Offensive Line Finally a Strength
It has been a longtime since the offensive line has been considered the best in the BigTen. Lloyd Carr fielded pretty good offensive lines, but we really haven't had a truly strong line since perhaps then. Maybe I am being pessimistic, but the offensive line seemed like it was more often than not a liability of the team under RichRod and Hoke.
We now have what appears to be the best offensive line in the BigTen. Phile Steele has the offensive line ranked 4th in the nation. The rest of the BigTen is taking notice. Husker Online ranked the top 5 BigTen players by position group and here are their rankings:
Cesar Ruiz 2nd Best Center in the BigTen.
Ben Bredeson Best Guard in the BigTen.
Michael Onwenu 3rd Best Guard in the BigTen.
Jon Runyan 2nd Best Tackle in the BigTen.
I am more excited about seeing the offensive line than any other position group on this team. If they live up to expectations and can stay healthy, it will help the RB situation out immensely and give the talented WRs time to get open.
Ed Warinner deserves a lot of credit.
We used to year in and year out have the best line in the Big Ten and if it wasn’t it was top 2-3. With who we have back and the losses at Wiscy and OSU I expect us to be the best. For the 1st time in a fucking decade.
We need it with our schedule. OL is the difference maker.
I think Mayfield wins the job and has eventual All Big Ten potential. The interior this year is sick. Runyan is athletic and experienced. The key is that they will be a unit without any glaring weakness.
It would be nice to have an awesome O-line - certainly a departure from the past decade
Coach Ed is perfect for the Gattis power spread attack. Have high hopes for the 2019 offense. Go Blue !!!
Totally improved, but we'll see if the tackles can hold up to some of the better DEs like Willekes, Epenesa, Young, etc.
While I hope we can return to our previous OL glory, considering what we have seen the last 5 - 10 years, I will remain cautiously optimistic.
Agreed. If shea has 1.5-2 more seconds to release, we could utilize our talented receiving core... that would be great
our talented receiving core
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1.5-2 more seconds would mean that no one would ever touch Shea. That's nearly impossible in today's game. A split second longer would suffice
It’s good to have the continuity over the last couple of years as they grow and improve as a group. Now time to show how good they are and lay waste to some defensive fronts
Ed Warinner shaped up the line in just one year. It's 3 deep now.
I hope he's here 10 years. I am also hoping to hear he is getting more involved with the RBs. I tried to find the video where Ezekiel Elliot talked about working with Ed Warinner. He spoke well of his coaching to him.
Most have probably seen this video. But it's worth watching again:
I think how long he is there will rely on his ambitions. We would have loved to have kept him as an O-Line coach, but he wanted to be more involved at the play calling/coordinator level. The criminal mismanagement of the offensive play calling in 2015 was the only thing that kept us from winning back-to-back national titles, and it was because Warriner and Tim Beck had no idea what they were doing. How you forget that Zeke is in the back field for the entirety of the Sparty game is beyond me.
Now back in his O-Line role, he's doing an absolutely tremendous job for you guys. As long as he doesn't look to move up, you'll have a top-tier line every year that he's there.
Just think about this team if it wouldnof had Gary and Bush back for 1 more year would of been super scary.
OSU lost Bosa and Haskins. I’m more pleased about that.
Technically they lost Bosa but he was out for 85% of the season so I wouldn't count it as a loss considering that they were used to it without him. Chase Young will be more than fine since he's a potential top 5 pick in 2020 draft.
I mean we barely even had Gary last year because of injury. He was out most of the season and everyone is acting like there is no way we can replace him, when we showed we can be dominant without him as well.
After the last...12 years...I'll believe we have a good OL when I see it
We had a good O-line last season. Certainly was at least top 20 nationally. The hope for this year is top 5. But the floor is good.
Pay the man. Results are coming this year.
So many moving parts. So much changed and unchanged. I am hopeful but there is a LOT of work to do.
The O-Line is the most important position group on the team. Every single national champ has had a great to elite O-Line.
Clemson OL is actually not that good. They're average at best. They won because of their defense and Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne. They were able to get away without having a good OL just like they did with Deshaun Watson at QB a few years ago.
It's all just clickbait guessing until they start playing real* games.
*"Middle Tennessee State University" does not count as a real game.
Tell that to the MSU basketball team.
I think I remember seeing something before the Ohio game last year that it was only the 3rd time in the last decade our QB was 100% healthy going into "The Game" As much as it could be with Shea's ability to avoid sacks, it was incredible to see what a great job the OLine did all year.
It also all happened really quickly I feel like. It seems like weve had a bad to mediocre at best OLine for at least a decade. This is our teams best unit and I'm excited to see them play this year.
I will believe it when I see it.
Or as my college drafting teacher would say: "strenth" Still bothers me to this day.
I still have a hard time understanding how Runyon is All B1G but the results speak for themselves.