O-line

One comment from me on the notion of run production (average yards per carry) being down from last year. Taylor M was boosting those stats last year like crazy. It took teams about 8 games to figure out his game and the injuries also slowed him way down at the end of last year. Unfortunately the quick scoring abilities took a toll on our defense and put them on the field too long. I think this past season our coaches wanted a more grind it out offense that gave our defense time to rest between possessions.

 
TonyStalloni said:
One comment from me on the notion of run production (average yards per carry) being down from last year. Taylor M was boosting those stats last year like crazy. It took teams about 8 games to figure out his game and the injuries also slowed him way down at the end of last year. Unfortunately the quick scoring abilities took a toll on our defense and put them on the field too long. I think this past season our coaches wanted a more grind it out offense that gave our defense time to rest between possessions.
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Well, yeah that's got to be part of it. Good point. I'm to lazy to inject Tmart's crazy 2010 numbers before injury into 2011 but no doubt it would bring it close.

Nevertheless, I don't see much evidence (at all) of improved run blocking this year. I think it was a small step backwards. Now, having walk-ons play all over the OLine (zero depth) surely didn't help. Hard to diss the coaches for that.

I just don't see why bringing in Garrison & Stai and "at best" showing no improvement in OLine play means that it's all on Barney. That's the group-think I just can't understand.

 
True to the Red.......Always said:
No doubt that Cotton has got some highly talented kids to commit their talents to us. I can't blame this Peat kid for taking advantage of a Stanford education and some top notch football. Stanford is putting lineman into the NFL which cannot be said for Nebraska. Stanford also runs more of a power pro style offense. I wish the kid well and in a way was hoping he wouldn't waste his talents by coming here. I feel bad for a lot of the kids who have come to play on this offensive line just to have the box loaded with 8 or 9 defenders all game long. Then have fans get mad when the 5 man front can't block all 8 of the defenders? If the coaches refuse to instill any sort of passing game or passing threat into this offense, then who the hell am I to tell them how to do their jobs. Defenses will continue to load the box, continue to blow up our offensive line, and Barney will continue to take the blame. I expect more prime time offensive lineman to turn their heads away from Nebraska until this offense finds some balance. Once there is balance, I think it is reasonable to expect a dominant performance from this offensive line now and again.
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Just because he is an OL coach doesn't mean that he is the lead recruiter on our OL players.

Barney's time has come and gone. He has had ample opportunity to produce . . . and most of his production has been in false starts.

 
bshirt said:
Really? Our run production was wayyyy down from last year in run YPG and perhaps even more importantly, YPC. Games like NW where we're facing a truly horrid defense and still getting stuffed didn't impress me much.

So we bring in Garrison/Stai and our run production nose-dives.....so of course that's still on Barney?

Otoh, the schedule was much tougher (defensively) than 2010. Maybe that makes it a wash. I don't know. But I do know and fully agree the next two years is the key. We've recruited the big uglies hard the last couple years and we "should" start to see the results soon.
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All of this is true, but the 2010 offense was completely dependent on long plays and weaker defenses, as you mentioned. As you can recall, Helu had 307 rushing yards in one game, most of which came off (I think) three of the team's longest runs all year. Burkhead is a great back, but he's not as fast Helu. I think this also has something to do with our YPC going down - we didn't have a back with great speed last year.

Overall, my untrained eye saw a unit that was able to work better throughout an entire game, but it was by no means a significant improvement nor something to necessarily brag about. But I remember saying "nice blocking" this year far more than I was able to in 2009 or 2010. I have no way to back up these statements, of course, other than saying it's just what I remember/think about. I don't think your production has to necessarily be better for an offensive line to be better. Players leave, people change positions. If we had Trent Richardson this year I bet our YPC would have been a lot better, but we didn't. A running back needs a good line to run through, but a line also needs a good running back.

Edit - I don't mean for that to be a slight on Burkhead - he's great. But he didn't have the athletic tools to break long, 20+ yard gainers consistently. Helu was able to do that, and then let Burkhead come in and withstand some of the blows.

 
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Not counting the guys we just signed yesterday, we have five four-star OL and seven three-star OL. And that's not even counting Choi, who wasn't rated by Rivals. Their average rating was 5.6, with a peak of 5.9 and a low of 5.3.

There is talent on this line. Even without Andrus Peat, we have the guys to get the job done. They just need to stay healthy and work their asses off.

 
TonyStalloni said:
One comment from me on the notion of run production (average yards per carry) being down from last year. Taylor M was boosting those stats last year like crazy. It took teams about 8 games to figure out his game and the injuries also slowed him way down at the end of last year. Unfortunately the quick scoring abilities took a toll on our defense and put them on the field too long. I think this past season our coaches wanted a more grind it out offense that gave our defense time to rest between possessions.
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The thing is, they did not grind it out. They had several three and outs or they shot themselves in the foot SO many times. If they were truly coached effectively, there would not be as many penalties and just bone head mistakes. I know Caputo was manhandled a few games.

It is fair to not say Cotton is the lead recruiter, but he IS the position coach. When a recruit sees how many offensive lineman this guy has NOT put in the NFL the last few years it makes your decision pretty easy. I know Bo and TO are big on loyalty, but it is not working with Cotton. As many have said, this is a big year. The amount of talent we have coming back (based on rankings), he better not find a way to screw this up!

 
shot themselves in the foot SO many times.
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This....The penalties had seemed to be improved upon, until the last few games. We need more consistancy along the line and staying healthy would greatly help this.

 
BIGREDIOWAN said:
The fact that Cotton was part of the O-line staff this past season was a tragedy by itself............................please leave!
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Good luck with that...Bo continuing to sign his kids is guaranteed job security for him. And regarding instate recruiting..how NU passed up on Drew Ott from Giltner, let alone go sign at Iowa...is just insane. WTF is up with passing on 3-star recruits in our own backyard?!?

 
If I was an OL that could choose anywhere I wanted to go, there is no way that I would come to Nebraska with the lack of improvement it has shown on the OL. I do not hide the fact that I do not like Barney Cotton. He has done nothing to improve this OL in the last several years. Every year, it is the same thing, or worse.

 
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