The Future at Guard: 0 Jrs / 4 Sophs / 0 Fr. / 0 Recruits

Submitted by jtmc33 on

While updating the Depth Chart by Class (in light of the Campbell / Q. Washington position switch) it first dawned on me that all Guards on the roster are Sophomores.  This position switch just made Guard recruiting for 2010 a priority. 

Even with a great recruiting class at guard in 2010, in 2013, the most experienced Guards on our roster will be Redshirt Sophs with no Juniors or Seniors (and this is with 0 recruits at this point to fill that void). 

This, of course, doesn't consider possible future position switches (Khoury to Guard if Pace is ready to back-up) or playing a true Freshman at the position -- the last option could be more of a sign of necessity (as in playing true freshman CBs this year) than the readiness of a true freshman starting on the line in the Big 10.

Tackle in 2011:   1 Sr - 2 Soph - 2 Redshirting Fr. (Posada, Fisher)

Center in 2011:  1 Sr - 1 Jr. - 1 Fr. - 1 Redshirting Fr. (Miller)

Gaurd in 2011:   4 Jrs. - No Recruits

It looks like Zettel, UM, and OG is a match made in heaven - hopefully Cyrus Hobbi can get back in the picture too.  And the consistent recruitment of James Elliott makes a lot more sense to me after seeing the "situation" we will be in down the road.

MEZman

October 29th, 2010 at 10:35 AM ^

I think people were projecting Posada to be more of a guard than a tackle, FWIW.

 

Also, Chris Bryant is still out there as well and he could end up at G.

Sinsoftheschafer

October 29th, 2010 at 10:30 AM ^

Aren't centers and guards somewhat interchangeable?  I'd assume one of the two Fr centers would move to guard rather than sit for 4 years.  This might make more sense as interior lineman:

 

1 Sr, 5 Jr, 1 Fr, 1 Redshirting Fr

Still an obvious recruiting need, but not as gaping of a hole.

jmblue

October 29th, 2010 at 3:58 PM ^

Moosman played center in nine games last season.  It was only in his first start that we had big snap issues (and that was partly on Tate anyway).  Our larger problem last year was that Moosman just wasn't as talented an interior lineman as Molk. 

myrtlebeachmai…

October 29th, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^

pushing one of the Soph's back a year.  Gotta think if the position switch looks worthwhile, a redshirt year wouldn't be out of the question to work on form/technique and give him a real shot at the spot.

bronxblue

October 29th, 2010 at 10:36 AM ^

Thanks for the breakdown, but as we've seen before, guys shake out where they are going to help the team the most once they get on campus.  It matters less the position they played in HS or even how they project by the ratings services.

mejunglechop

October 29th, 2010 at 10:36 AM ^

It's something to keep an eye on, but remember we thought Omameh was headed for tackle and we thought Barnum was definitely a guard, but he's been playing some tackle too.

PurpleStuff

October 29th, 2010 at 12:13 PM ^

This past weekend I was in line to order my first Blimpy Burger in nearly three decades when some woman behind the counter screamed, "Rodriguez don't recruit no guards!"  I asked a follow up question and she shouted, "He ain't never had no guards in the East Coast Conference!"  Then she attempted to deep fry my belt and serve it to me with a side of ranch.

If this is true Rodriguez should be fired immediately because he obviously doesn't know anything about football (I mean, you need two guards at a time, how complicated is that?).  If it isn't true, I apologize and deserve your sympathy because I am old and clueless and too lazy to Google the ridiculous assertions of strangers before sharing them with the board.  Dr. STeve.

Dr. Steve

Hannibal.

October 29th, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^

What I hear about both Bryant and Posada is that they will probably move to guard.  If that's the case, our tackle situation is pretty worrisome.  We could have really used one stud tackle in addition to Fisher in this class.

Ziff72

October 29th, 2010 at 10:48 AM ^

I will continue to bleed Maize and Blue until 2013 at which point I will switch to being a Golden Gopher because we dibanded the football program due to a lack of guards. 

shorts

October 29th, 2010 at 4:41 PM ^

I'm having a hard time figuring out how this worked. There have to be seven men on the line of scrimmage, so if you have three lineman and four or five receivers on the line, that means two of the receivers are covered up and can't go out in patterns or be eligible receivers, so they're basically just light-weight blockers

I could see this being valuable for a bubble screen to one of the eligible guys, but there are very few plays you could run that would be better from this set than a normal one.

Blue boy johnson

October 29th, 2010 at 12:11 PM ^

Here is a list of the OL on the roster, I don't see much to worry about.

9 Perry Dorrestein OL SR
74 John Ferrara OL SR
52 Stephen Schilling OL SR
72 Mark Huyge OL RS JR
61 Zac Ciullo OL RS JR
50 David Molk OL RS JR
65 Patrick Omameh OL RS SO
63 Rocko Khoury OL RS SO
57 Elliott Mealer OL RS SO
56 Ricky Barnum OL RS SO
77 Taylor Lewan OL RS FR
76 Quinton Washington OL RS FR
75 Michael Schofield OL RS FR
69 Erik Gunderson OL RS FR
70 Kristian Mateus OL FR
64 Christian Pace OL FR

BlueGoM

October 29th, 2010 at 1:40 PM ^

I doubt they'll keep 4 guys at center.  At least one of those guys will move to guard.

Not worried.  There is still room in this class for another OL and they'll likely recruit a 2-3 guards next year.

jmblue

October 29th, 2010 at 4:04 PM ^

Along these lines, I'm curious to know what we're planning for the TE position down the road.  We currently have three TEs on scholarship: a senior (Webb), a junior (Koger) and a sophomore (Moore).  We have no commitments at the position for next season.  Are we thinking of phasing the TE out of our offense, or possibly moving someone else there?  I know RR often went without a TE at WVU, but we've made ample use of them as lead blockers this year and I can't imagine us going without them in the future.