Talent Development Trench Warfare

Lyle Sendlein. But yes, 6 players recruited, developed and drafted is nothing short of pathetic.

Sendlein is in the league but was undrafted. What others guys have made it that way?

Charlie Tanner

…in the league but undrafted.

It is hard for me to see how we will not be much improved in the OL. Run game schemes that inspired laughter from Bruce Matthews, sub-par S&C; and an OL coach well past his prime leave a lot of room for improvement.

What about Lyle Sendlein – AZ Cardinals – National Championship Center 05?

Um, I think he was mentioned.

The BHGP article is very good and very telling. USC was killing it.

Sailor,

In reading this piece I was motivated to go back and do a little bit of research concerning the recruiting and subsequent careers of the offensive linemen Texas has signed during Mack’s tenure. i divided the group into two sets, 1998-2002 and 2003-2008. First person who can post the significance of 2003 in offensive line play at Texas gets my numbered wrist plan for my place in line at the Sam Moon store in The Woodlands that supposedly will be selling B.C. tote bags next weekend.

1998-2002 Offensive Line Signees
Matt Anderson
Cory Bradford
Antwan Kirk-Hughes
Mike Williams
Beau Baker
Robbie Doane
Derrick Dockery
Tilmon Holloway
Trey Bates
Lionel Garr
Jason Glynn
Will Allen
Mike Garcia
Alfio Randall
Roman Reeves
Jonathan Scott
William Winston
Terrence Young
Lyle Sendlein
Justin Blaylock
Kasey Studdard
Brett Valdez
Neale Tweede

The 2002 class is the benchmark for all offensive line classes to be measured in that it produced a 4,3,2, and 1 year starter, 2 of the players are multi-year NFL startes, and 1 has had a multi-year NFL career.

In total these 5 classes consisted of:

23 total linemen
6 multi-year NFL careers
2 1-year NFL careers (Per Mack Brown.com)
12 multi-year starters
2 1-year starters
2 players who played significant back-up minutes
2 finished their eligibility
5 did not complete their careers in Austin

Now compare that with the:

2003-2008 Offensive Line Signees
Dallas Griffin
Kyle Thornton
Cedrick Dockery
Greg Dolan
Tony Hills
Chris Hall
Charlie Tanner
Adam Ulatoski
Buck Burnette
Steve Moore
Roy Watts
J’Marcus Webb
Britt Mitchell
Tray Allen
Kyle Hix
Michael Huey
Aundra McGaskey
Mark Buchanan
Luke Poehlamann
David Snow

Some would call the 2005 class of Hall, Tanner, and Ulatoski as the the best of this time period, but I prefer the 2004 class of Dockery and Hills even if it does include Greg Dolan who never played in Austin. Both Hills and Dockery were not only leaders in the line, but both highly effective players

The rundown for this 6 year period:
20 offensive linemen signed
1 multi-year NFL career
0 1-year NFL careers (per MackBrown.com)
7 multi-year starters
3 1-year starters (this is skewed by David Snow who will be a multi-year next year)
0 playing signficicant back-up minutes
6 did not finish the college careers.

Besides the disparity in talent between 1998-2002 and 2003-2008 the other thing that struck me was how underrecruited Texas was in the offensive line in the second set. Texas signed 4.6 offensive linemen per class in Brown’s first 5 years in Austin and only 3.3 players per class in his next 6. Even if you include the 2009- and 2010 class the first set average one more player per class. When you consider the attrition on the bodies, the time it takes for some big kids to develop, and the fact you need 5 on the field at all time (compared to the over recruited tight end position) it just is another reason to me to be glad of the recent changes in Austin.

(*This reply is motivated by Arrogant Frog Wine, the unofficial wine of Davey O’Brien’s rambling rants and replies.)

So is there anything to the Big 12 style? Does the proliferation of the spread at the high school level change how o linemen are trained? Are we perhaps getting some of the better guys in TX but they aren’t what the NFL wants?

I believe ‘03 was MacWhorter’s first year in place of Tim Nunez as OL coach.

Sorry for the Sendlein oversight. I just assumed he was drafted as I always felt he was arguably our best lineman on a great line. I think that speaks to the problem that a kid that is obviously as good as Sendlein is goes undrafted. The NFL didn’t think much of our ability to get OL ready for the league regardless of their talent.

Interesting numbers Davey. The fact we took 3.3 lineman a year over an eight year period tells me that our entire coaching staff from Mack to Davis to McWhorter was completely inept. You should never take less than 4 in any one year and the average should be around 5. How you can average less than 4 over that long of a period is complete incompetence. No wonder our OL was nothing short of pathetic the last 5 years. Thank God two of the three morons in charge of those numbers are gone.

Bartoncreek, 5 OL a year isn’t feasible in a 85 scholarship limit world. As far as I know, every team aims to have 15-16 OL on the team at a time. You want to be two deep at each position while maintaining the ability to redshirt your true freshmen if need be. More than 16 and you could potentially face number shortages at other positions. So you can’t make a hard and fast “4-5 OL a year” rule. You recruit whatever number you need to get to into that 15-16 zone.

Besides, our problem hasn’t been a lack of bodies, it’s been the having the wrong bodies and not properly developing the ones we have.

We’ll have 15 OL this season. We’ll lose two seniors. Two commits and the possibility of two more would give Texas 17 OL for the 2012 season. More than ideal but I’d chalk that up to our current players being disproportionately interior linemen and the fact that Estelle and Peat are too good to pass up. You can temporarily unbalance your roster a bit for players of that caliber.

3.3 a year is a bit light, but without attrition that would get you right to 15 or 16 OL, assuming the freshmen redshirt.

I just don’t believe that and certainly wouldn’t endorse those numbers. 23% of your starters are OL. 23% of your 85 scholarship players would be 19-20 OL. Given the rate of attrition and higher than average miss ratio, I would want at least that many. Again, that means taking 4-5 every year. 3.3 is horrible distribution and the results speak for themselves.

If development is the problem, then why are all the paid blogs predicting that our O will contribute not much if anything in the way of NFL talent over the next 3 years? I am not seeing the same confidence that the new staff will do any better at development.

It is funny how our best OL 2005 in the last 25 years lead to MNC. In my opinion a dominate OL is more important than a team full of skill players.

“In my opinion a dominate OL is more important than a team full of skill players.”

While the O-line is clearly important, didn’t we basically return a majority of our line for Colt’s first year as a starter?

A quarterback that can’t be tackled makes the o-line look better just as much as a good o-line makes a QB look better.

Given the difficulties in finding GOAT type talent I can understand the desire to focus on the o-line though.

Hopeful Horn,

You win and you get my place in line, but be careful. Whatever you do don’t buy any of those Blarking Carnival tote bags Magnus is selling from his trunk behind the strip mall next door. They are knock -offs he bought down in the Harwin District after visiting his exercise therapist.

50 Years,

I can’t speak for the paid blogs and my attornies tell me I should go ahead and say my rants on this or any other site are merely inspired by Arrogant Frog Pinot Noir, but there are three primary reasons why I think we see improvement in the offensive line and that in turn means a more productive offense.

1) I believe Texas has more talent in the offensive line than since 2006. Note I did not say this line will have the talent of the 2006 line, but the most talent since 2006. Texas has issues at tackle, but for the first time in a very long time there are possible answers instead of just bodies.

2) Stacey did a great job in his time at UGA piecing his lines together. What I love is the individuals who attack his lines in Athens for being inconsistent and they refuse to acknowledge the fact that in only two of his seasons with the Dawgs that he had 3 or more of his starting offensive line for over 75% of the season.

Think about that and the impact upon continuity of line play. Offensive line is not a jazz ensemble where each part plays in their own style, own timing, and own distinct rthymn. It is more like a choir singing in harmony where one individual being oft tone stands out to all around.

If you compare that same ratio with Texas under McWhorter you will find that there was only one year (2007) in which Texas had similar injury problems in the offensive line. I am not completely absolving Stacey of any line issues in Georgia and castigating McWhorter, but the root issues in Austin were not the same as Stacey faced in Athens.

3) Scheme. This poor house has been beaten to dust, but there is no doubt that putting players in a well-designed, scheme and then having them practice plays from this scheme in a manner where proper technique and execution are expected and demanded leads to more effective line play and therefore greater offensive success.

We have signed way too many WR’s in lieu of OL. I imagine to try to get 4 starters per year on at the wideout position. Big mistake. Also too many TE’s taken at non-NFL dimensions. We should have tried to make a hard play for ASJ at TE even if we used him as a blocking scheme TE.

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