Written by Duane Long | 06 April 2010

I have often found questions and comments from fans to be inspiration for a blog post. It has not happened for awhile but a recent enquiry from one of you touches on a sublject near and dear to my heart, offensive linemen.

Poster asks: "Overall impression on the Big commits so far?"

I am at peace with it. Last year we had more tackle bodies. We went after the big fish nationally and came up empty with the exception of Norwell. Now here we are. It is not such a bad situation. We need another left tackle, I would say two, and we need guards. Right tackle is solid with Shugarts and Hall battling for the starting right tackle spot and Norwell coming in. There are no left tackles in Ohio. There are some very nice guards. I am a firm believer in moving down players. I would only recruit tackles and centers. Those that aren't in the two deep get kicked down to guard and we recruit more tackles in the next class. We do not have the luxury of moving players down. We do not have the depth or the time. We need players who can step in and play guard next year. No seeing of they can play tackle. No waiting until they are bigger and stronger. These players need to come in and play guard for us. At least two of them will be in the two-deep as soon as they arrive on campus. I say three because I don't see Blankenship ever being an impact player here. Linsley and Mewhort step into the starting spots at guard beside Brewster. behind them are walk-ons or these freshmen. If I have to take guards, and that is what we need, I like the kids we have cvommitments from.


Poster asks: "What is needed to round this class out and fill the need for Bigs? (mine 2OL; 2DT)"

At this point the one thing we have to do is find a left tackle. I have heard a projection of Tommy Brown, as well as Aundray Walker to tackle. I don't see that happening. If it does either would be right tackles. We need a left tackle. Miller is gone after this year. It is hard to believe since we have seen so little of him but Mike Adams will be a junior this year. It is the most important position on the line. We really don't want to start shuffling the line to fill the position. We need to add one this year. The thing is, I don't like our odds. We saw the difficulty of adding linemen from out of state last year. It was a good year for tackles. It is early but I don't see the same talent level as last year.
On defense, the beat goes on. We just offered a great looking big in Joel Hale from Indiana. I am excited about him even more than Farris as a defensive player. Farris has even more versatility because he is a prospect at left tackle too but Hale is the superior defensive player. I think Farris is a little more athletic but Hale is a great looking athlete but he is just a great player. Like Farris, he projects as a defensive tackle but is athletic enough that he could be a strong side end. With offers to national DTs Michael Bennett and Kevin McReynolds out there, I think we are done with big offers. Then again, I am surprised at the offer to Hale. Something to note on him is Florida just had him down for an unofficial. Meyer looking this far north for a linemen speaks volumes about this kid.


Poster asks: "Your thoughts now on the staff's strategy last year, ie, were they a total failure in 2010 and are they now desperate, or were they well aware of the available talent this year and were therefore willing to go for a home run in 2010, or what?"


Any fisherman puts a couple in the live well for dinner before committing the rest of the day going after the big fish. We were always in a dogfight for Henderson. We knew we were not the favorite with Matt James, may he rest in peace. This goes back even further with the decision to not offer Zebrie Sanders two years ago. Are we as worried about left tackle if we have Andrew Donnal and Zebrie Sanders on the roster? We failed to do that.

The overall strategy of keeping the numbers so low is more to blame than anything. Sanders and Donnal do not solve the guard problem. That we lack inside offensive line depth should not be about two players, Smith and Blenkenship, not panning out. Offensive line have the highest number of recruits who do not live up to expectations. We need to get the numbers up. The ironic thing is we are showing signs of having the biggest OL class ever, and it happens to be in a guard heavy class.

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