Offensive Line Performance = Offensive Line Recruiting

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

At least at Pitt. What has to happen at Pitt is kids need to be "coached up" and coached up significantly. Because our OL recruiting is almost a MAC level school. I went back to all of Narduzzi's classes....and yikes.

First off, Jimmy Morrissey is a walk on so is not included.

2015: Narduzzi's first class and an abbreviated one,
Tony Pilato 3 stars 5.5 rating
Alex Paulina 3 stars 5.5 rating.

Only two guys, both 3 stars but the lowest of rated 3 stars. Didn't remember many big schools recruiting them, and they never really panned out here.

2016: Narduzzi's first full class.
Justin Morgan 3 stars 5.5
Zack Williams 3 stars 5.5
Brandon Ford 3 stars 5.5
Bryce Hargrave 3 stars 5.6 (converted from DT)

So recruiting rankings don't matter?

2017:
Jerry Drake 3 stars 5.5
Carter Warren 3 stars 5.7
Grant Corrigan TE 3 stars 5.5
Gabe Huoy 3 stars 5.5
Owen Drexel 2 stars 5.4
Carson Van Lynn 3 stars 5.5
Ummm yeah.

2018:
Blake Zubovic 3 stars 5.7
Chase Brown 3 stars 5.7
Jake Kradel 3 stars 5.7
Our best class on paper! Woo Hoo!

2019:
Liam Dick 2 stars 5.4
Matt Concalves 3 stars 5.6
That's it, that's the list.

2020:
Branson Taylor 3 stars 5.6 rating
Michael Statham 3 stars 5.6 rating
Again, that's it, that's the list.

2021 Current Class:
Trey Anderson ZERO
Brandon Honorable 3 stars 5.6
Terrence Enos 3 stars 5.6
Marco Fugar 2 stars 5.4
Terrence Rankl 3 stars 5.6
Again, meet the new boss...same as the old boss. Why would we expect different results?

The entire OL recruiting under Narduzzi there is not one 4 star. There are alot of reaches, even in small classes that when the reaches don't pan out, there is real depth problems. No one is there to push the kids on the 2 deep. You have to coach this type of talent UP to a top level ACC unit, but even then it is limited. This ain't exactly Fralic, May, Grimm, Covert, Stepnoski, Dixon, etc...

And we wonder why our OL performance has been so poor??

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

Interesting, thanks for posting. The local guys, Ford, Huoy and Kradel I thought all had decent offer sheets and were considered good recruits, especially Kradel.

But therein lies the problem. WPIAL sure isn't churning out the "sons of steel workers" as every broadcast announcer is fond of saying to play on the o-line anymore. And the few that did we missed (Lugg & Kristorfic). I remember Walt famously said "sure we want to recruit lots of big athletic 4 star lineman, problem is so does everyone else"

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

speaking of them, are Lugg, Kristorfic & Hainsey starting for ND? I thought I remembered Hainsey starting last year.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

speaking of them, are Lugg, Kristorfic & Hainsey starting for ND? I thought I remembered Hainsey starting last year.

Yeah, that is a problem now. And most decent OL from the area tend to be in less than Pitt centric HS's (suburbs).

But let's also realize, the best WPIAL lineman over the last 20 years, and the names just well don't roll off the tongue but you remember some of these cats,
Reed, Borgoyne, Farris, Simelis, Nix, Blankenship, Mowl, and many others never reached near their potentials. Some like Wisniewski or Pinkston did. But in the 70's and 80's it seemed like the WPIAL put out at least one OL per year to the NFL.

 

[JoseLind13]

OL seems like a proportionally low number of awarded 4/5 stars in recruiting, so I’m not sure classes of ‘only’ 3 star talent can be viewed in same way as skill positions. The number of 4/5 stars across ALL OL positions (OT + OG + C) combined has typically been around 50 nationally each year with only a handful of schools dominating recruiting of 4/5 star OL. Considering these positions typically make up nearly half, 5/11th, of the starting offense, there are going to be a lot ‘good’ recruiting classes on paper in Power 5 schools made up of 3 star OL guys.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

OL seems like a proportionally low number of awarded 4/5 stars in recruiting, so I’m not sure classes of ‘only’ 3 star talent can be viewed in same way as skill positions. The number of 4/5 stars across ALL OL positions (OT + OG + C) combined has typically been around 50 nationally each year with only a handful of schools dominating recruiting of 4/5 star OL. Considering these positions typically make up nearly half, 5/11th, of the starting offense, there are going to be a lot ‘good’ recruiting classes on paper in Power 5 schools made up of 3 star OL guys.

Yes but we know "3 stars" have a wide range. Which is why I included the RR Ratings, because 5.7 reps a high 3 star and 5.5 reps a low 3 star.

 

[cruzer]

At least at Pitt. What has to happen at Pitt is kids need to be "coached up" and coached up significantly. Because our OL recruiting is almost a MAC level school. I went back to all of Narduzzi's classes....and yikes.

First off, Jimmy Morrissey is a walk on so is not included.

2015: Narduzzi's first class and an abbreviated one,
Tony Pilato 3 stars 5.5 rating
Alex Paulina 3 stars 5.5 rating.

Only two guys, both 3 stars but the lowest of rated 3 stars. Didn't remember many big schools recruiting them, and they never really panned out here.

2016: Narduzzi's first full class.
Justin Morgan 3 stars 5.5
Zack Williams 3 stars 5.5
Brandon Ford 3 stars 5.5
Bryce Hargrave 3 stars 5.6 (converted from DT)

So recruiting rankings don't matter?

2017:
Jerry Drake 3 stars 5.5
Carter Warren 3 stars 5.7
Grant Corrigan TE 3 stars 5.5
Gabe Huoy 3 stars 5.5
Owen Drexel 2 stars 5.4
Carson Van Lynn 3 stars 5.5
Ummm yeah.

2018:
Blake Zubovic 3 stars 5.7
Chase Brown 3 stars 5.7
Jake Kradel 3 stars 5.7
Our best class on paper! Woo Hoo!

2019:
Liam Dick 2 stars 5.4
Matt Concalves 3 stars 5.6
That's it, that's the list.

2020:
Branson Taylor 3 stars 5.6 rating
Michael Statham 3 stars 5.6 rating
Again, that's it, that's the list.

2021 Current Class:
Trey Anderson ZERO
Brandon Honorable 3 stars 5.6
Terrence Enos 3 stars 5.6
Marco Fugar 2 stars 5.4
Terrence Rankl 3 stars 5.6
Again, meet the new boss...same as the old boss. Why would we expect different results?

The entire OL recruiting under Narduzzi there is not one 4 star. There are alot of reaches, even in small classes that when the reaches don't pan out, there is real depth problems. No one is there to push the kids on the 2 deep. You have to coach this type of talent UP to a top level ACC unit, but even then it is limited. This ain't exactly Fralic, May, Grimm, Covert, Stepnoski, Dixon, etc...

And we wonder why our OL performance has been so poor??

Good summary. Our lack of offense all starts on the line. If you can't open holes and your QB is running for his life, you're not going to be effective. As you outlined, our problem is fundamentally about recruiting, which has been pretty bad on the O-line. And BTW, you didn't even mention the fact that we've been forced to bring in MAC level grad transfers to try to shore up this bad unit. So what should Narduzzi do? Start with firing Borbely immediately after the season. Throw Salem in there too and make it a trifecta with Whipple. Hire guys who can recruit. Of course, none of this will be taken seriously because we all know that stars don't matter.

Cruzer

 

[MajorMajors]

There aren’t that many ATHLETIC 6’5” and 290-pound high school seniors out there. And the ones who are out there are going to the big-time football schools.

Pitt fights with everybody else for the leftovers... And we haven’t brought in a bunch of Olinemen (like we did with DEs) to have much of a chance of hitting on a late bloomer...

Go Pitt.

 

[Cap pitt]

Whipped and Borbely????

 

[Burgh15]

Maybe it's the type of guys Narduzzi and his staff are after. It's tough to find the athletic guys, but there are linemen who are powerful, some who are big and can still move, others are big and unathletic.

 

[cashisking884]

OL is important.

But really, it’s skill position and scheme in today’s football. Clemson during their run hasn’t had anything above a good OL. Even the LSU team last year, maybe the greatest ever. The OL was good. But it wasn’t 95 Nebraska or 01 Miami good.

You need a minimum level of quality at OL for sure. But you need to be able to win shootouts in today’s game. Which means you better have the skill position talent capable of playing basketball on grass.

 

[Usuallyunusual-partdeux]

Recruiting does matter but scheme and coaching do as well. We have outrecruited lower level schools who have much better line play because of scheme and coaching. Our d line recruiting has not been lights out but our scheme and coaching last game aside has turned 2 stars and 3 stars into potential first rounders.

 

[HolyPitt]

If I remember correctly, Narduzzi's best offensive year was with Paul Chryst's lineman recruits, Mostly all 4 stars and a 5 star.
We also need that stud running back to make the line look good. One who doesn't go down when a defensive player sneezes.

 

[pittdan77]

OL is very technical to learn and master. Being a great athlete like Brian O’Neill doesn’t hurt.

The current situation is hurt by the fact that Peterson didn’t recruit and Pitt was really fishing around the bottom for kids. Remember the kid from Morgantown that committed and just kind of disappeared?

It also takes a while to develop an OL-man. There aren’t many kids like Bill Fralic that just waltz out of school ready to play.

Pass pro has been decent this year, not great, but the two tackles are a bit better and that helps. The running game is a mess. That’s not all on the OL but most of it is poor blocking. Morrisey is getting blown up and he’s supposed to be a pro prospect.

 

[thebadby2]

OL is important.

But really, it’s skill position and scheme in today’s football. Clemson during their run hasn’t had anything above a good OL. Even the LSU team last year, maybe the greatest ever. The OL was good. But it wasn’t 95 Nebraska or 01 Miami good.

You need a minimum level of quality at OL for sure. But you need to be able to win shootouts in today’s game. Which means you better have the skill position talent capable of playing basketball on grass.

If you're gonna run the kind of dated offense Pitt runs, you'd better have some road graders and bookends. If you;re going to spread the field and find efficient high percentage ways to get the ball to the explosive guys in space--like most of the rest of the football world--your line does not have to be world class, but it still has to be good.

 

[thebadby2]

Maybe it's the type of guys Narduzzi and his staff are after. It's tough to find the athletic guys, but there are linemen who are powerful, some who are big and can still move, others are big and unathletic.

They are trying to get the highest rated guys they can, period. They are just whiffing on most of them.

The Goncalves/L. Dick class was probably the low point.

 

[chirurgo]

I refuse to believe this is all on the offensive line. Pass protection was good enough for this game. The run blocking slightly below average. They still put up 29 points(should have been 30). This is not a team we should expect putting up 30 or more points on a weekly basis. All that I saw the entire game was Pitt’s D getting a lot of dink and dunk passing down the field which was a great game plan against Pitt’s defense.

NC state isn’t lighting up the recruiting trail with earthmovers either. The NC state game was a great example of Whipple’s failure to adjust the game plan to what could have worked, and on several key plays a lack of execution(Pickett seeing blitz from the left and inability to dump the ball off to Davis who had a wide open field, Mack dropping an easy catch on 2 pt conversion. Several drops across the middle of the field). They execute these plays and nobody is talking about the O-line.

They weren’t prepared. They lacked discipline, ie penalties-13/125 yards. This is squarely on the coaching staff. Run sprints for every yard penalized and the mindset quickly changes.

A few additional observations, this offense needs a tight end in the game that can be a target. I think adding Krull into mix when healthy will change the dynamic plenty. Somebody needs to teach Abanikanda how to block in pass protection and he needs to be the every down RB. I don’t care how tough Vincent Davis is, he looks like a high school RB out there. At this level if he doesn’t have a parkway sized hole, he’s barely going past the line of scrimmage. He should be a flanker. The secondary had it too good the first 3 games I think. They were letting everything go underneath. Challenge the receivers in man to man. If you get beat deep rely on the safeties to cover. The 4 man front isn’t going to get it done every play.

 

[sherepower]

There’s a reason our 2016 line was top 5 in the country. We had one 5 star and 2 four stars and a 3 star with a good offer sheet.

 

[Bean78]

I think it is hard to have a OL that both pass protects and runs the ball well. Look at PSU when Saquan was there. He actually did pretty good considering PSU passed the ball way better than running. He got stuffed behind the Line of scrimmage a good bit of the time. Most of his exceptional runs he got on his own and not because of a dominant offensive line.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

There’s a reason our 2016 line was top 5 in the country. We had one 5 star and 2 four stars and a 3 star with a good offer sheet.

And Brian O'Neill was the guy who developed into a 4-5 star type of talent. But yeah, that's my point. It's hard to make chicken salad out of chicken.......