Gator Country

bullish · 02-07-2013, 09:20 PM

If you are concerned about our OL, look at Tiger.net and see what Clemson got, not much. They wanted everybody we have.

Garcia, Moore, Roderick J., Octavious, Cam, and big Trenton Brown, what could you be worried about. These guys, Humphries, Harrison, not even mentioning all the backups, I could put together a line our offense will excell with.

Now, if we can just get a few balls downfield more than 10 yards and mix it up a little better, maybe we can beat Georgia. LOL

HotlantaGator · 02-07-2013, 10:22 PM

I think we got good numbers on the OL when you add in the transfers...

The HS OL signees are not 5 star players, and generally, year over year, class over class, 5 stars do perform better than 3 stars...

However, I wonder whether that may be less true at OL than other positions...

OL seems to be a harder position to really gauge the HS to college transition than other positions, for a couple reasons:

1) all the prospects a school like UF looks at, whether they are 3 stars or 5 stars, usually just DWARF their opponent in HS, its hard to tell whether their domination in HS is due just to their size ( which means it will disappear when they face a 300 lb DT), or due to superior athleticism and work ethic, which should translate to the college game;

2) so many OL regardless of their stars can't stay healthy b/c the human body has a hard time carrying the kind of weight college OL need to be at, there is simply a a random injury factor that you cannot predict at the OL position, and it knocks over 5 star prospects like Patchan and James Wilson while modestly talented guys like Wylie Ritch or Kyle Koehne stay healthy and end up contributing.

**jhbyrd** · 02-08-2013, 06:59 AM

Mountain out of a mole hill. This talented OL group loads up UF's OL for next season and the OL group UF brings in next recruiting season will put UF back on track. The vaccuum at UF will pull in the needed talent as long as we have Muschamp.

PSGator66 · 02-08-2013, 07:49 AM

This is a great OL class!! Are you kidding me! You may need to up your prozac.

NoahBeanBizzel · 02-08-2013, 08:05 AM

One of the main issues with pass protection in this offense, has been the play of the tackles (Green and Nixon). Nixon was merely an above-average player, who routinely got beaten by the elite athletes around the SEC, and Green has been spotty at times.

I think that we'll see elevated play at the tackle positions this year, considering the development of Humphries and the addition of two guys (Garcia and Moore) who played good football at other schools. In fact, Garcia started every game at LT for Maryland as a sophomore, one of only five players on the entire team that year to do so. He was/is considered a pro prospect at his position. Moore was set to be the starting LT at Nebraska, and I believe he racked up more starts in his first season than any true freshman in school history.

Garcia and Moore may turn out to be the biggest gets from this class. I also trust the staff's ability to evaluate talent, and I wouldn't sleep on Dillard, Johnson and Jackson simply because they have three stars. We brought in an excellent group.

GCNumber7 · 02-08-2013, 08:13 AM

OL is the hardest to assess in HS it seems. I saw some article a couple of years back that showed most first round OL picks were of the 2, 3 star or unranked variety. So when it comes to OL, you really can't trust their rating. Much more important to have good coaching and build them up.

coldsteel120 · 02-08-2013, 08:23 AM

Stars are a marketing gimmick!

**woltes** · 02-08-2013, 08:43 AM

Big ROD Johnson is going to be a STUD.

**nflgator** · 02-08-2013, 08:46 AM

You guys have the right to take each player and rip them apart .. spend all season placing them under the microscope .. searching for any flaw.
I guess our class was # 1 or 2 and that is pretty good.
Do you have the "Fire WM" site ready to go?
Last year we were 11-2, now i know we didn't win the SEC or NC.
This happened in WM's 2nd year .. mabye it is not good enough.
If we have not won a NC by 2015/2016 i will be upset. We will win one even earlier.

The_Graygator · 02-08-2013, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullish

If you are concerned about our OL, look at Tiger.net and see what Clemson got, not much. They wanted everybody we have.

Garcia, Moore, Roderick J., Octavious, Cam, and big Trenton Brown, what could you be worried about. These guys, Humphries, Harrison, not even mentioning all the backups, I could put together a line our offense will excell with.

Now, if we can just get a few balls downfield more than 10 yards and mix it up a little better, maybe we can beat Georgia. LOL

If we could just quit having an annual turnover-fest against UGA like we have had the last two years (10 combined turnovers in the last two games), we'd beat them. lol

Ahab · 02-08-2013, 10:02 AM

To be a successful OL, you have to be a technician. That means you have to project the mental aspects of the position more so than others. Barrett Jones was not a highly rated recruit but will go down as one of the greatest college OL.

**gatorchamp27** · 02-08-2013, 11:15 AM

Lets be honest while we have a group with tremendous upside and I do like this class. Its a solid class and thats hard to accomplish. However, none of these guys have played a down in our league just yet. So heres hoping and trusting that WM and Co. can bring the beast out of these kids and they can grow to be eventual consistent starters, and then game changers.