Blueroller

March 1st, 2011 at 8:20 PM ^

Brian had picture pages devoted to showing how Molk executed reach blocks, getting across the face of a DT lined up between Molk and the guard. I bet holding calls are a consequence of attempting many of those blocks.

In a more iso-oriented running scheme Molk shouldn't have to do those reach blocks. On the other hand, he excelled at them. It'll be interesting to see how he – and the rest of the OL – adapts to the new scheme. Patrick O. in particular seemed to struggle in straightahead short yardage plays from the I form. Hopefully they will use his agility by pulling him a lot. Molk too – few centers have his ability to pull out on a screen, for example.

Blazefire

March 1st, 2011 at 8:31 PM ^

Patrick O. in particular seemed to struggle in straightahead short yardage plays from the I form.

I expect this had a lot to do with the nature of those plays. They were always very obvious, straightforward rushes against a stacked defense and the O line probably rarely practiced just generating the forward thrust. He's a big, athletic guy, and the blocking will still be zone blocking. I think he'll get it no problem.

Monocle Smile

March 2nd, 2011 at 10:10 AM ^

You must have misheard. Molk only had like three holding calls against him the entire year. He got the "hitting a defenseless player" penalty that no one saw and was total horsecrap anyway, and he got an "ineligible receiver downfield" horseshit call when he was FACEDOWN for falling forward after a block.

Lewan had a penalty every third drive, it seemed.

m1jjb00

March 1st, 2011 at 8:41 PM ^

You may be right, but at least by the metric of draft predictions, the Big 10 was heavy on quality d-linement, especially ends.  On that score, I picked up a Lindy's review to have something to read, and read a blurb on Kerrigan.  The editors asked him what film he'd want people to see of him.  His answer....wait for it... I'm sure you'll all be surprised: MICHIGAN.  The dude was a monster that day.