assuredly will be for the better.

 

[TrollCat]

Schlarman may be a good coach, but there's zero evidence of that at this point. He also proven to be a very disappointing recruiter thus far. His only significant "get" is Drake Jackson. He also helped quite a bit with Bunchy Stallings, but that's pretty much it.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

I am sure that is wrong.