What grade would you give our OL as a unit?

[RC3]

C-
They've got a lot work to do before this Saturday.

[Dawgface]

C

[GreenheadDawg]

I'll be nice and say C-. I thought they looked pretty pedestrian

[civildawg]

You can't fix an o line in 6 days. We are screwed

[maroonmania]

You can't fix an o line in 6 days. We are screwed

But, but, Hevesy's OL recruiting is just fine. I've heard it many times on this board that we don't need highly rated OL recruits.

[confucius say]

We averaged over 7 yards a carry and gave up one sack in 38 pass attempts. Our ol is not dominant (never is), but it wasn't a disaster.

[Todd4State]

We need to start Elgton Jenkins over Warren. I think that would help a lot.

[civildawg]

It wasn't a disaster against a cusa team. It will be a disaster against a sec team

[Really Clark?]

We need to start Elgton Jenkins over Warren. I think that would help a lot.

And how in the world would you or anyone else not involved with the program know that starting Jenkins would improve our line a lot? What have you seen in practice to shows Jenkins is the better lineman. I know it part of message boards and fans to pick players but there was nothing you could have seen from Jenkins to legitimately draw that conclusion.

Dak was sacked twice against USM in the first half last year. Gave up a sack to UAB and So Alabama last year as well.

[Todd4State]

And how in the world would you or anyone else not involved with the program know that starting Jenkins would improve our line a lot? What have you seen in practice to shows Jenkins is the better lineman. I know it part of message boards and fans to pick players but there was nothing you could have seen from Jenkins to legitimately draw that conclusion.

I believe Jenkins is going to be a special talent for us. It's just my opinion but he's going to be every bit as good as Sherrod was.

Coach34 agrees with me at least on the talent part.

[MetEdDawg]

I didn't watch Clayborn a ton post snap but I'm pretty sure Dak never had to reach outside of his center mass to catch a snap. Thought Clayborn did a great job in that regard.

I think it was fairly obvious that Rufus was the weak link last night. He was slow, doesn't have the pure strength a LT needs, and just doesn't have the footwork necessary to put himself in a position to be successful on a consistent basis in pass protection. If I'm Jenkins, I'm literally doing every single thing possible to make the coaches put me on the field. Putting in as much extra work as possible and picking coaches brain as much as humanly possible. He should see that the LT spot is there for the taking after last night's performance.

Not sure Dan would ever let a freshman play ahead of a senior like that though.

[Really Clark?]

Todd I don't disagree with that but that has nothing to do with what you are promoting. Being talented and being the best player for the position, when you have not seen him work day in and day out, is not an informed opinion. You just think he is better but you can't possible be able to base that on anything we have seen at this point. It may be close between the two, but with our OL coaches track record on what kind of OL play we have, I'm thinking he is right not our fans speculation on a player that we just haven't seen enough to have a clue about. And as I pointed out above, we gave up more sacks last year to an obviously worse USM team. It was ugly all around but the line didn't look bad all night, not even close. How many times did Dak have 5+ seconds to throw? A bunch.

[RC3]

I'm going to re watch tofay and pay particular attention to the OL. But I left the stadium last night with a very sour taste in my mouth regarding their play

[defiantdog]

I believe Jenkins is going to be a special talent for us. It's just my opinion but he's going to be every bit as good as Sherrod was.

Coach34 agrees with me at least on the talent part.

He has potential, just like Deion Calhoun has potential. But, his experience isn't there yet with the position. Right now, Myles Garrett would destroy anyone we put at LT. We need to simply find the guy with the most confidence, knowledge, and experience at the position and stick with it.

[RC3]

How many times did Dak have 5+ seconds to throw? A bunch.

This is not true. They were getting great pressure on him

[Dawgfan77]

He has potential, just like Deion Calhoun has potential. But, his experience isn't there yet with the position. Right now, Myles Garrett would destroy anyone we put at LT. We need to simply find the guy with the most confidence, knowledge, and experience at the position and stick with it.

Garrett is going to destroy a lot of tackels this year.
Warren is just not a LT. We really missed on having a backup to clausell and should have recruited better. I know I know we signed rankin. I hear he just doesn't have sec strength yet and may be a RT. I'm with Todd Jenkins cannot be any worse.

[ShotgunDawg]

Dak was sacked twice against USM in the first half last year. Gave up a sack to UAB and So Alabama last year as well.

I've discovered that people only remember the highs & lows of the previous season & never the reality. They think we played perfectly last year

[ShotgunDawg]

I'm going to re watch tofay and pay particular attention to the OL. But I left the stadium last night with a very sour taste in my mouth regarding their play

Another problem last night was that we made effort to establish Dak on the zone read, which we always do in SEC games. Our offensive line wasn't playing with a full deck.

[Really Clark?]

This is not true. They were getting great pressure on him

You are wrong. There were a bunch of throws where Dak all day to throw. It was a lot and they did not pressure him all day. Go back and watch how many of those pressures where after 3 seconds. I'm not saying they didn't get to Dak some but one sack (less than last year) and multiple times Dak just sat back there waiting to throw and in normal games would have taken off running long before pressure came late.

[maroonmania]

Garrett is going to destroy a lot of tackels this year.
Warren is just not a LT. We really missed on having a backup to clausell and should have recruited better. I know I know we signed rankin. I hear he just doesn't have sec strength yet and may be a RT. I'm with Todd Jenkins cannot be any worse.

Clausell was a pretty average LT himself at least by SEC standards. Pretty sad that we can't even replace that.

[BossDawg]

This game felt just like the UAB game last year, the 2nd game of the season, and we turned out just fine. So I've talked myself into taking a wait and see attitude before jumping off a cliff. I feel like we're gonna see and entirely different team next week against LSU. That will be the true litmus test for me.

[HancockCountyDog]

This game felt just like the UAB game last year, the 2nd game of the season, and we turned out just fine. So I've talked myself into taking a wait and see attitude before jumping off a cliff. I feel like we're gonna see and entirely different team next week against LSU. That will be the true litmus test for me.

Here is the difference, we were killing UAB with our starters and we decided to play backups just to give them a chance to play, on both offense and defense. UAB lit up our backups on defense and stuffed our offense against backups.

That is not what happened here. The backups that played on D, played because USM kept our defense on the field a ton. We played our starters as much as we could. Chris Jones didn't come off the field until he was gassed. That is a huge difference in my mind.

Now, I think we will be fine, and we will get some depth on the DL, but watching a DL with Dale, Calvin and a couple of other guys, I started watching USM get 5 ypc. Against LSU, that will be 10 ypc. We are going to have to control the clock against LSU or I am concerned they will gash us in the 4th quarter due to some depth concerns on the DL like C34 has been preaching.

[Coach34]

This is not true. They were getting great pressure on him

not in the game I watched last night and again this morning

[Coach007]

I give them a B.

Considering we did not run our offense I thought they did well.

[Coach34]

Here is the difference, we were killing UAB with our starters and we decided to play backups just to give them a chance to play, on both offense and defense. UAB lit up our backups on defense and stuffed our offense against backups.

Except that UAB threw TD's against both Calhoun and Redmond last year

[Coach34]

I give them a B.

Considering we did not run our offense I thought they did well.

I say B-

Still alot to work on- but a solid job last night. We missed open WR's and had a few drops. Go back and look at the hole Shump had on the fumble in the end zone. Thats not on the OL

[Coach34]

I believe Jenkins is going to be a special talent for us. It's just my opinion but he's going to be every bit as good as Sherrod was.

Coach34 agrees with me at least on the talent part.

Jenkins will be better than Warren- but today? I'd rather have the experience. By Game 8? Maybe not

[RC3]

not in the game I watched last night and again this morning
Are you agreeing with him that Dak routinely had 5+ seconds to get the ball out? I didn't see that at all. Just now watching the replay. Unfortunately there is not much of our offensive film from the 1st quarter. Lol

[Coach34]

He had alot of time to throw the ball last night. He wont have that much time Saturday

[TaleofTwoDogs]

You are wrong. There were a bunch of throws where Dak all day to throw. It was a lot and they did not pressure him all day. Go back and watch how many of those pressures where after 3 seconds. I'm not saying they didn't get to Dak some but one sack (less than last year) and multiple times Dak just sat back there waiting to throw and in normal games would have taken off running long before pressure came late.

I agree. Especially in the 2nd half, Dak could have eaten a hot dog from the stands with the amount of time he had in the backfield. The jaw dropper was that even with all that time he was off target with his throws a number of times.

[SDDawg]

We did nothing to help Rufus last night, he was out there on his own (as he should be) and showed he can manage a game. It only gets tougher from here, but I think he will improve a lot over the next few weeks (and has no other choice). Hev knows what he has, let the process play out.

Regarding Rufus vs. elite guys, if you game plan and scheme against a Garrett you can contain him and take him out of the game. That's what we're going to do. We're not going to just line up vanilla, have Dak throw on 3 out of 5 downs from the pocket and hope for the best. The concerns about Garrett-type matchups are unfounded at this point.

ETA: My grade for the line is a "gentleman's C". Not a strong grade, but that's not all on Rufus. With the game plan we had and against the competition we were playing, we needed more push.

[NCDawg]

But, but, Hevesy's OL recruiting is just fine. I've heard it many times on this board that we don't need highly rated OL recruits.

Correct, and if you say anything to the contrary, you are labeled as a "troll".

[Really Clark?]

Are you agreeing with him that Dak routinely had 5+ seconds to get the ball out? I didn't see that at all. Just now watching the replay. Unfortunately there is not much of our offensive film from the 1st quarter. Lol

First off I didn't say routinely, I did say a bunch. And 5+ seconds to time is a ton in any game.