Questions about the offensive line
Obviously there has been a great deal written about the offensive line and it is probably the biggest question mark on this team. While I feel like I've read a great deal about the offensive line in general, there doesn't seem to have been as much critique of individual players. For instance:
Glasgow: We saw him both at guard and as center, is he better at one position than the other? Clearly he had his problems with botched snaps in the middle of the season, but my sense is that by the end of the season, he had settled in at center. Did others who know more about the offensive line see improvement or did he still have less obvious flaws in his QB exchanges?
Kalis: were his challenges more with technique, knowing what he was supposed to do, speed getting off the ball? Something else?
Magnuson: seemed to have at least two challenges. First: strength (was he 285 or 295 last year, he is listed both ways in various rosters and depth charts. Second: he was learning a new position (and then had to deal with switching from the right to left side. Given the coaches willingness to switch him around so much, it seems they have a great deal of confidence in his ability to pick things up. Do people who know more about the offensive line think his challenges were more in picking up a new position, strength, something else?
Bosch: my sense is that he was playing because the coaches felt he had good technique and strength, but he just hadn't picked up enough of the offense yet.
Miller: were his challeges in the strength department, or is there something else holding him back?
I think that with either Glasgow or Kugler at center, we will be the strongest we've been since Molk left. I hope Kugler is able to step up, because then I think with Glasgow moving to guard, we'd be alright in two positions. The Magnuson injury is worrisome, because I think the biggest thing he needed was more time in the weight room. I still think he'll be the starting left tackle, he just won't be as improved as we'd hoped.
I think Bosch is going to step up and take the other guard spot and that the biggest question mark going into fall will be right tackle. For those who know more about the offensive line, how much of a question mark is it that Braden wasn't able to move inside? Obviously many others have done it, so it seems like a big red flag to me. For that reason, I think we'll see Dawson at right tackle.
I am more optimistic than many and I think that while last year's line had it's challenges with youth, Borges playcalling and constantly mucking with the line greatly exacerbated those problems. I think that we'll see more improvement than many are expecting.
Thanks for everyone who looked past my formatting fiasco and provided some of the player speciic insights I was hoping for.
February 21st, 2014 at 2:48 PM ^
I don't use Chrome, but it seems like those must be auto-correct errors and not typos.
It doesn't bother me, I was just curious and in retrospect it seems a bit silly to have thought it was voice-recognition.
February 21st, 2014 at 2:02 PM ^
Can you speak to Glasgow's ability to make the correct reads and checks at the line. I read recently that some of the struggles last year was based on incorrect reads made at the line. I know some of that falls on the QB, but did you see the same problems last season?
February 21st, 2014 at 2:31 PM ^
Without knowing their assignments and what they're being taught, it would be a difficult task at best. And even then, I'd probably have to watch game after game of just the OL to even really get a mediocre grasp of an answer for here.
No offense to you, but I'm not sure watching the 2013 OL in great detail is high on the "want-to-do-list".
February 21st, 2014 at 2:40 PM ^
So whoever the "source" was on that comment about Glasgow either has inside knowledge, watched lots of film or was talking out his ass. But, either way I see that is is hard to say definitively without having knowledge of what is being taught.
February 21st, 2014 at 2:47 PM ^
IIRC, I saw that same type of comment over on Rivals. If that's where you got it, former Michigan offensive lineman Doug Skene does some writing for them, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's their source.
February 21st, 2014 at 2:50 PM ^
You can probably assume there were some communication breakdowns with the way that the OL performed as a whole, and make the assumption that a lot of that falls on the OC. So it's far from a crazy idea and probably has some truth. But I highly doubt it was an independent thought based on a little personal film study and just watching the game one time through.
February 21st, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^
February 21st, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^
But, from his standpoint, most of his assignments and things won't change. I believe Nuss will adopt most of the terminology Michigan was already using, and the schemes aren't really new to Kalis. I think more than anything, another year to learn and probably a decrease in the amount of assignments will help him.
February 21st, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^
February 21st, 2014 at 11:41 AM ^
But I also think you are correct and make a good point about his confidence. I think he lost a bit of confidence last year when he started to struggle and that really snowballed and did hurt him as well.
February 21st, 2014 at 1:54 PM ^
The offensive line in 2014 could look completely different form the O line of 2013. You had a few guys redshirt who could play Bars,Dawson, Kugler and Fox. You still have Miller, Glasgow, Kalis and Bosch who played inside last year but nobody was outstanding. Their positions i'm sure are up for competition. Tackle is another story tho. You have to think Braden and Magnuson are your default tackles. The only other tackles that where recruited as tackles at least are Samuelson, LTT and JBB.
We will have to wait and see. I'm not even sure what my ideal offensive line would look like at this point. I just hope the coaches can get the best 5 out on the field by the start of the season.
February 21st, 2014 at 1:59 PM ^
February 21st, 2014 at 2:15 PM ^
Fox was recruited as a tackle, but he will supposedly be working at guard this spring. This may be a permanent thing, but I also think it may have something to do with the fact that he's recovering from a torn ACL and perhaps does not have 100% mobility back. I still think there's a chance he'll end up as a right tackle.
February 21st, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^
But at the college level, he looked like a guy that could easily play either. Dawson has some potential at RT, but I see him even more as an interior player going forward if Fox can kick back outside or the other OTs step up.
February 21st, 2014 at 3:30 PM ^
I'll feel better if Mags, Glasgow, Kalis and Bosch are in the top-5 and only one of Braden/Dawson/Kugler is needed. To further my simplicity, I want the 5th to be Braden. This would maximize the experience gained from last year. Of course, I just want the best 5, but am hoping for as many year 3 & 4 guys as we can get while giving the line the talent and physical profile we're used to seeing at UM.
February 21st, 2014 at 4:55 PM ^
Glasgow included in that, but last year just seemed like your classic, complete and total panic clusterfuck on the OL. I think Borges just blew it. He wanted the biggest basket of plays available to him because as has been noted on this blog, he loves to call all sorts of plays. Yet, with all the inexperience on the OL, he really needed to develop a solid base and create confidence through doing something well vs. doing many things poorly. The end result was a complete lack of confidence across the OL. Physically, we have the players to do the job. Sure, bigger and stronger is better and with time, the players will get bigger and stronger. Mentally, they were pretty trashed by the MSU game. Borges tried what seemed to be every blocking scheme known to man last year. Start with a foundation and build on that, especially with young players.
Looking forward to seeing what Nuss can do with the same group. I'm hoping he pulls a "Mattison 2011" with the guys that Borges couldn't get to block worth a damn.
February 21st, 2014 at 5:02 PM ^
until we talk about the OL more and see how guys like Kugler, Braden and Dawson look. If Kugler can some how earn the center spot and kick Glasgow back to guard, I would feel extremely more confident about the status of the interior. We haven't seen anyone of these guys play tackle yet so anything on the is just speculation at this point.
February 21st, 2014 at 8:44 PM ^