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Iowa seems to do a damn fine job of it. Many of the midwestern schools do. Iowa, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Nebraska, etc. Pending on whether you want to consider Texas and Michigan/Wisconsin as 'midwest'.. Maybe just say Big 10..
Maybe i'm just skewed in the thinking there. Just seems Iowa has a pretty good record of quality OL going to the NFL.
Historically, yes. But the SEC is currently putting more linemen into the NFL by far. And they are getting the best offensive line recruits.
But this is not really relevant to my point that OL is the most difficult position to recruit. It's much easier to address need at, say, linebacker than it is to address need at OL. Even if you recruit all 5-stars, it takes at least 3 years to develop them as few O-linemen are good enough to contribute right away. So the expectation that you just "fix" an O-line in one year is not realistic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Labonte18
Swinney's career at Alabama compares basically with Sean McVay's at Miami, OH.
So.. You're saying it's insulting to compare McVay to Prime as well?
No, I'm disputing your statement that both Deion and Dabo are not Xs and Os guys and would not make good coordinators. Dabo, by your own admission, is not. You're trying to put Deion into the same category, which is ridiculous considering he's one of the best to ever do it. He actually knows a lot about the technical aspects of the game. The comparison to McVay is a complete red herring as no one has ever questioned his high football acumen.
I'll take the bait. Obviously, it was a mistake because that O-line was horrible and got Sheduer killed since the TCU game. By the end of the season, he was barely walking. The D-line couldn't stop a nose bleed. A similar trend could be seen when Washington played Michigan for the CFP. Michigan's trench play on both sides of the ball was the difference which nullified Washington's superior passing game. Trench play is why Colorado lost to Stanford when the Cardinal was the worse team in the Pac-12 at the time. As to your MJ comment, defense does win championships. When his supporting cast arrived, i.e. Horace, Pippen, etc., well you know the rest. The Bulls thrived to make it "simplistic" for you. I am a Prime fan from his playing days. Don't get me wrong. He's made some gaffes in his philosophy in building a roster. No doubt he knows the game but sometimes when you are in the mix you can't always see what's going on around you. That's why he got rid of or "encouraged" his assistant coaches to leave. I said it before. He had many foxes in the hen house. Hopefully, he doesn't have to do anymore house cleaning and focus on developing his squad.
Yeah, but my point is that no coach, especially one who is in the freakin' NFL Hall of Fame, makes the "mistake" of focusing on skill positions over linemen. You're basically saying that he can't see the obvious and I'm telling you that he can see the obvious like everyone else. But just because something is obvious doesn't mean it's easy to fix.
O-line is not a plug and pop position. There are only so many highly touted prospects at the position and even fewer in the transfer portal. And even when you get one, they have to be developed. They are not anything like running backs or receivers who can contribute to a team in a major way on their first snap. And prospects are more likely to commit to programs that have already established their bona fides in terms of producing NFL caliber linemen. So your view that "he made a mistake by not focusing on it" is more like "he couldn't get them." The reality is that quality linemen are not easy to find or get.
Unfortunately for Vanderbilt, offensive line is one of the most difficult positions to add via the portal. Fewer quality linemen enter than other positions because it's understood most players will sit for a few years before becoming starters. Many of the ready-made linemen who do end up in the portal go to a school already known for having a strong offensive line.
Colorado and Deion Sanders, in particular, showed in 2023 why building an offensive line from the transfer portal is so hard. The Buffaloes landed a ton of impact skill-position players but finished 4-8 because of an inability to protect the quarterback. On the other hand, the Commodores' offensive line struggled enough in 2023 that it might be less difficult to find an upgrade.
Maybe Sanders can do well with trench guys. He just hasn't done it yet. Alabama will want a coach who has. Someone who's built a team and culture over years including high school recruits.
A year ago he ran off most of the existing team, without giving them a chance. He chose to rely mostly on the portal and it didn't work. If building a line from scratch is tough, he should've known that.
Maybe Sanders can do well with trench guys. He just hasn't done it yet. Alabama will want a coach who has. Someone who's built a team and culture over years including high school recruits.
A year ago he ran off most of the existing team, without giving them a chance. He chose to rely mostly on the portal and it didn't work. If building a line from scratch is tough, he should've known that.
Actually, it did work considering they won 3 more games than they did the previous season.
"If a building a line from scratch is tough, he should've known that." That's silly. Of course he knew it was tough considering Colorado was 1-11.
Personally, I hope he doesn't go to Alabama, but if he did linemen would be the least of his concerns since Bama already has 5-stars on the roster as opposed to the 1 and 2 star linemen he had at Colorado this season.
They won more games because the skill players were better.
The line was at least as bad as the year before, and would've benefited from keeping a few of the old guys. Iirc some of the Denver media has pointed that out as well.
They won more games because the skill players were better.
Correct. And your statement was "it didn't work." What didn't work? Because the players they already had, the ones you're now saying he should have kept, only won a single measly game last season. Would you have preferred that he maintained the old roster and gone 1-11?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mhays25
line was at least as bad as the year before, and would've benefited from keeping a few of the old guys. Iirc some of the Denver media has pointed that out as well.
It's speculative to say how many of those guys would have stayed anyway. This is a new era where we're going to see tons of players entering the portal from a single team every season. One of Colorado's best lineman got a better NIL deal from UCLA. Nothing you can do to make him stay besides pay him more. Some of those guys wound up at worse programs than the one they left (one guy is now playing at Texas State, hardly a football powerhouse). So you can't really say that they would have been better off with players who wouldn't be playing on any other P5 roster.
I don't think he will leave but he has to do a better job this season at Colorado. At least have a winning record. In his mind, he believes he can win now. We'll see. Lincoln Riley used to transfer portal to get USC back to prominence. Bama wouldn't interest Prime. He wants to create his own legacy, IMO.
It doesn’t matter whether he’s interested in the position, I seriously doubt he’ll be considered.
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