Offensive Line Woes Seem to Continue

[HogHomer]

Which staff? The pieces change every year.

I don't know if you know this but none of our offensive coaches changed this year. And only 2 new faces on the defense? That's about normal for an FBS program.

[Youngsta71701]

In the game against FAMU, I didn't see what I wanted to see from the OL unit. Austin Allen was hurried a lot and often had defenders in his face. The running backs were better than last year with picking up defenders, which was great to see, but we need much less confusion from the OL this year. If things don't greatly improve, I don't think Kurt Anderson will make it to next season as our OL coach.

Don't forget we didn't even start Wallace at right tackle. They wanted to get Clary some work for some reason.

[onebadrubi]

My biggest concern is not the play on the field.  I'm sure we are playing the best we have and they are doing the best we can.  What bothers me is what is happening in recruiting and player development.  Only 2 of the 5 starting O lineman are recruited scholarship O lineman.  A walk on, a defensive player, and a lineman who was not a targeted scholarship player but promised one later.  What happened to the lineman we've brought in the last 4 years on scholarship O lineman?  Are we missing in recruiting, or are we not developing? 

I always thought the O line would be the strength of a Bielema team, but so far it hasn't been.

Lets look at that issue.  First off, it's starting to be a few years old so people on here are already bashing the current staff and proping up Pittman in doing so, yet he is where the problem started. 

Many level headed people on here have been saying for 3-4 years now we are and have been 1-2 lineman short even in good recruiting years.  We then threw in a bad year when we took only Malone and Ramirez, in all likelihood it appears Malone won't be playing O line here as he might have been moved to the depth of the D line now.

So going back to 2014 lets look

2014:
Wallace a OT recruit who was a big haul for us
Ragnow who was also recruited as an OT and was a big haul for us.  I personally think Ragnow could be as good at any position on the O line as we are seeing at Center. 
Josh allen, came gone then came and gone again, correct? 
Tretolla, great player for us now out of eligibility. 

That is a good class, borderline great, but two of the 4 are gone, one with issues and one out of eligibility.  So lets say we are -1 now that could be in the depth of this years line. 

2015:
Jalen Merrick, OG recruit, pittman pulled him from many other top schools, but guy has not been able to crack the starting lineup, yet.
Rogers, also a Guard recruit but we've heard he was suppose to be a great center.  I am not really sure where he is at now as far as likely to play where when his number is called. 
Colton Jackson, recruited as an OT, all expected to be a 5 year player here and has been on the field more early than many thought, props to this young man for earning it! 
Being down -1 from 14, we didn't really pull the right numbers here either.  I think we are -1 in 15 again, putting us at -2 currently for guys we needed in those recruiting classes and didn't get a capable body. 

2016:
Jake Heinrich, OG, I believe he redshirted last year due to injury. 
Ramirez and Malone are in this class. 
This is Andreson's first year and he was thrown in the fire late on top of that.  He deserves a pass on taking blame for this class.  Lets put a -2 on this class and now puts us -4

2017: Anderson's fire full recruiting class
Wagoner, OT
Clenin, OT
Adcock, OT
Clary, OG.

This 17' class is what a recuriting class should look like in my opinion.  You should NEVER take less than 3 quality OL and should have a few years of 5 which we don't have.  We ended up in my opinion be down -4 guys that should be in quality depth chart ready for play after a redshirt season in the 2017 playing year.  That is how we ended up having Clary make his way in the depth chart (who did no wrong in my opinion in his first game), a highly recruited DT stud playing LG, and a walk on playing RT. 

[onebadrubi]

This is the bigger picture issue.

Problem is there are too many fans that don't want to talk about it. They think moving Froholdt to offensive line is mad scientist genius and Clary/Gibson are the second coming of Brandon Burlsworth. And don't you dare question the coaches because they CANNOT be wrong.

The problem with your conclussion, is you are presenting anger or unhappiness based on recruiting stars.  So you are saying recruiting services, who employ guys who never played or coached, are better assessors of high school kids hgih school tapes over college coaches having current fall camp and game tape against other college d lines. 

I think Bielema is still to this day considered a good talent evaluator at O line.   It could be said that Clary and Gibson are examples of recuiting services misses, instead of our staff misses. 

[FANONTHEHILL]

Lets look at that issue.  First off, it's starting to be a few years old so people on here are already bashing the current staff and proping up Pittman in doing so, yet he is where the problem started. 

Many level headed people on here have been saying for 3-4 years now we are and have been 1-2 lineman short even in good recruiting years.  We then threw in a bad year when we took only Malone and Ramirez, in all likelihood it appears Malone won't be playing O line here as he might have been moved to the depth of the D line now

Correct. Malone is wearing #99 and working with scout team DL during the week.

[Deep Shoat]

Sure it's possible. It's also possible that this is the most dysfunctional Razorback offensive line since the turn of the century. I believe we will know come Saturday. Here's to hoping me and all the naysayers from Whittle and Spit are proved wrong.

Well, if your contention is that a few desk hacks at a recruiting service who didn't ever watch Clary or Gibson play know more than our coaches or NFL scouts, then why would we continue wasting time with you?

[Bacons Rebellion]

I was disappointed in the offensive line in the first quarter of the game, thinking this might be a long season.

I've rewatched the game twice and now I think the offensive line performed well. Clary showed he deserved playing time. Froholdt has improved immensely. Ragnow Lothbrok is our second Viking. Tackles are obviously not quite as strong and Jackson whiffed a couple of times, but he made some good blocks too. I'm looking forward to Saturday.

[DeltaBoy]

Bottom line is some times kids just don't pan out regardless of stars or recruiting service Numbers.

[jgphillips3]

Guys, our only issue is at tackle.  We just don't have true...or at least not elite...tackles on either side of the ball but, in his first start at that position, Gibson was somewhere between serviceable and good at RT.  LT play wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good either.  As Gibson settles in, IF someone will step up and be a serviceable and consistent left tackle, we are going to be fine.  Also, on run plays, with Ragnow, Clary and Gibson to the right side, we are going to open some massive freaking holes that may allow us to lean on the run to avoid deficiencies at LT.

[Piggfoot]

Lets look at that issue.  First off, it's starting to be a few years old so people on here are already bashing the current staff and proping up Pittman in doing so, yet he is where the problem started. 

Many level headed people on here have been saying for 3-4 years now we are and have been 1-2 lineman short even in good recruiting years.  We then threw in a bad year when we took only Malone and Ramirez, in all likelihood it appears Malone won't be playing O line here as he might have been moved to the depth of the D line now.

So going back to 2014 lets look

2014:
Wallace a OT recruit who was a big haul for us
Ragnow who was also recruited as an OT and was a big haul for us.  I personally think Ragnow could be as good at any position on the O line as we are seeing at Center. 
Josh allen, came gone then came and gone again, correct? 
Tretolla, great player for us now out of eligibility. 

That is a good class, borderline great, but two of the 4 are gone, one with issues and one out of eligibility.  So lets say we are -1 now that could be in the depth of this years line. 

2015:
Jalen Merrick, OG recruit, pittman pulled him from many other top schools, but guy has not been able to crack the starting lineup, yet.
Rogers, also a Guard recruit but we've heard he was suppose to be a great center.  I am not really sure where he is at now as far as likely to play where when his number is called. 
Colton Jackson, recruited as an OT, all expected to be a 5 year player here and has been on the field more early than many thought, props to this young man for earning it! 
Being down -1 from 14, we didn't really pull the right numbers here either.  I think we are -1 in 15 again, putting us at -2 currently for guys we needed in those recruiting classes and didn't get a capable body. 

2016:
Jake Heinrich, OG, I believe he redshirted last year due to injury. 
Ramirez and Malone are in this class. 
This is Andreson's first year and he was thrown in the fire late on top of that.  He deserves a pass on taking blame for this class.  Lets put a -2 on this class and now puts us -4

2017: Anderson's fire full recruiting class
Wagoner, OT
Clenin, OT
Adcock, OT
Clary, OG.

This 17' class is what a recuriting class should look like in my opinion.  You should NEVER take less than 3 quality OL and should have a few years of 5 which we don't have.  We ended up in my opinion be down -4 guys that should be in quality depth chart ready for play after a redshirt season in the 2017 playing year.  That is how we ended up having Clary make his way in the depth chart (who did no wrong in my opinion in his first game), a highly recruited DT stud playing LG, and a walk on playing RT. 

I Think your numbers are way down. There are five linemen on offense including the center. I should think we would take five each year. Factors may make this number go up or down, players lost to injury, grades,
or lack of development, etc. The last three or four years have netted us  2 quality linemen and 3 backups If they were on the top SEC teams.
I think we are really hurting. I'm hoping the upperclassmen get a fire lit under them and the youngsters we have now grow up in a hurry.

[jackflash]

viewed several games this weekend and most teams offensive lines where having trouble protecting  their QB. So it just not a Arkansas problem. Matter of fact I thought our offensive line was better than most. some where saved because  the had a running  QB.

[GuvHog]

viewed several games this weekend and most teams offensive lines where having trouble protecting  their QB. So it just not a Arkansas problem. Matter of fact I thought our offensive line was better than most. some where saved because  the had a running  QB.

The Hogs O-line was as good as most but some on here think that no matter how long Allen holds the ball, if he gets sacked, it's the O-Line's fault. They don't get that there is a limit to how long even the best O-Linemen can hold their blocks. If a QB holds the ball more than 3 to 4 seconds on pass plays, that's too long. AA did that very frequently last Thursday.

[colbs]

Interestingly, I've seen no criticism of Froholdt in any of these discussions.

There shouldn't be as he graded out the highest of all the OL.

[onebadrubi]

I Think your numbers are way down. There are five linemen on offense including the center. I should think we would take five each year. Factors may make this number go up or down, players lost to injury, grades,
or lack of development, etc. The last three or four years have netted us  2 quality linemen and 3 backups If they were on the top SEC teams.
I think we are really hurting. I'm hoping the upperclassmen get a fire lit under them and the youngsters we have now grow up in a hurry.

I think you need 12-13 quality lineman ready to play and 2-4 building depth, the secret number we have been told is 15.  You can't take 5 a year and keep it at 15, but you do need 5 in some years and we have not seen that nor will we this coming recruiting class. 

[bennyl08]

I Think your numbers are way down. There are five linemen on offense including the center. I should think we would take five each year. Factors may make this number go up or down, players lost to injury, grades,
or lack of development, etc. The last three or four years have netted us  2 quality linemen and 3 backups If they were on the top SEC teams.
I think we are really hurting. I'm hoping the upperclassmen get a fire lit under them and the youngsters we have now grow up in a hurry.

5 each year???

You only have 85 scholarship spots available. You have about 13 starting spots on offense (3 WR, 2 TE, 5 OL, 1 FB, 1 RB, 1 QB) and 12 on defense (Front 7, back 4, Nickel) and LS, P, K. That's 28 starting spots essentially.

A full 2 deep gets you to 56 players. 53 if your backup specialists aren't on scholarship which is usually the case. That gives you 32 spots left for scholarship players. Enough for a 3 deep at each position and a few players for extra depth.

That's about 15 OL players. Your setup yields b/w 20-25 OL players depending on redshirts. Way too many sports for the OL. 3-4 OL players per year depending on things like JUCO's, redshirts, etc...