Oline -- zone blocking

[msstate7]

Should we drop zone blocking? The zone blocking scheme seems to be a good fit if you have smart guys. Unfortunately, our recruiting area isn't known for producing a ton of smart kids. We have one of the best JUCO talent states also, but again JUCOs aren't known for high intelligence. Seems to me a more simple blocking scheme would fit out recruiting footprint much better.

* I realize there are a ton of smart kids in this state and the surrounding ones. I also realize not all JUCO kids are intellectually challenged. This thread isn't meant to insult kids in and around this state

[StatesboroBlues]

Hard question to answer for more reasons than you bring up...have always been told that zone blocking helps the less talented.

[tcdog70]

double team the DT pull a guard and block the DE and lead with a fullback on the LB and run the MF down their throats.

[Jack Lambert]

I think the O-line man should get strong and block. They know the play, where the ball is going and the snap count. They got all the advantages. I say hit your guy and drive him back or away from the ball. D lineman will always be faster then O lineman. Put your hands on the d lineman and chop your feet. They are too fast to zone block. They will just run around you.

[Interpolation_Dawg_EX]

At this time I don't think we should unless we don't have a RB that can run behind that style of blocking. Marshawn Lynch initially struggled when he went to Seattle because of the zone blocking, but we see how that turned out. Here is nice read on Alex Gibbs, the godfather of zone blocking: http://www.sbnation.com/2014/7/25/5928877/alex-gibbs-seahawks-broncos-texans-nfl-zone-blocking

It's the system. It consistently produces results when run correctly. Alfred Morris, a sixth-round pick, in Washington. Arian Foster, an undrafted free agent in Houston. Marshawn Lynch, an afterthought and cast-off from Buffalo, in Seattle. Ultimately, it's about players buying into the system and running it how it's meant to be run. Lynch struggled initially when arriving in Seattle, but has since become one of the league's top backs.

Tom Cable: "We made a deal [shortly after he arrived in Seattle]: You have to do it the way I tell you to do it, I ask you to do it. And he's done it. So a lot of credit goes to him because he was willing to kind of maybe push his ego or push own beliefs, to some extent, aside and then embrace something new."

"Because," Cable went on, "this is a system that asks backs to do things a certain way. Once you get in and through the line of scrimmage, then do your thing. You can do all the craziness you want then. But you've got to do it this way from A to B. And he bought in from A to B. And after that, what you do from C on is you."

"We don't turn the ball around and hand it off and say go get em," Cable explains. "There are certain reads, there are certain beliefs in how we do things, and you have to understand the whole thing. This is not sandlot football. I think that's the great thing about our system. Since coming into the NFL in 2006, it's kinda always been at the top of the league in rushing and the backs we've had have been excited about being in it, and have fun with it. There's a long line of them now that have all been 1,000-plus-yard guys.

"It demands a certain discipline. It's not more complex [than other systems], and I'm not a rocket scientist so I know it's not all that [complex], but I know this: It does take a certain discipline to play in it, to run in it. If you're disciplined within the system, it will take care of you. That's what it does."

[lamont]

Every team in the NCAA zone blocks at least some. We just don't do any power blocking the way Auburn, LSU, Bama and others do more of than zone

[msstate7]

At this time I don't think we should unless we don't have a RB that can run behind that style of blocking. Marshawn Lynch initially struggled when he went to Seattle because of the zone blocking, but we see how that turned out. Here is nice read on Alex Gibbs, the godfather of zone blocking: http://www.sbnation.com/2014/7/25/5928877/alex-gibbs-seahawks-broncos-texans-nfl-zone-blocking

It's the system. It consistently produces results when run correctly. Alfred Morris, a sixth-round pick, in Washington. Arian Foster, an undrafted free agent in Houston. Marshawn Lynch, an afterthought and cast-off from Buffalo, in Seattle. Ultimately, it's about players buying into the system and running it how it's meant to be run. Lynch struggled initially when arriving in Seattle, but has since become one of the league's top backs.

Tom Cable: "We made a deal [shortly after he arrived in Seattle]: You have to do it the way I tell you to do it, I ask you to do it. And he's done it. So a lot of credit goes to him because he was willing to kind of maybe push his ego or push own beliefs, to some extent, aside and then embrace something new."

"Because," Cable went on, "this is a system that asks backs to do things a certain way. Once you get in and through the line of scrimmage, then do your thing. You can do all the craziness you want then. But you've got to do it this way from A to B. And he bought in from A to B. And after that, what you do from C on is you."

"We don't turn the ball around and hand it off and say go get em," Cable explains. "There are certain reads, there are certain beliefs in how we do things, and you have to understand the whole thing. This is not sandlot football. I think that's the great thing about our system. Since coming into the NFL in 2006, it's kinda always been at the top of the league in rushing and the backs we've had have been excited about being in it, and have fun with it. There's a long line of them now that have all been 1,000-plus-yard guys.

"It demands a certain discipline. It's not more complex [than other systems], and I'm not a rocket scientist so I know it's not all that [complex], but I know this: It does take a certain discipline to play in it, to run in it. If you're disciplined within the system, it will take care of you. That's what it does."

Good stuff. I always thought zone blocking was more complex

[Barking 13]

maybe that explains why we can't see anybody but Holloway and Shump.. They get it, but can't do anything about it. The others don't get it....

[lamont]

Its hard for some backs to be patient and see the blocking develop. If you didnt do any of that in HS- it takes a little while to get the feel of it.

[Goldendawg]

I haven't seen many holes open up the last year and one game no matter how long Holloway and Shump waited, especially up the middle.

[lamont]

I haven't seen many holes open up the last year and one game no matter how long Holloway and Shump waited, especially up the middle.

agreed

[msbulldog]

I think most good coaches will tell you the scheme to their personnel's ability.

[Interpolation_Dawg_EX]

I haven't seen many holes open up the last year and one game no matter how long Holloway and Shump waited, especially up the middle.
True

[Barking 13]

I haven't seen many holes open up the last year and one game no matter how long Holloway and Shump waited, especially up the middle.

Since 2014