QB Realization

[jwinslow]

I am not saying that Tressel is a bad recruiter or a bad coach. I love the guy. I think we are lucky to have him and would not trade him for any other coach in football. I do hoever believe that this one area needs to be improved upon. If that makes me a basher in the mind of some people so be it. I have supported this team for 2 and a half decades and reserve the right to criticize it when I feel the criticism is warranted.

I don't mind criticizing his playcalling, but you said he's been stacking skill players and ignoring lineman, which is just plain false. First of all, he got here before the 2001 season, and had mild success recruiting that year due to how bad Cooper had sucked up the place. So those recruits aren't gonna be awesome. He did a great job recruiting in 2002, despite a bad 2001 season.

His second year he won a title. Therefore the first class to see that success was 2003. It is currently 2005. Those players will be juniors or RS sophomores. We didn't know the definition of garbage time from 2002-2004, so there was no such thing as backup experience.

I don't think we can properly judge his offensive line recruits given the fact that the only graduates came in while we still sucked.

2006: Connor Smith

, Jake Ballard

(many think he's a future OL)
2005: Alex Boone

, Jimmy Cordle

, (Kyle Bemoll

that got homesick)
2004: Kyle Mitchum

, Ben Person

, Steve Rehring

(offered by UM among other top schools)
2002: Nick Mangold

(how accurate was that rating?)

Nick Mangold is one of the best centers in america, and has started for four years. He will be drafted and should start somewhere.

The point is that we clearly brought in a ton of studs recently. We didn't do that early on, tho it was remarkable we were able to land so many studs in 2002 to begin with. Now that we have become great again, Tressel has landed tons of elite OL. Most are too young to judge. We are still in the wave of the average lineman from the 02 & 03 classes.

However, we had some studs on the 2002 team, and still couldn't have a good line. There is a serious discrepancy between talent and development. Kirk Ferentz didn't have elite lineman but somehow put them in the NFL. Minny doesn't have elite lineman either, yet they move the ball quite well with their running attack. If they had a passing game they could be extremely lethal.

So its not very accurate to say that Tressel is ignoring lineman. The only way to do a better job landing lineman would be to bring in 2-3 5-stars every year... which is nearly impossible.

 

[osugrad21]

I agree with Cicero's point but not his logic. The OL is not up to par depth-wise and that was obvious last night. Potential does not always equal production. However, tOSU has been recruiting to fill that void.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I agree with Cicero's point but not his logic. The OL is not up to par depth-wise and that was obvious last night. Potential does not always equal production. However, tOSU has been recruiting to fill that void.

We've been recruiting to fill that void and fix that problem since Munoz and Hall fucked us back in '98 or '99 whichever year it was.

No one can bring up an angle that hasn't been discussed about a million times regarding the offense since 1999, its like freaking groundhog day.

My personal feeling is that coaches only have so much time during the week to practice so obviously a priority must be established and obviously that priority is
1. defense
2. special teams
3. signing carmen ohio well
4. staying out of trouble
5. offense

OK, I had to take my shot at them.

Seriously
1. defense
2.special teams
3.offense

Now that leads me to the next logical step, either you put more focus on offense and take away from Defense and special teams in the process OR you hire someone who can get you more bang for your practice buck so to speak and get more efficiency out of your offensive practice time.

I think Weiss at ND has made it crystal clear what a good offensive mind can do with talented but heretofore underperforming offensive players when given the chance.

A school like OSU has the ability and resources to locate, attract and retain the best of the best as far as coaches are concerned and they need to go do it now.

A full blown offensive coaching do over with a real OC from here on out, the only one I keep is Peterson.

 

[osugrad21]

No one can bring up an angle that hasn't been discussed about a million times regarding the offense since 1999, its like freaking groundhog day.

I feel the same way about the guys who only post how bad the offense is without offering any form of insight into a solution.

...and I would keep Hazell.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I feel the same way about the guys who only post how bad the offense is without offering any form of insight into a solution.

...and I would keep Hazell.

I would then defer to your expertise on the subject and allow him to stay

 

[osugrad21]

I would then defer to your expertise on the subject and allow him to stay

No expertise at all...just think he is a good young coach who gets after it

 

[jwinslow]

yes I'd say the best WR coach in america can stay, not to mention his recruiting prowess (Maurice Wells).

 

[zincfinger]

The OL is not up to par depth-wise.

Yep, it's not a good sign when the loss of your RT makes you move your starting LG over to fill the spot (with the acknowledgement that Sims has 3 years experience at tackle). I'm guessing if he was healthy, Rehring would have been in at RT after Barton went down?

A question for people at the game. I couldn't tell watching it on tv, but were receivers not getting open? It seemed there were a few times where the O-line gave Smith decent time to drop back and make a throw and he wasn't finding anyone. Was PSU's secondary locked down that tight, or were opportunities being passed up?

 

[jwinslow]

a friend at the game said teddy was open all night long.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Ok so after hazell and peterson would you honestly keep anyone else if you had the power to decide? And from a coaches point of view do you agree about the practice/prep time point I laid out there?

I trust you when I keep seeing you say the offensive playcalling is not the problem, that its execution. I just want to know what they could do different Monday through Friday to get these guys to execute better.

 

[ohiobuck94]

It's time for Zwick. We need someone who can find the open receiver. I've been a Zwick fan since he played in the Alamo Bowl. Tressel needs to make some decisions: does he want a QB who scrambles or a QB who can throw?

 

[osugrad21]

Ok so after hazell and peterson would you honestly keep anyone else if you had the power to decide? And from a coaches point of view do you agree about the practice/prep time point I laid out there?

I trust you when I keep seeing you say the offensive playcalling is not the problem, that its execution. I just want to know what they could do different Monday through Friday to get these guys to execute better.

I couldn't comment on the practice schedule because I really have no idea. As a unit, I would say the better football players are on the D side but that is pretty obvious.

For me, it all goes back to the OL scheme. We have road graders who can barrel forward but we are asking them to take a lateral zone step usually. Why? Blow open the hole and let Pitt and co. do their job IMO. The pass protection has been shoddy at best...but usually TS is able to do something with his feet. That is a very unreliable solution. As was stated already, the routes were open...but the ball was not delivered.

As far as the staff goes, I'm hesitant to make any form of assessment. I don't know what they do or how they do it.

What I do know is that I would bet my life the O staff is designing for success but it is not carrying over to the field. I'm sure they know this as well.

PSU played the perfect game in regards to stopping tOSU...make Smith beat you with his legs. They sat back and disguised coverage all night enough to confuse him then relied on their underrated LBs to make the play...and they did.

EDIT: Spelling

 

[jwinslow]

Ok so after hazell and peterson would you honestly keep anyone else if you had the power to decide? And from a coaches point of view do you agree about the practice/prep time point I laid out there?

I trust you when I keep seeing you say the offensive playcalling is not the problem, that its execution. I just want to know what they could do different Monday through Friday to get these guys to execute better.

The offensive playcalling is not why we are losing, but its not exactly great all the time. How many times did we see 2nd and 1? Yet so many other times we saw 2nd and 18 due to horrible protection.

It's time for Zwick. We need someone who can find the open receiver. I've been a Zwick fan since he played in the Alamo Bowl. Tressel needs to make some decisions: does he want a QB who scrambles or a QB who can throw?

we've seen pressure on Zwick twice this year. Once he threw an awful INT vs Miami. Another time he made a horrible decision to scramble starting 14 yards from the first down with a winding clock.

Zwick always looked horrible in 2004 when the play broke down. I think Zwick looks a lot better when he has time, but I still haven't seen proof that he can handle our swiss cheese line.

 

[Jaxbuck]

The offensive playcalling is not why we are losing, but its not exactly great all the time. How many times did we see 2nd and 1? Yet so many other times we saw 2nd and 18 due to horrible protection.

I agree, thats what I have been discussing with Grad. Obviously we have a consistent problem with execution, so how do we fix that? Obviously its got to be something thats not being done right during the week to prepare. At least thats what logic tells me but I would like to get some insight from an actual coach because regardless of what you may think, I want to see it fixed so we can stop bitching about the offense as much as anyone here.

 

[jwinslow]

your posts have been pretty fair in their complaints, I just didn't like the 5 loss thing. And who says grad's coaching skills don't suck more than Bollman on his worst day? :tongue2: