Looking at our last 3 classes and had me thinking about the greatness of our D-Line classes and the worry over the lack of Offensive Tackle bodies.
In this post, I want to unpack the lack of OT quality bodies and maybe the misses we have had each of the last 3 years.
2021 OLine Takes
R. Linthicum C
M. Tate G
D. Pennington G
T. Leigh T
Missed on; Not much, maybe could regret not going fully on Brokermeyer and would he have developed as our LT.
2022 OLine Takes
B. Miller T
C. Sadler G/T
Missed on; Don't see any names that would have been obvious regrets. Maybe Gunner Givens would have been worth a shot.
2023 OLine Takes
I. Reed T/G
H. Sewell G/C
Z. Owens G/T
Missed on; Freeling and Absher would fit well in this group for sure. Even a guy like Ramil would have been a fun, long term development project.
What we have is a great group of guards and centers with a couple with flexibility to push out to tackle. Out of 9 OLine takes in last 3 years, only 2 are true tackles. Leigh will probably have some lumps in year one of starting, assuming he starts, but like the potential. Hope Miller gets more consistent in year 2 and he was a hit in recruiting for sure. Sadler, Reed, Tate and Owens all have the ability to slide out but I think all 4 are better at guard. Maybe Reed, who is the biggest unknown of those 4 could get immediate reps at RT.
Landing 2 obvious tackles this year, say Uini and Westphal, and the whole picture looks a lot better for 2024 season!
All this said and the interior of our OLine is really deep and solid and that shouldn't be understated as being super important! There is a bit of a talent log jam there and that's not the worst problem to have. I only looked back 3 years for this group but the crazy part is if you look back to 2020 class, we took Parks, Mayes, Tchio, Howard, Tucker and John Williams. Parks has played a decent amount of snaps at T so that counts but this is really 5 more guard types and Williams who has been moved to guard recently.
I know it's easier to find guards as compared to tackles but it's kinda wild that we only have 2 true tackle takes in last 4 years! I'm sure this wasn't the plan but how it's worked out.
In this post, I want to unpack the lack of OT quality bodies and maybe the misses we have had each of the last 3 years.
2021 OLine Takes
R. Linthicum C
M. Tate G
D. Pennington G
T. Leigh T
Missed on; Not much, maybe could regret not going fully on Brokermeyer and would he have developed as our LT.
2022 OLine Takes
B. Miller T
C. Sadler G/T
Missed on; Don't see any names that would have been obvious regrets. Maybe Gunner Givens would have been worth a shot.
2023 OLine Takes
I. Reed T/G
H. Sewell G/C
Z. Owens G/T
Missed on; Freeling and Absher would fit well in this group for sure. Even a guy like Ramil would have been a fun, long term development project.
What we have is a great group of guards and centers with a couple with flexibility to push out to tackle. Out of 9 OLine takes in last 3 years, only 2 are true tackles. Leigh will probably have some lumps in year one of starting, assuming he starts, but like the potential. Hope Miller gets more consistent in year 2 and he was a hit in recruiting for sure. Sadler, Reed, Tate and Owens all have the ability to slide out but I think all 4 are better at guard. Maybe Reed, who is the biggest unknown of those 4 could get immediate reps at RT.
Landing 2 obvious tackles this year, say Uini and Westphal, and the whole picture looks a lot better for 2024 season!
All this said and the interior of our OLine is really deep and solid and that shouldn't be understated as being super important! There is a bit of a talent log jam there and that's not the worst problem to have. I only looked back 3 years for this group but the crazy part is if you look back to 2020 class, we took Parks, Mayes, Tchio, Howard, Tucker and John Williams. Parks has played a decent amount of snaps at T so that counts but this is really 5 more guard types and Williams who has been moved to guard recently.
I know it's easier to find guards as compared to tackles but it's kinda wild that we only have 2 true tackle takes in last 4 years! I'm sure this wasn't the plan but how it's worked out.
