OL Coach Greg Studrawa (Official Thread)

[1926Buckeyes]

Be careful what you wish for....

Stu is legit one of the best OL coaches alive. The fact that some talk about the guy like they want him to leave is beyond crazy to me.

I agree that PFF isn't the end all be all, but they had OSU ranked #1 overall; https://www.pff.com/news/college-football-offensive-line-rankings-top-10-units-ahead-of-week-11-2021

All 5 spots on this line were brand new or in brand new spots, starting center last minute out for the year, inserting a freshman...NPF swapped sides, Munford moves inside, Wypler injected as a starter, Paris moved to the inside, Dawand's first year as a starter. All of that.......all of that and he still has the #1 line....and we are okay with seeing him go? Come on, there are many coaches on this staff you should be talking about before Stu.

One of the few things I think people can point to is their performance against Michigan, and that has far more to do with the incredibly predictable offensive playcalls that put them in a no win situation....if you know it's a run or pass with near certainty, good luck blocking that consistently. The other item would be the run blocking wasn't as good as it could have been - but when you start 4 tackles with the clear focus on pass protection for your freshman QB and protecting him, that was something you knew you were going to give up a bit. And I don't think that was a mistake either, that was the right decision.

Lastly, Stu is not one of my relatives, at least as far as I know.

Maybe he is that good of an OL coach, and he has had some great lines in '19 and '20, but there have been a few too many issues with running the ball and recruiting for my taste.

Stud would work well enough if you have athletes like Fields or Miller back there ready to scramble or move around and make big throws on the run. With what Day wants to do, though, they need a coach that hits home runs in recruiting and puts together lines that can both run and pass block consistently. It's going to start to get tougher to compete with Bama if you don't get at least a few plan A recruits and can't always run the ball.

Stud gets at least some blame for not having a nasty run blocking OL but is that what type of game that Day actually plays? Don’t blame Stud for that.

Day wants to run the ball and hit deep PA passes over the top. What we saw this year had a lot more to do with the limitations in the run game and having the best slot receiver in the country.

If anyone doubts what Day wants to do, just rewatch the Clemson game last year. He had a back that had very good vision and was able to carry the ball 30 times while Fields hit 2-3 deep TDs.

 

[bucknut502]

Day was the coach when JK broke the school rushing record and Teague tacked on another 500+. I think like most coaches, he wants balance.

Day was also the OC at BC when Andre Williams ran 355 times for nearly 2,200 yards. I definitely think that he likes to run the ball and keep a balanced attack.

With that said, I’m not sure it was Stud’s decision to go with 4 OT’s on the OL this year. I remember reading that Thayer went to Day and suggested the move. I’m not saying it was a failure, but I do feel that the run game was better when Matt Jones was in the game.

Again, I’m not a huge Stud fan. But I do feel that the criticism he gets is often unwarranted. We complain that he’s not bringing in enough top end talent on the OLine, yet his top 6 guys (NPF, Thayer, Wypler, Paris, Dawand, M. Jones) will all be Sunday players, imo. I have said it before, but I really feel that if Dawand comes back, next year’s OLine will be better. I think Matt Jones and Donovan Jackson will be big boosts for the rushing attack. They are true Guards, and damn good ones!

 

[calibuck]

Makes sense. Plugging tackles into the line is an old Woody trick. He recruited tackles, and if they didn't pan out, played them at guard. Well, believe things have gotten more specialized these days.....Losing two tackles this year to the NFL (1st rounders?) will hurt, but keeping Dawand at right tackle, and putting Paris Johnson in at LT will allow Jones and Jackson to play the guard positions. Hopefully Miller is over whatever ailed him, and he can return at Center. Wypler was serviceable, but am certain (with zero facts to back up) that more than several of the sacks came from him getting run over. So, yeah bucknut502, agree with your surmise that next year will - if not better - be more balanced than this. Almost hate the Xichigan Oline won 'best of class' rather than the Buckeye Oline, which was touted as best for most of the year, worse than the loss. Anyone (else) believe that plugging tackles has hurt the IOL recruiting this year? Or is it NIL, or Coach Stud, or ? Go Bucks!

 

[pnuts34]

Makes sense. Plugging tackles into the line is an old Woody trick. He recruited tackles, and if they didn't pan out, played them at guard. Well, believe things have gotten more specialized these days.....Losing two tackles this year to the NFL (1st rounders?) will hurt, but keeping Dawand at right tackle, and putting Paris Johnson in at LT will allow Jones and Jackson to play the guard positions. Hopefully Miller is over whatever ailed him, and he can return at Center. Wypler was serviceable, but am certain (with zero facts to back up) that more than several of the sacks came from him getting run over. So, yeah bucknut502, agree with your surmise that next year will - if not better - be more balanced than this. Almost hate the Xichigan Oline won 'best of class' rather than the Buckeye Oline, which was touted as best for most of the year, worse than the loss. Anyone (else) believe that plugging tackles has hurt the IOL recruiting this year? Or is it NIL, or Coach Stud, or ? Go Bucks!

That’s a pretty loaded set of questions. Plugging OTs inside hurt the run game against elite DLs, and when we had to play from behind. And when defenses knew we were going to run, the OL wasn’t good enough to impose their will,which is surprising with the size on the OL. But this was an OL set up to be pass first, and Henderson helped their deficiencies by being able to peel off long runs.
NIL will work itself out. But Stud is good developer of talent and a below average recruiter. Day has to make a choice on what he values more. Settling for some large under the radar types when Stud constantly misses on the Plan As, or getting an OL coach that can recruit better but may not develop talent in the same way. Or possibly using Wilson as OL/OC and having Hartline take over TEs and WRs.

Though I like what Stud brings to the table in coaching and developing. It sucks watching some of the best talent in the country constantly spurn the Buckeyes when we were favored sometime during their recruiting process. I’m hoping that the portal can even some of that out, and we land some 2nd or 3rd year guys who are little more developed, and Stud can make them more finished products. That may be our best option if we keep Stud

 

[bucknut502]

soo yeah.. forgive me if i’m miss interpreting what you are saying here… but of those guys only Thayer was when Studs was the primary recruiter (based on 247 db)
NPF, M Jones (Schiano’s recruits) Dawand (Wilson), Wypler (Hafley), Paris (Coombs) … Yes Studs is listed as the secondary on most of those guys but were recruited and brought in by someone else. NPF especially it was stated many times that Schiano made this one happen.

Its all well and good that he can develop these guys but if you can’t recruit then thats more work on the other coaches to make up for it.

Also the guy that Studs visited and offered out of the portal.. one of the better OL in the portal yeah he choose LSU over FSU & OSU… I know he seems to be a good developer but he might be losing his touch … just saying.. it might time for a mutual parting of ways …

Yeah..you are. I never said anything about recruiting

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

Yeah..you are. I never said anything about recruiting

I shall remove then .. thanks for the clarification

 

[calibuck]

Agree with what most above (Pnuts, bucknuts etc) are opining. However, in order to develop, one must be able to recruit. Getting 'aspiring' superstars is one thing, and developing "plan B' players is another. Maybe we'll see an uptick with the current crop of OL going fairly high in the upcoming draft? Have read constantly that some of the better OL have been dissuaded by other colleges saying Stud isn't that good an Oline coach. Dunno if that's the rumor going around, but if Stud is 'secondary' to the recruiting, there's a problem there. PS, most cooks make the best meals with the best ingredients. Maybe this allegory isn't consistent with OL, but I can see some similarities. It always seems like tOSU 'settles' rather than getting the cream of the crop. Was proud when one announcer stated that tOSU had an OL of 5*s. Bama has taken the top two tackles out of HS what, the last two or three years? Guess my meanderings are pointing to the idea if there's a better coach out there, then maybe Day would be better off to tickle their interest. The 'soft' moniker kinda hurts. Having Xichigan have the best OL really hurts. Go Bucks!

 

[ShowMeBuck]

Agree with what most above (Pnuts, bucknuts etc) are opining. However, in order to develop, one must be able to recruit. Getting 'aspiring' superstars is one thing, and developing "plan B' players is another. Maybe we'll see an uptick with the current crop of OL going fairly high in the upcoming draft? Have read constantly that some of the better OL have been dissuaded by other colleges saying Stud isn't that good an Oline coach. Dunno if that's the rumor going around, but if Stud is 'secondary' to the recruiting, there's a problem there. PS, most cooks make the best meals with the best ingredients. Maybe this allegory isn't consistent with OL, but I can see some similarities. It always seems like tOSU 'settles' rather than getting the cream of the crop. Was proud when one announcer stated that tOSU had an OL of 5*s. Bama has taken the top two tackles out of HS what, the last two or three years? Guess my meanderings are pointing to the idea if there's a better coach out there, then maybe Day would be better off to tickle their interest. The 'soft' moniker kinda hurts. Having Xichigan have the best OL really hurts. Go Bucks!

To your point, NPF performed as a Buckeye at a level that matched his rankings coming out of HS and will also be drafted at a spot you would expect relative to his HS ranking.

Weird how that works.

 

[calibuck]

Hope so, ShowMe....kinda strange (to me at least), that NPF flew under OUR radar for what, two years(?), before he took his place on the Oline. Overshadowed by Munford (maybe LT vs RT?), but when statistics came out that catalogued that sort of thing, showed that NPF had statistically better year than any other OL at tOSU. Guess in terms of fewest hurries, sacks, etc. He's still under the radar. I'll bet vcash (remember?) that Munford will be drafted higher than NPF - but also bet that both will go in round 1 or 2.....Go Bucks! PS, anyone else feeling that Coaches that make massive changes to their coaching staffs are making last gasps at keeping their jobs? Hard to believe with Day (look at his record though), is looking over his shoulder after allowing only the second (or third) loss to Xichigan in the 21st century......

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

I’m not sure if this goes here or Day’s thread… but this is quite a statement by Studs



some of the replies are on point

 

[Buckeye86]

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Appreciate what Stud did here, but his recruiting was just flat out not up to snuff. Excited to see who his replacement ends up being

 

[NJ-Buckeye]

I would assume there is a 'stud' in the wings because ironically, there's some key OLs that just recently gave us their commits...

 

[NorthCoastKid]

Two most obvious replacement candidates would be Justin Frye and Eric Wolford.

Frye - UCLA OC/OL coach; young (only 38), Midwest native (played at IU) with close ties to Day (served on both Temple and BC staffs with Day)

Wolford - Kentucky OL coach; strong Ohio ties (Youngstown native; served as HC at YSU for five seasons) with SEC experience and ties to Day (served on Chip Kelly's 49ers staff together)

Based on insider scuttlebutt, my guess is that Frye is the guy. Chip Kelly's buyout reduces to $0 after January 18th. It may be as simple as waiting until then for Frye to become available.

 

[Systems_id]

Live look at @Jaxbuck

Edit: Wow Eleven Warriors saying he was straight up fired. Thought it was more of a mutual parting of ways.