Fall Roster Overanalysis 2011

Comparing our current roster with our roster in 2006

In 2006, the Defensive Line (W. Johnson, A. Branch, L. Woodley, J. Van Alstyne, T. Taylor, T. Jamison and R. Biggs) averaged 284.86 lbs. 

In 2011, the D-line (Martin, Campbell, Roh, Van Bergen, Washington, Ash, Black and Heininger) averages 292.63 lbs.

In 2006, our LB's (Burgess, Graham, Crable, Thompson and Harris) averaged 233.8 lbs.

In 2011, our LB's (Gordon, Demens, Jones, Fitzgerald, Ryan, Bell & Evans) average 236 lbs.

In 2006, our DB's (Hall, Trent, Adams, Barringer and Englemon) averaged 200.4 lbs.

In 2011, our DB's (Floyd, Woolfolk, Johnson, Furman, Gordan and Kovacs) average slightly less at 198.17 lbs. 

Also, our Tight Ends in 2006 were Tyler Ecker at 246 and Mike Massey at 234.

This year, we have Koger at 258, Moore at 255, Watson at 255 and Miller at 234.  Interesting to see that Miller is already as big as Massey was. 

Is Hoke just appeasing the fan base when he says "we're going to run power"? It seems that if you're going to run power, then you ought to have some big OL, so tell them to beefcake like they did to the DL.

This post reminds me of those commercial where the kid is throwing the ball to himself and  strikes out. He decides he's not the best hitter but best pitcher in the world!

Because Will Campbell lost weight, he's going to be faster, and because the rest of our DL gained weight, they'll be stronger.

C what I did there?

Hopefully Campbell's weight loss doesn't hurt any strength gains he's made; as it is, the guy was pushed around the past couple of years.  I know his problem has always been technique and pad level, but at this point he needs to show something.

All other weight gains and losses don't surprise me, and I expect Denard's 2 lb gain to be restricted to the additional dilithium implants in his calves.

Does anyone think there's a chance past weights were inflated for certain positions, i.e linemen?  Often heights are increased in basketball on official rosters, so might the same have been going on (or still for all I know) with weights in football?  Maybe the linemen's weights were all bumped up 5 or 10 lbs under RR and that explains why there are no real gains from '10 to '11.  Or do they release new weights every spring as well, so we'd have a baseline under Hoke?

But jibreel down 5? At least will h has gained enough bulk to get some pt as a depth guy. From year 1 to year 2 rvb gained a ton of weight, why could black not do the same? The play the same position, no?

at higher weights.  A bigger Roh at the DE spot, with a bigger Cam at Sam is so much better than Gerg's D.  So who are the starting LBs?  

WLB: Evans

MLB: Demens

SLB: Cam

Or does Jake Ryan get some PT in there?

You forgot to include Antonio Poole in the tables

Tony the Tornado and Hurricane Chris

1.  O-Line

I don't see the issue with running power with this O-line.  Aside from Molk (who is a damn strong 286), the rest of our line is over 290, with two of them over 300 (albeit barely).  That has to put us at heavier than the average, and within the B10, probably within the top half.

2.  Running backs

I know that Brian was kidding with the "all weight gains and losses are good" thing, but I actually think that for our RBs, this is true.  Why?  V. Smith smowed down last year.  Not sure how much of that was related to him going from 168 to 180, but the 168 pound V. Smith that we saw in 2009 look a lot more elusive.  The 180 pound version was still to small to run over anyone, but lacked the speed to avoid being taken down in the backfiend.  Happy to see him down to 172.  Good weight loss.

On the other hand, Mike Shaw did need to gain some weight, as (a) he has been injured frequently, and (b) he has shown the ability to run north to south and actually knock over tacklers.  The extra 8 pounds will only help him there.

3.  D-Line and LB

Well, nobody can say that we are undersized at these positions.  Out D-line is manball sized, even Roh.  And the LB's aren't too small themselves.

See, all weight gain / loss is good.

It sure is going to be fun listening to announcers perpetuate the BEEFCAKE myth every time we pound it up the middle or our d-line has success. 

Nice to see Richard Ash slimming back down.  Since these guys are going to be such important players down the road when Martin and Campbell graduate, I was wondering where exactly they are playing right now.  This site's depth chart by class has Washington behind Will at the 3 tech and Ash at nose.  That seems a little odd to me since Washington looks to be more of the immovable object type while Ash was a smaller, more athletic guy coming out of high school.  Also seems fishy that Ash would almost certainly be the default starter at NT next year.

My hope is that Washington and Ash both see time in the rotation this year, but with Washington backing up Martin and Ash behind Campbell.  If both guys pan out, that could set up a nice succession plan with Washington playing next to Campbell in 2012 and Ash sliding in next to Washington a year later (with Pipkins hopefully waiting in the wings to take Q's spot and Wormley or some other growing DE to replace Ash).

Manball is a mindset not a set weight. with the proper toughness you can average 230 across the O-Line and still pulverize the opposition.

I find it insightful that coaches are actually watching Mike Martin  on every play in practice, last year D was there only to help set tempo for the O. No time for coaching. Poor Gerg, how could he teach fundamentals without time to even talk to the D.

This is two different staffs! And trust me, they were NOT looking at the same scale.

Some of the ridiculous weight gains/losses are simply due to over inflated numbers. Either by the last staff or the present.

Vince Smith at 180? mmmm DOUBT IT! I give that Five Fakes out of Five.

Khory at 295? mmm HECK NO. This staff has been trying to beef up the whole line. Why would he be losing weight? Obviously because he never weighed 295 to begin with.

Huyge, Mealer, Black...same thing.

Rumor has it that Lawrence Thomas (MSU) came into camp weighing 280 and may move to the DL.  Not sure if that's true, but damnnnn mannnnn 280?!  

But it was nice to see Toussaint lose some weight. He looked big and slow when HR was actually healthy enough to get on the field (still hoping maybe he can have one of those "does nothing but has a great senior year" deals before he's done here).



And what are we doing differently to get the DTs to finally shed the weight? Wellman's rep was beefing up guys, but he seems to be thinning them out when necessary too.

In all seriousness, most of that looks good on paper...looking forward to seeing those gains/losses translate to better athleticism on the field. The only minor quibble I might make is with respect to Miller being "ridiculously small"...given the role he's ostensibly going to fill going forward as an H-back sort, he'll definitely do some blocking but not exclusively so (e.g., Webb). It's disappointing that he didn't work out at wideout but now he'll just be slightly above average TE, athleticism-wise. As for his blocking, he is a little small still, but 234 seems like it's right in the ballpark of your average fullback, at worst just a shade undersized.