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O Line

9nationalchampionships

9nationalchampionships

Chancellor
May 21, 2010
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No doubt OL is a major key. I agree the OL should be more athletic. We know the C spot will be real good with Morrissey. Carter IMO has lots of potential, seems he may be starting to put it together. I think Wheeler beats out Ford.

I hope Houy can beat out Ulizio. Most think Ulizio will start but a couple years back the grad transfer form Texas (forget his name) he was just a part time starter and brought in due to our RT coming back from injury. I would rather Ulizio be insurance in case a young guy is not ready. I know it was just Albany but Houy looked pretty good in his one start vs them. Would be nice to have 2 Soph OT’s take the spots and start the next 3 years.
 
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I completely agree with that premise. Pitt has endured 2 straight seasons of awful pass protection and we’re not going to be a better team until it shows up. If teams can continually get pressure sending 4 DL and keeping us in front of them, it’s very hard to break plays open.

What scares me is that most of the guys we’re counting on weren’t good enough to win the jobs last year. I’m hoping Houy is as good as advertised at Tackle and Ulizio kicks inside to Guard and is backed up by Ford or the JUCO kid.

I pray for health w/ these kids and also hope that Kradel and Zubovic are pushing guys as well. They were the biggest local OL gets since Biz, Dojo, Bookser and Grimm. I’m actually surprised we haven’t heard more about them.
 
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Our o line will be fine. Any chance of a good season will come from qb play. If pickett needs a perfect pocket with great pass protection to complete a pass, we won’t go far.

Many qbs succeed in college without great pass protection. He needs to find a way or we need to find a an who can.
 
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Kradel will start at C once Morrissey graduates. The player I thought was going to be a stud OL was Drake and he does not even show up on the depth chart.

Pittski said:
I completely agree with that premise. Pitt has endured 2 straight seasons of awful pass protection and we’re not going to be a better team until it shows up. If teams can continually get pressure sending 4 DL and keeping us in front of them, it’s very hard to break plays open.

What scares me is that most of the guys we’re counting on weren’t good enough to win the jobs last year. I’m hoping Houy is as good as advertised at Tackle and Ulizio kicks inside to Guard and is backed up by Ford or the JUCO kid.

I pray for health w/ these kids and also hope that Kradel and Zubovic are pushing guys as well. They were the biggest local OL gets since Biz, Dojo, Bookser and Grimm. I’m actually surprised we haven’t heard more about them.
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I would have to think Van Lynn starts, I know he played out of position last year, but it's hard for me to see him not getting a go day 1 and if he can't win the spot on the line then start him back at TE because he proved he can play there and help set the edge in the run game.
 
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4upmc said:
PN said he could have played in the spring game but held him out. He will be ready per PN who does not like talking about injuries.
Click to expand...

I did talk with Morrissey at the spring game, he did say he felt very good and could play if he had too..
Man he's a big individual.
 
4upmc said:
No doubt OL is a major key. I agree the OL should be more athletic. We know the C spot will be real good with Morrissey. Carter IMO has lots of potential, seems he may be starting to put it together. I think Wheeler beats out Ford.

I hope Houy can beat out Ulizio. Most think Ulizio will start but a couple years back the grad transfer form Texas (forget his name) he was just a part time starter and brought in due to our RT coming back from injury. I would rather Ulizio be insurance in case a young guy is not ready. I know it was just Albany but Houy looked pretty good in his one start vs them. Would be nice to have 2 Soph OT’s take the spots and start the next 3 years.
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Wheeler is athletic but needs to put on a lot of weight.

Ford is a massive human being - if he can move the feet, he will be tough to beat out and could be quite the road-grader.

The key to the season, IMHO, will be Coach Borbs finding two OTs who can be at least average...

Go Pitt.
 
Zeldas Open Roof said:
Our o line will be fine. Any chance of a good season will come from qb play. If pickett needs a perfect pocket with great pass protection to complete a pass, we won’t go far.

Many qbs succeed in college without great pass protection. He needs to find a way or we need to find a an who can.
Click to expand...

If we have a “Walt” like line, we should be really good.
 
Pittski said:
If we have a “Walt” like line, we should be really good.
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We had incredible lines in 14, 15 and 16, still lost 4 regular season games. Be decent and have a really good QBs is how you excel in college football.

Nate Peterson went games going untouched, we won some games but lost ones we should have.

A good pickett wins you 9or more, a bad pickett wins you 6. Our o line won’t be great, wine be terrible. It is what it is. Get good QBs play is the key.
 
Zeldas Open Roof said:
We had incredible lines in 14, 15 and 16, still lost 4 regular season games. Be decent and have a really good QBs is how you excel in college football.

Nate Peterson went games going untouched, we won some games but lost ones we should have.

A good pickett wins you 9or more, a bad pickett wins you 6. Our o line won’t be great, wine be terrible. It is what it is. Get good QBs play is the key.
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Our defense wasn’t that good.
 
9nationalchampionships said:
We go only as far as our OL will take us........ They are our least common denominator. We look like we are more athletic than last year so that should help in the passing game.

Here is what Ourlads has for our OL depth chart:


LT 77 Warren, Carter RS/SO 59 Van Lynn, Carson RS/SO
LG 71 Hargrove, Bryce RS/JR 56 Ford, Brandon RS/JR
OC 67 Morrissey, Jimmy RS/JR 53 Kradel, Jake RS/FR
RG 56 Ford, Brandon RS/JR 63 Wheeler, Rashad RS/JR
RT 70 Ulizio, Nolan GR/TR 57 Houy, Gabe RS/SO



What say u
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Wasn't our Lackawanna transfer Brown listed in the depth chart at the Spring game? He should at least offer some decent competition to those listed above.
 
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The pass protection must be better. Even a good QB would have had some struggles last year.

Not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like last year’s oline. Very good to excellent run blocking. Piss poor pass blocking. And the TEs and RBs added little to nothing either.
 
9nationalchampionships said:
We go only as far as our OL will take us........ They are our least common denominator. We look like we are more athletic than last year so that should help in the passing game.

Here is what Ourlads has for our OL depth chart:


LT 77 Warren, Carter RS/SO 59 Van Lynn, Carson RS/SO
LG 71 Hargrove, Bryce RS/JR 56 Ford, Brandon RS/JR
OC 67 Morrissey, Jimmy RS/JR 53 Kradel, Jake RS/FR
RG 56 Ford, Brandon RS/JR 63 Wheeler, Rashad RS/JR
RT 70 Ulizio, Nolan GR/TR 57 Houy, Gabe RS/SO



What say u
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A lot of potential. Not much experience. Only way to tell is watch and see.
 
Wasn’t Aaron Mathews a beast of a blocker last season? A WR I know, but doesn’t hurt to have a guy like that return and instill that same hard nosed mindset in the newer guys.

I mentioned this in another thread but the ESPN ACC guy David Hale has Pitt as the 4th ranked o line in the conference... that seems a bit much and i have no idea what his basis for that opinion is since he didn’t comment on us specifically, plus only Morrissey is returning.

I mean, it was mostly new guys last year too right? Granted they had a lot more career starts... but yeah as was said above, gotta have faith in Borbely.
 
Not to criticize some of our OL last season but they were big but had slow feet. You need to be athletic to pass block as your foot movement is much more critical.

jrnPitt said:
Well we know he can coach the zone run blocking game well but he has a much less distinguished career in coaching up his pass blocking OL's.
Click to expand...
 
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No one knows what will show up on O line this season.
And YES it is the lynchpin for the offense and this year's success.

Kind of funny putting all the eggs in the QB's basket.
True the QB has a lot to prove, but a QB having a lot to prove AND running for his life every play doesn't breed a lot of confidence. Add in we're also breaking in new RB's. Doesn't exactly give you the warm and fuzzies!

The defense has a lot of excellent and experienced players coming back, so there is much less angst about that unit.

We're putting 4 new players on the O line this year. Potential, I guess, but one of the projected tackles isn't even in school yet! The kids returning couldn't get any snaps last year on a pretty pathetic pass protecting unit.
All of that AND we lost Aston who did a lot of great blocking, compounded by the fact we have no real TE per se.

Of course they could all come out like gangbusters and be all world, but it is definitely wait and see mode.
Hope springs eternal, as this thread proves.
 
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FreeportPanther said:
No one knows what will show up on O line this season.
And YES it is the lynchpin for the offense and this year's success.

Kind of funny putting all the eggs in the QB's basket.
True the QB has a lot to prove, but a QB having a lot to prove AND running for his life every play doesn't breed a lot of confidence. Add in we're also breaking in new RB's. Doesn't exactly give you the warm and fuzzies!

The defense has a lot of excellent and experienced players coming back, so there is much less angst about that unit.

We're putting 4 new players on the O line this year. Potential, I guess, but one of the projected tackles isn't even in school yet! The kids returning couldn't get any snaps last year on a pretty pathetic pass protecting unit.
All of that AND we lost Aston who did a lot of great blocking, compounded by the fact we have no real TE per se.

Of course they could all come out like gangbusters and be all world, but it is definitely wait and see mode.
Hope springs eternal, as this thread proves.
Click to expand...
True but were the back ups last season capable of executing Pitt's zone blocking scheme very well. We had OL bulls last year with Aston behind them that our two RB's just loved. However we can't say Pickett loved what he was looking at when a pass play was called can we?
 
The concerning thing to me is that the offense will be put to the test right away. The first four opponents on the schedule all have a ton of talent on their defensive units.

Take it for what it’s worth, but Phil Steele has UVA 5th in LB’s and 2nd in DB’s in the ACC with two 1st team ACC players on D.

Penn St 2nd in DL and LBs, 3rd in DBs and two 1st team B1G players on D.

It’s the MAC, but Ohio 1st in DL and DB, 4th in LB, with three 1st team MAC players on D.

It’s the AAC, but UCF 3rd in LB’s and 1st in DB’s in conference, with four 1st team AAC players on D.
 
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9nationalchampionships said:
Not to criticize some of our OL last season but they were big but had slow feet. You need to be athletic to pass block as your foot movement is much more critical.
Click to expand...

It's tough when your QB is bailing out a lot, too. Big guys that aren't as fast do better when the QB hangs in the pocket. Not about to sit here and say the protection was always there but it helps when you know where your QB is at.

I'm not sure about all of these proclamations of "athletic" linemen or where that's coming from. Yeah, you can't be a slug but having proper technique is everything.
 
Honestly if this O-Line isn’t as strong in the run blocking department but they’re serviceable in pass protection, I’d take that in a heartbeat and call it an upgrade over last season.
 
pittdan77 said:
It's tough when your QB is bailing out a lot, too. Big guys that aren't as fast do better when the QB hangs in the pocket. Not about to sit here and say the protection was always there but it helps when you know where your QB is at.

I'm not sure about all of these proclamations of "athletic" linemen or where that's coming from. Yeah, you can't be a slug but having proper technique is everything.
Click to expand...

A QB that runs into sacks because of happy feet makes the OL look bad. He's gotta learn to step up and keep his eyes down field.

For whatever reason, Watson seemed to ignore the middle of the field on pass routes. When they did have success there, they never seemed to go back to it. Most pass routes seemed slow to develop and we ended up with a pass in the flat.
 
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Gunga_Galunga said:
A QB that runs into sacks because of happy feet makes the OL look bad. He's gotta learn to step up and keep his eyes down field.

For whatever reason, Watson seemed to ignore the middle of the field on pass routes. When they did have success there, they never seemed to go back to it. Most pass routes seemed slow to develop and we ended up with a pass in the flat.
Click to expand...

Watson didn't exactly enjoy a group of world class receivers, either.
 
pittdan77 said:
It's tough when your QB is bailing out a lot, too. Big guys that aren't as fast do better when the QB hangs in the pocket. Not about to sit here and say the protection was always there but it helps when you know where your QB is at.

I'm not sure about all of these proclamations of "athletic" linemen or where that's coming from. Yeah, you can't be a slug but having proper technique is everything.
Click to expand...

Comments about the OL being more athletic are coming from @JimHammett. He’s been reporting that this group should be more athletic this potentially more capable pass blocking.
 
The issue I saw in the Miami and Clemson games was that both teams simply ran-blitzed every down. That served the dual purpose of being able to stuff the run if we ran, but if we tried to pass, conveniently blew up most of the pass plays as well because they were constantly in the backfield and Pickett really couldn't cope. Of course not too many teams have the studs on defense that those teams did (do). They had the luxury of not only great (big/fast) DL but also great LBs and secondary, to reduce the inherent risk from that strategy. For those games, I found it hard to blame Pickett very much, it was men against twigs. It demonstrated what a limited shelf life the Watson run-run-run again scheme had, once you ran into teams with elite defensive talent.
 
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Pitt's line should be more athletic. Not sure if it'll be better or worse, but the line looks the part for this season. Pitt's two tackles last season were probably better suited to play inside and it showed a good bit.
 
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it would be cool to hear some good praise from Zubovic this summer. He's only a redshirt freshman so he's still young of course but I recall him having some very nice P5 offers.
 
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pittdan77 said:
Batko wrote it too because Borbely keeps saying it. Not sure who is more athletic than Brian O'Neil but I'm going to use him as a benchmark for that discussion.
Click to expand...

They’re saying more athletic than last years line. ONeill was wasn’t here w/ Borbely.
 
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