The Bone Yard

At first I thought this thread was "off topic recruiting." I was confused.

Lacy is #1 for me, vastly underrated, has long arms big reach and is very strong. His technique could use a bit of refining but that's why you redshirt most lineman. He has the strength to play right away but needs to hone his skills a bit more.

#2 would have to be Aaron Cochran, the kid is HUGE, think Yoshi with a bigger up side. He has good feet for a big guy and decent lateral quickness. He's a RT at the next level unless his skills catch up with his frame. If we have a shot with Cochran (I think we do, he says he plans to visit us this fall) we take him. If we could get Lacy and Cochran that would be one HECK of a OT class. Throw in a possible Q and Hannon and we would have literally taken an entire offensive line this class (2 OT, 2 G, 1 C).

#3 Would have to be Harlow, he's good but like Samuelson is about three years away from contributing. Needs to put on a bit more muscle but definitely has the quickness in his feet and the long arms to be a tackle at the next level.

My hunch is that if they take four kids for the OL, they'll figure out where they want to play them once they're on campus.

And that is the key, isn't it? Get the best players you can, and figure out where they fit best.

I could be wrong.

Alright, I see that, but if a kid has the size, arm span, and quick feet he could play indie or outside, like ARod, couldn't he?

The number of OL that they keep recruiting and telling them they would move them inside has me concerned. So far, we've taken three OL players in the last two classes and they all look to move inside,whee we already have a logjam of talent. If Hannon and Harlow are both recruited to move inside, where are we going to get the OTs we need three to four years from now?

Won't someone have to move outside?

Just because Pensick was the back up last year and slated to be the starter this year, doesnt mean there arent questions.

I'd say it does.

Pensick was recruited as a DT, moved to offense because he wasn't good enough there. He was a back-up because of other recruiting failures, not because of his own ability. GMP is as you said 'probably' moving. Once again, we are moving guys around. We have no idea if he will pan out. Just because we have a body there doesn't mean the position is in good shape.

We need to start recruiting centers rather than just players and move them around.

Misses in previous classes have also hurt Nebraska. That 2009 class certainly set things back a bit depth-wise.

You move a kid from a position of strength to a position of need. Happens all the time in college ball, and don't try to tell me it doesn't. Kids get moved from DE to DT. Safeties get moved down to LB. WRs get tried at CB, and vice-versa. hell, RBs get moved to LB, and QBs end up at WR. This is not new.

OL is one of those places where the parts can be interchangeable, and the number of pure Centers out there? In this year's top 247 all of two, and one of those is bound to get moved further out because of his size.

If you don't get one of these guys, then you get the best talent available and find a Center once they're in camp.

BTW, it's a mistake to call it a recruiting failure when a kid fails to develop the way you'd hoped. That's a failure of the player, not a failure to get a player that looked promising.

You essentially proved my point. Pensick is there because of need, not talent. We have not done a good job recruiting that position.

I wasn't trying to tell you it wasn't. But it's a nice strawman regardless.

Sirles was forced to play LT because Yoshi got nicked up. He hasn't been moved between left and right "consistently". This season he's very likely to be a swing player at Tackle because he's played both, and to protect against injury.

ARod started at a position of need, LG, because he was better than anyone else. He might still be there if he hadn't had the leg injury last year. He's being moved to RT, because it fits his skill set, and because we have a more than adequate player at LG already. Moudy has never been tried anywhere but at OT. Thompson has not been moved around; he's been injured.

Yes, players have been tried at a couple of positions in their first year or so. That's what happens on most teams until you find the right fit and chemistry. This is a totally empty argument, devoid of much in the way of thought process. You're complaining about the coaches trying to find their best OL players and put them into the correct position, so that there aren't weak spots for the defense to exploit. Nothing blows up an offense faster than someone who just can't compete in the OL.

Pensick has been at Center for three years now. Long has been at OG for three years now. Choi has been at OG for three years now. Moore is starting his second year at LT. Sirles is back at RT after backing up at RT last year. ARod is the only projected starter who has changed positions, and that's primarily to get him back to a position which is more natural for him.

I see an awful lot of continuity there.

As for the younger players, you don't know what you have unless you try to see where they fit best along the OL. I'm grateful that guys like Cotton, Long, GMP, and Reeves were all given an opportunity to find the right fit for them. We discovered that Price may well turn out to be better at Center, while Reeves is going to be able to step right into one of the OG slots in a year or two. We now know that Cotton could play OG,but may turn out to be more valuable at Tackle. We've also seen the staff figure out who fits where, and are able to move these rdFrosh and Sophomores into #2 slots, so that the progression of the OL may finally be back to the reloading cycle we were once used to seeing.

In point of fact, they've taken one or two guys every year and experimented. They certainly haven't "experimented" with the entire unit every year. That's heedless hyperbole on your part.

He may very well be the best center we have. That doesn't mean he is a good center. We don't lack for bodies. Whether we lack for talented candidates is very much up for discussion.

Because he hasn't shown anything at this point and his resume on paper is not exactly stellar or encouraging.