DannyCooksey
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Hello
Does anyone know what the starting 5 would be from L-R if we kicked off tomorrow?
Does anyone know what the starting 5 would be from L-R if we kicked off tomorrow?
Starting O Line
- Thread starter DannyCooksey
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fourthandshort
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I always appreciate some insights on this topic ... someone, anyone ????
Cheesehead
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Zambrano LT, Bromagen and Rios at guards, Larry Ross at center. Asche RT. This is all highly subject to August with two Duke transfers coming in I believe, tons of competition which is a good thing. Tight end group could be as athletic as last year
fourthandshort
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Love that the OL has some fresh meat in form of transfers .. keep everyone on their toes and feeling some heat/competition.
I would assume the transfers are here now for OTAs, but not formally practicing with coaches until August camp. Would always be much better if we got transfers for spring ball. Hard to bring guys in, especially OL ... you need time for the entire playbook and acclimating. Skill guys can come in and get 2 deep reps, especially offense where we call the plays. Even defense for certain down & distance plays that narrow the playbooks.. .. seems much harder to do same with new OL guys.
Observations and articulations from the first day of Illinois State football practice
Safeties Dillon Gearhart and Keondre Jackson key members of defense.
This article states that practice opened with Zambrano and Pope at 1st team tackles, Bussone and Rios at G and Ross at C.
I rewatched some games over the off-season and I determined that we weren't very good in the middle of the Off-Line G-C-G. When we played elite defensive teams like SDSU and NDSU our guys were too slow and they got out maneuvered at the snap of the ball. Everybody is 300+ these days but that one size fits all approach isn't working for us. We need to be more athletic up front.
That leaves me scratching my head because I thought our tackles were pretty good. Zambrano is coming along and a healthy Asche can be a true force at RT with his length and tenacity. But Asche is beginning practice as a 2nd team guard?? It used to be that taller O-Linemen played tackle and shorter stouter guys bulldozed the interior. Rios at 6'6 and Asche at 6'7 are guards while Gudaitis at 6'4 is a tackle. I would flip Asche back to T and put Gudaitis at G, but they never ask me. Pope was injured much of last season so I don't know good he is and I'm eager to see Carr the new T from Duke. Maybe Pope and/or Carr are better tackles, and if so great, because I would have been happy with Asche and Zambrano coming back. We need better play in the interior.
Virginia Redbird
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Red, you are spot on with the analysis of the interior of the offensive line last year. The RBs were beat up but the Birds did not control the line of scrimmage consistently last year and nothing goes offensively if you can't do that. I was happy to see some new talent brought in to help shore up the interior. I am hoping Ross solidifies things and the Duke transfers help as well. More competition is a good thing.Observations and articulations from the first day of Illinois State football practice
Safeties Dillon Gearhart and Keondre Jackson key members of defense.pantagraph.com
This article states that practice opened with Zambrano and Pope at 1st team tackles, Bussone and Rios at G and Ross at C.
I rewatched some games over the off-season and I determined that we weren't very good in the middle of the Off-Line G-C-G. When we played elite defensive teams like SDSU and NDSU our guys were too slow and they got out maneuvered at the snap of the ball. Everybody is 300+ these days but that one size fits all approach isn't working for us. We need to be more athletic up front.
That leaves me scratching my head because I thought our tackles were pretty good. Zambrano is coming along and a healthy Asche can be a true force at RT with his length and tenacity. But Asche is beginning practice as a 2nd team guard?? It used to be that taller O-Linemen played tackle and shorter stouter guys bulldozed the interior. Rios at 6'6 and Asche at 6'7 are guards while Gudaitis at 6'4 is a tackle. I would flip Asche back to T and put Gudaitis at G, but they never ask me. Pope was injured much of last season so I don't know good he is and I'm eager to see Carr the new T from Duke. Maybe Pope and/or Carr are better tackles, and if so great, because I would have been happy with Asche and Zambrano coming back. We need better play in the interior.
MadBird
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And not just the run game, that pocket starts collapsing and you got some problems passing the ball too - obvious to all of you students of the game.
One thing too, there's some new talent, but the number of returnees also shows that we had some youth out there last year. Get another year of experience for them. Zambrano and Pope are JR's, Bromagen and Gudaitis SO's this year, so were relatively young last year. So now lining up with 2 Jr's, and 3 Sr's in the starting 5.
One thing too, there's some new talent, but the number of returnees also shows that we had some youth out there last year. Get another year of experience for them. Zambrano and Pope are JR's, Bromagen and Gudaitis SO's this year, so were relatively young last year. So now lining up with 2 Jr's, and 3 Sr's in the starting 5.
+1, Ross looked good in the spring
Illinois State football sorting through offensive line options
Returners, transfers, improving youngsters vying for playing time.
fourthandshort
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this sounds really promising .. they seem to like their depth and versatility a lot. Hopefully it pans out. If it does and we do better job staying healthy, our offense will surprise a lot of people this fall.Fantastic article. Can't wait for September 2nd.Illinois State football sorting through offensive line options
Returners, transfers, improving youngsters vying for playing time.