Here is what people are forgetting in regards to our OL

[Coach34]

I see all these posts about people worried about our OL. Our opponents point out we lost 3 starters on the OL- or as the SECRant says "our whole OL". Let's get back to the basics.

Why are Zone Read teams so successful? Because of the alignment, formations, and reads. Zone read teams outnumber the defense in the box. That's why Miss State is able to #RTGDF every year. That's why our offense is always going to decent at worst no matter who is on the OL.

Now then, let's add one of the country's best QB's and a very good group of WR's. Defenses can't load the box or they will get torched. Safeties cheat toward the box? That leaves Bear and Fred one on one. Could we ask for more than that?

Stop worrying about our OL.

[codeDawg]

Given when Hev has done in the past, the only spot I'm concerned about is LT. The only concern there is experience, and we have a guy who was athletic enough to play TE grow into the position.

We're going to be just fine on the OL. We are every year no matter who plays on it.

[1bigdawg]

I see all these posts about people worried about our OL. Our opponents point out we lost 3 starters on the OL- or as the SECRant says "our whole OL". Let's get back to the basics.

Why are Zone Read teams so successful? Because of the alignment, formations, and reads. Zone read teams outnumber the defense in the box. That's why Miss State is able to #RTGDF every year. That's why our offense is always going to decent at worst no matter who is on the OL.

Now then, let's add one of the country's best QB's and a very good group of WR's. Defenses can't load the box or they will get torched. Safeties cheat toward the box? That leaves Bear and Fred one on one. Could we ask for more than that?

Stop worrying about our OL.

We have four guys returning on the Oline that have started in SEC games and played well. The only other starter played a good many downs at TE, mainly as a blocker. Every one of these guys has real SEC experience. I don't get the concern.

[CadaverDawg]

Yea, not worried about the OL. Hevesy has proven he can get it done.

The DL...I'm worried about depth. Especially vs LSU, Bama, Arkansas

[NCDawg]

I think our not very good OL play against Ole Miss last year has a lot of people concerned. Robinson had practically no chance to run and Dak was pressured all game long. The Ole Miss defense looked like they were too quick for our OL to block. Just my opinion.

[Coach34]

I think our not very good OL play against Ole Miss last year has a lot of people concerned. Robinson had practically no chance to run and Dak was pressured all game long. The Ole Miss defense looked like they were too quick for our OL to block. Just my opinion.

We were confused upfront- especially in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, we scored 2 TD's and missed a FG. We adjusted and played much better once we got into half and made some changes. That was on our coaching- not a lack of talent

[HancockCountyDog]

We were confused upfront- especially in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, we scored 2 TD's and missed a FG. We adjusted and played much better once we got into half and made some changes. That was on our coaching- not a lack of talent

Yeah, but we scored those points on the back of big plays. We had two big plays that led to TD's and then a long play that led to a missed FG. We never got on a roll running the ball that game. Im not worried about the run game this season as much as I am relying on our OL to pass block.

I agree with everything you said about why we can run the ball on pretty much anyone, but when we have to pass block, at times our OL can get exposed. I think that is why some are worried about passing it more than last year, while breaking in new OL.

thankfully, I don't think we need to have long pass plays with the weapons we have on the outside, we won't have to wait until they're open, we should be able to have quick strikes for big plays, by relying on the talent of the WR.

[LC Dawg]

I'm not worried about our offense at all. If Mullen learns from the Bama and Ole Miss games, and even from the end of the LSU game, we may have the best offense in SEC history.

[Johnson85]

I don't get the concern.

The concern is that we won't have an O-Line that will allow us to be a contender for a playoff spot. It's not like people are worried we will suck (I don't think); I think it's pretty clear our line will be solid (I don't see how we could fail to find two solid tackles out of Warren, Carter, Rankin, and Senior). But 10-2 in the SEC West this year will likely require having a team that is competitive for a playoff spot. A team that's roughly the 20th to 25th best team in the nation would probably end up at 8-4 or even 7-5 with our schedule depending on how the breaks fall.

[Coach34]

When you blitz and slant the way Ole Missus does- you give up big plays. That's the nature of the beast. If you remember- we also put Shump in more to run straight ahead as well as passblock. Shump had 10 carries 60 yards in the game. Big difference than the dancing JRob

[Coach34]

The concern is that we won't have an O-Line that will allow us to be a contender for a playoff spot. It's not like people are worried we will suck (I don't think); I think it's pretty clear our line will be solid (I don't see how we could fail to find two solid tackles out of Warren, Carter, Rankin, and Senior). But 10-2 in the SEC West this year will likely require having a team that is competitive for a playoff spot. A team that's roughly the 20th to 25th best team in the nation would probably end up at 8-4 or even 7-5 with our schedule depending on how the breaks fall.

I'll play LT in a meaningful situation before Carter will

[HancockCountyDog]

Big difference than the dancing JRob

So the relationship is over? You were a huge Jrob supporter, and so was I, I hate to see you leave me alone on the Jrob bandwagon. Not many of us left on here.

[HancockCountyDog]

I'll play LT in a meaningful situation before Carter will

By the way, Jake Thomas has me convinced that I never want another 4 star OL again. Give me all the Calhoun, Clayborn, and Jenkins 3 star OL you can handle.

[BulldogBear]

I see all these posts about people worried about our OL. Our opponents point out we lost 3 starters on the OL- or as the SECRant says "our whole OL". Let's get back to the basics.

Why are Zone Read teams so successful? Because of the alignment, formations, and reads. Zone read teams outnumber the defense in the box. That's why Miss State is able to #RTGDF every year. That's why our offense is always going to decent at worst no matter who is on the OL.

Now then, let's add one of the country's best QB's and a very good group of WR's. Defenses can't load the box or they will get torched. Safeties cheat toward the box? That leaves Bear and Fred one on one. Could we ask for more than that?

Stop worrying about our OL.

What he said^^

Buy a wool sweater if you're not growing enough fellas!

[LanceHarbor]

We were confused upfront- especially in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, we scored 2 TD's and missed a FG. We adjusted and played much better once we got into half and made some changes. That was on our coaching- not a lack of talent

Senior was getting abused by the UM defensive line.

[Pollodawg]

So the relationship is over? You were a huge Jrob supporter, and so was I, I hate to see you leave me alone on the Jrob bandwagon. Not many of us left on here.


By the end of the season, I was incredibly disappointed in JRob. Once he figured out that his draft status was pretty much assured he shut her down. Or, worse, once he and Mullen crossed swords, he pouted the rest of the season. Don't know which it was, but the effort wasn't there at the end like it was at the beginning. Then his twitter escapades didn't help any.

[HancockCountyDog]

By the end of the season, I was incredibly disappointed in JRob. Once he figured out that his draft status was pretty much assured he shut her down. Or, worse, once he and Mullen crossed swords, he pouted the rest of the season. Don't know which it was, but the effort wasn't there at the end like it was at the beginning. Then his twitter escapades didn't help any.

I don't know the details about off the field stuff, i just know that we don't beat Arkansas without him. he averaged over 5 ypc against every team other than Ark, Bama, and bears. He put up 1200 yards on the ground and another 370 in receiving with 12 TD's. He didn't perform great agianst three of the better defenses in the country down the stretch, not many teams did.

It just seems he is getting a bum rap to me because he left early and because he couldn't pass block. Im going to miss him.

[Todd4State]

I hope that we are able to run the ball in between the tackles better next year because that is how you beat Ole Miss's defense. Shumpert, Lee, and Williams should improve us in that dept.

As far as the o-line, I think Clayborn is probably stronger than Day. I'm not sure how he compares to Day in terms of making calls on the line. I also think that Desper is stronger and more athletic than Beckwith was and I think Warren will be at least as good as Clausell who was pretty average with us. Malone and Senior should be better too.

I just wish that we had a FB type of guy that we could use as well.

[Todd4State]

I don't know the details about off the field stuff, i just know that we don't beat Arkansas without him. he averaged over 5 ypc against every team other than Ark, Bama, and bears. He put up 1200 yards on the ground and another 370 in receiving with 12 TD's. He didn't perform great agianst three of the better defenses in the country down the stretch, not many teams did.

It just seems he is getting a bum rap to me because he left early and because he couldn't pass block. Im going to miss him.

It's pretty common knowledge that Robinson was playing to not get hurt at the end of the year so he could make millions in the NFL. Had he decided to come back, I see no reason why he wouldn't have continued to have had that attitude. And had that happened, I could see that becoming an issue on the team.

Given Robinson's background, I don't totally blame him for feeling the way he did. But that attitude is also not what's best for Mississippi State. And I like Josh and think he was a phenomenal player.

If I were Dan, I would have tried to use Robinson in the Percy Harvin role and made Shumpert the primary running back. As it is, we'll just get to enjoy the Malik Dear era next year.

[Todd4State]

By the end of the season, I was incredibly disappointed in JRob. Once he figured out that his draft status was pretty much assured he shut her down. Or, worse, once he and Mullen crossed swords, he pouted the rest of the season. Don't know which it was, but the effort wasn't there at the end like it was at the beginning. Then his twitter escapades didn't help any.

Josh and Dan had issues long before last year. See Dan starting Perkins over Josh.

[5 Star]

Why are Zone Read teams so successful? Because of the alignment, formations, and reads. Zone read teams outnumber the defense in the box. That's why Miss State is able to #RTGDF every year. That's why our offense is always going to decent at worst no matter who is on the OL.
I agree that spread offenses are easier to coach, but that still does not account for the fact that we lost 3 starters, 2 of them 4 year starters, one of which is the Center and most important piece. I am not worried about talent.


Now then, let's add one of the country's best QB's and a very good group of WR's. Defenses can't load the box or they will get torched. Safeties cheat toward the box? That leaves Bear and Fred one on one. Could we ask for more than that?
This is not something that makes me feel more confident in the offensive line per se, more of a reason why it won't need to be as strong, or a strategy to overcome it. And I agree with that, we need to be getting the ball to the outside early and often.

[PMDawg]

Yea, not worried about the OL. Hevesy has proven he can get it done.

The DL...I'm worried about depth. Especially vs LSU, Bama, Arkansas

+1. I worry about the 2nd string OL only at RT and C. I don't really worry about them so much as I hope we don't have to see them. But the 2nd string DL, especially at DE, is a concern until they show me otherwise.