One of my greatest pleasures as a football fan is watching a team develop. Or sometimes it's a portion of the team or an individual player. It's like a flower or bud bursting in the spring. You catch it early and you feel like you're in on the ground floor. It's young with growing pains but it's going to rise up and get better and better right before your eyes.
That's the feeling I had about the D-Line last season. You could see the talent and potential but it was a youthful group. In 2018 we had DE - McKnight Soph (like QB Davis looking for an extra season of eligibility), NT - Ridgeway - RS Freshman, DE - Lewan - RS Freshman, Jack, J. Harris - a Junior in the four man front.
It was already a good group in '18 and with 3 out of 4 due back for at least two more years the future looked very bright. Unfortunately it doesn't always work that way. If there's anything we've learned about Redbird Football and Basketball is that you can't look 3, 2 or even 1 year down the road with any certainty. It's not just that the picture can change. It's virtually a guarantee that it will change. Sure enough Jason Harris elected not to return for this season. Who knows what will happen with the other three? Someone could plateau or even regress in their development, injuries could change the picture in an instant, or a player could improve more than expected (in reality or in his own mind) and he could decide he needs to graduate and play on a bigger stage. You learn to hope for the best while assuming nothing so you won't be disappointed.
As it stands *right now* we have 3 of the 4 back for 2019. Lewan had to play early last year when Podkulski got injured. He was listed at 270. He had added a lot of weight since his arrival (about 65lbs.) but like Himmelman on offense I think you add the weight but then it takes another year in weight room for the strength to catch up. Lewan got pushed around by some veteran O-Lineman last year but the experience did him good and I don't see him giving the position back to Podkulski even though a healthy Podkulski is one tough hombre. Lewan looks to be real find. I really like his upside.
Ridgeway is back. He didn't need to grow. He was listed at 6'6 325 last season and he was already difficult to block with one man. He'll be even tougher this season. Hirsch has reclaimed the starting Center position from Bones. That's the booby prize. Most of the scrimmage time involves 1's going against 1's and 2's vs 2's. That means Hirsch has to block Ridgeway. He gets his licks in but Ridgeway is better. Nose tackles don't usually make a lot of tackles but they can disrupt the blocking scheme. Ridgeway is a disruptor.
I've bragged on two returnees and lots of people will tell you that McKnight is our best D-lineman. I won't argue. One problem - you've heard that Robinson is sitting out the spring to guard his health and well being. It's the same for McKnight. He's not out there. Don't worry he's due back in action in August. McKnight is our best pass rusher. It's not the boast that it could be because our defense doesn't get a lot of sacks and that's by design. In passing situations last season we often dropped 8 into coverage. Of the 3 remaining up front one remained in the middle of the line (usually Swaine) and didn't really rush. He tried to stay in front of the QB to prevent him from running and he would only go for the sack if the QB stepped well up into the pocket. That left just two rushers to pinch in from the outside. Even so Mcknight got some sacks. He's good. And the defense was a success. We faced dual-threat QB's and for the most part we kept them in the pocket and the defense kept the play in front of them. We didn't give up a lot of big plays and we got a good number of INT's. You always have to give up something to get something. Don't worry about the lack of sacks. This defense works.
So McKnight's not out there then who is? I had transfer Fehrmann listed as a starter even though the official Spring prospectus left him off the two-deep. Fehrmann is on the field with the 1's in place of McKnight. There is an important difference. I had Fehrman projected as a Jack lineman. He's in McKnight's DE slot. Fehrmann is listed at 225 but Coach Spack says that's not correct - he's closer to 250. We'll say 245 for now. That's still light for a DE and Fehrmann plays better in space. 300 plus linemen are too much for him right now. That's ok, McKnight will return in August and Fehrmann will have more time to prepare for the DE position although I wonder if he wouldn't still be better as a Jack.
Speaking of, Tuvone Clark is at the Jack with Ryan Guhl. That's solid. I don't think it's sour grapes to say that Harris will not be missed all that much. He was good but so are those two and you never know when someone else might enter the picture.
Real quick on the LB'ers. WLB Vandenburgh, MLB DeForest and SLB Washington are running with the 1's. The 2's are right on their heels. Draka at WLB is not the physical specimen with the size of Vandenburgh but he may be our most consistent LB'er. Like former LB'ers Rivera and Matthews Draka is a weak side LB'er that consistently makes the tackles you need made. He also looks like he dropped a few pounds and picked up some quickness. Wilhoit looks capable in the middle and if you're looking for a true freshman to play then your choice is obvious. I don't like to play freshmen but if you're going to do it then get here early and participate in spring practice. Jeremiah Jordan is doing it. He's listed at 215 now so that's ok but he can get bigger. In the meantime he already has good length and quickness and he plays well in space on the strong side. It remains to be seen if we have an all-conference guy at LB'er but we've got depth.
That's the feeling I had about the D-Line last season. You could see the talent and potential but it was a youthful group. In 2018 we had DE - McKnight Soph (like QB Davis looking for an extra season of eligibility), NT - Ridgeway - RS Freshman, DE - Lewan - RS Freshman, Jack, J. Harris - a Junior in the four man front.
It was already a good group in '18 and with 3 out of 4 due back for at least two more years the future looked very bright. Unfortunately it doesn't always work that way. If there's anything we've learned about Redbird Football and Basketball is that you can't look 3, 2 or even 1 year down the road with any certainty. It's not just that the picture can change. It's virtually a guarantee that it will change. Sure enough Jason Harris elected not to return for this season. Who knows what will happen with the other three? Someone could plateau or even regress in their development, injuries could change the picture in an instant, or a player could improve more than expected (in reality or in his own mind) and he could decide he needs to graduate and play on a bigger stage. You learn to hope for the best while assuming nothing so you won't be disappointed.
As it stands *right now* we have 3 of the 4 back for 2019. Lewan had to play early last year when Podkulski got injured. He was listed at 270. He had added a lot of weight since his arrival (about 65lbs.) but like Himmelman on offense I think you add the weight but then it takes another year in weight room for the strength to catch up. Lewan got pushed around by some veteran O-Lineman last year but the experience did him good and I don't see him giving the position back to Podkulski even though a healthy Podkulski is one tough hombre. Lewan looks to be real find. I really like his upside.
Ridgeway is back. He didn't need to grow. He was listed at 6'6 325 last season and he was already difficult to block with one man. He'll be even tougher this season. Hirsch has reclaimed the starting Center position from Bones. That's the booby prize. Most of the scrimmage time involves 1's going against 1's and 2's vs 2's. That means Hirsch has to block Ridgeway. He gets his licks in but Ridgeway is better. Nose tackles don't usually make a lot of tackles but they can disrupt the blocking scheme. Ridgeway is a disruptor.
I've bragged on two returnees and lots of people will tell you that McKnight is our best D-lineman. I won't argue. One problem - you've heard that Robinson is sitting out the spring to guard his health and well being. It's the same for McKnight. He's not out there. Don't worry he's due back in action in August. McKnight is our best pass rusher. It's not the boast that it could be because our defense doesn't get a lot of sacks and that's by design. In passing situations last season we often dropped 8 into coverage. Of the 3 remaining up front one remained in the middle of the line (usually Swaine) and didn't really rush. He tried to stay in front of the QB to prevent him from running and he would only go for the sack if the QB stepped well up into the pocket. That left just two rushers to pinch in from the outside. Even so Mcknight got some sacks. He's good. And the defense was a success. We faced dual-threat QB's and for the most part we kept them in the pocket and the defense kept the play in front of them. We didn't give up a lot of big plays and we got a good number of INT's. You always have to give up something to get something. Don't worry about the lack of sacks. This defense works.
So McKnight's not out there then who is? I had transfer Fehrmann listed as a starter even though the official Spring prospectus left him off the two-deep. Fehrmann is on the field with the 1's in place of McKnight. There is an important difference. I had Fehrman projected as a Jack lineman. He's in McKnight's DE slot. Fehrmann is listed at 225 but Coach Spack says that's not correct - he's closer to 250. We'll say 245 for now. That's still light for a DE and Fehrmann plays better in space. 300 plus linemen are too much for him right now. That's ok, McKnight will return in August and Fehrmann will have more time to prepare for the DE position although I wonder if he wouldn't still be better as a Jack.
Speaking of, Tuvone Clark is at the Jack with Ryan Guhl. That's solid. I don't think it's sour grapes to say that Harris will not be missed all that much. He was good but so are those two and you never know when someone else might enter the picture.
Real quick on the LB'ers. WLB Vandenburgh, MLB DeForest and SLB Washington are running with the 1's. The 2's are right on their heels. Draka at WLB is not the physical specimen with the size of Vandenburgh but he may be our most consistent LB'er. Like former LB'ers Rivera and Matthews Draka is a weak side LB'er that consistently makes the tackles you need made. He also looks like he dropped a few pounds and picked up some quickness. Wilhoit looks capable in the middle and if you're looking for a true freshman to play then your choice is obvious. I don't like to play freshmen but if you're going to do it then get here early and participate in spring practice. Jeremiah Jordan is doing it. He's listed at 215 now so that's ok but he can get bigger. In the meantime he already has good length and quickness and he plays well in space on the strong side. It remains to be seen if we have an all-conference guy at LB'er but we've got depth.
