Entering the season, the two big questions about this offensive line were what would happen at left tackle with Tristan Leigh and Collin Sadler battling for Jordan McFadden's vacated spot, and whether this group truly had the depth that Dabo Swinney talked about during camp.
Six games in, we now know a good deal more.
Sadler seems to be the better performer at left tackle, as evidenced by his 45 snaps against Wake Forest compared to 25 snaps for Leigh (and also evidenced by the juice Sadler brought in the second half, as we'll see below).
The depth has been tested because right guard Walker Parks played the first two games before having to undergo season-ending surgery.
Mitchell Mayes, a fourth-year guy, simply hasn't been that guy. After Parks went down he started three straight games and played a total of 178 snaps.
He started against Wake Forest but played just eight snaps. And now it feels like they're going to roll with freshman Harris Sewell, who played 62 snaps against the Deacons after playing 56 total over the previous five games.
A quick rundown of some of the playing time by the scholarship backups thus far:
Trent Howard: 72 total snaps, but zero against Wake Forest, Florida State and Duke.
Ryan Linthicum: 37 snaps, but all of them against Charleston Southern and FAU.
John Williams: 26 snaps, all against CSU and FAU (out for the season with foot injury).
Dietrick Pennington: 16 snaps, all of them against CSU and FAU.
Ian Reed: 11 snaps, all against CSU.
Bryn Tucker: 2 snaps, both against CSU.
Losing Parks was a tough blow for sure, but the guys who remain surely need to remain healthy.
Back to what we were discussing about the juice Sadler brought against Wake, mainly on the guard/tackle pulling plays:
They looked ... less than ideal early against Wake, and we'll spare you a reprise of some of the first-half video that made you want to vomit last week.
Garrett Riley noted that he made some adjustments to the G/T play at halftime, and maybe one of the biggest was an attitude adjustment that seemed to bring a more assertive, punishing style.
But another was inserting Sadler for Leigh, and jeez he just looks so much quicker.
We'll include the first play of the game with Leigh pulling just to give you a comparison:
Now look at how quickly Sadler gets out of his stance and on the move:
And again here:
And again here:
Some of y'all were asking about Jake Briningstool's blocking, and asking Paul and I to back up what we said about Briningstool actually having some good reps. I think he showed that some in the second half.
Sewell doesn't always know what he's doing and he sometimes loses his sense of where he is, but at least he's going full speed.
Riley tried to work the G/T counter thing to the left side against Wake, and that needs some work as you can see here:
As much as we've focused on the gap-blocking schemes thus far in this dispatch, watching Miami this week I can't get away from the idea that the Hurricanes are susceptible to zone runs and misdirection.
North Carolina hammered them between the tackles with inside zone. Miami entered that game having not allowed a 100-yard rushing game over its first five games.
The Tar Heels bashed their way to 235 yards on 43 carries, and even that total is deceptive because it includes 27 lost yards on five sacks.
Cade Klubnik did not have a good game against Wake Forest. Cade Klubnik has come a long way since the first game of the season.
Both can be true.
Perhaps the most important area of improvement has been his awareness of when to use his legs to extend plays and either fire downfield or take off for the first-down marker.
That quality just drives defensive coordinators crazy because it creates hesitation on the part of defensive backs.
Drake Maye had some success with his legs last week, but I thought Haynes King really changed the game at Miami the week before by climbing the pocket and making the Hurricanes honor his mobility.
This scramble by King is not a huge play by itself:
But look at how much it influences this flat defender shortly thereafter and allows King to fire to an open receiver for an explosive play:
And while so much scrutiny fell on the Hurricanes' defense for letting a receiver get behind it on the game-deciding play, keep in mind that Tech could've kicked a field goal to send the game into overtime.
I would argue that King's earlier scrambles were the key factor in the safeties coming up when he scrambled on the final play before stopping and firing the deep ball:
Klubnik has had a rough go of it on the zone-read, as he's struggled to process what he's seeing at the first- and second-levels in time to make the right decision on whether to give or pull.
But he's far from a lost cause in this area, and he's made some important plays on the zone-read too.
Klubnik has had an extra week to prepare to hit Miami's defense in a similar fashion as King did here in the zone-read cat-and-mouse game with the play-side defensive end.
Zone-read keep:
Zone-read give:
Klubnik's legs can be highly, highly influential in this game.
Six games in, we now know a good deal more.
Sadler seems to be the better performer at left tackle, as evidenced by his 45 snaps against Wake Forest compared to 25 snaps for Leigh (and also evidenced by the juice Sadler brought in the second half, as we'll see below).
The depth has been tested because right guard Walker Parks played the first two games before having to undergo season-ending surgery.
Mitchell Mayes, a fourth-year guy, simply hasn't been that guy. After Parks went down he started three straight games and played a total of 178 snaps.
He started against Wake Forest but played just eight snaps. And now it feels like they're going to roll with freshman Harris Sewell, who played 62 snaps against the Deacons after playing 56 total over the previous five games.
A quick rundown of some of the playing time by the scholarship backups thus far:
Trent Howard: 72 total snaps, but zero against Wake Forest, Florida State and Duke.
Ryan Linthicum: 37 snaps, but all of them against Charleston Southern and FAU.
John Williams: 26 snaps, all against CSU and FAU (out for the season with foot injury).
Dietrick Pennington: 16 snaps, all of them against CSU and FAU.
Ian Reed: 11 snaps, all against CSU.
Bryn Tucker: 2 snaps, both against CSU.
Losing Parks was a tough blow for sure, but the guys who remain surely need to remain healthy.
Back to what we were discussing about the juice Sadler brought against Wake, mainly on the guard/tackle pulling plays:
They looked ... less than ideal early against Wake, and we'll spare you a reprise of some of the first-half video that made you want to vomit last week.
Garrett Riley noted that he made some adjustments to the G/T play at halftime, and maybe one of the biggest was an attitude adjustment that seemed to bring a more assertive, punishing style.
But another was inserting Sadler for Leigh, and jeez he just looks so much quicker.
We'll include the first play of the game with Leigh pulling just to give you a comparison:
Now look at how quickly Sadler gets out of his stance and on the move:
And again here:
And again here:
Some of y'all were asking about Jake Briningstool's blocking, and asking Paul and I to back up what we said about Briningstool actually having some good reps. I think he showed that some in the second half.
Sewell doesn't always know what he's doing and he sometimes loses his sense of where he is, but at least he's going full speed.
Riley tried to work the G/T counter thing to the left side against Wake, and that needs some work as you can see here:
As much as we've focused on the gap-blocking schemes thus far in this dispatch, watching Miami this week I can't get away from the idea that the Hurricanes are susceptible to zone runs and misdirection.
North Carolina hammered them between the tackles with inside zone. Miami entered that game having not allowed a 100-yard rushing game over its first five games.
The Tar Heels bashed their way to 235 yards on 43 carries, and even that total is deceptive because it includes 27 lost yards on five sacks.
Cade Klubnik did not have a good game against Wake Forest. Cade Klubnik has come a long way since the first game of the season.
Both can be true.
Perhaps the most important area of improvement has been his awareness of when to use his legs to extend plays and either fire downfield or take off for the first-down marker.
That quality just drives defensive coordinators crazy because it creates hesitation on the part of defensive backs.
Drake Maye had some success with his legs last week, but I thought Haynes King really changed the game at Miami the week before by climbing the pocket and making the Hurricanes honor his mobility.
This scramble by King is not a huge play by itself:
But look at how much it influences this flat defender shortly thereafter and allows King to fire to an open receiver for an explosive play:
And while so much scrutiny fell on the Hurricanes' defense for letting a receiver get behind it on the game-deciding play, keep in mind that Tech could've kicked a field goal to send the game into overtime.
I would argue that King's earlier scrambles were the key factor in the safeties coming up when he scrambled on the final play before stopping and firing the deep ball:
Klubnik has had a rough go of it on the zone-read, as he's struggled to process what he's seeing at the first- and second-levels in time to make the right decision on whether to give or pull.
But he's far from a lost cause in this area, and he's made some important plays on the zone-read too.
Klubnik has had an extra week to prepare to hit Miami's defense in a similar fashion as King did here in the zone-read cat-and-mouse game with the play-side defensive end.
Zone-read keep:
Zone-read give:
Klubnik's legs can be highly, highly influential in this game.
