Question: O-line opinion from people that have seen them live

bigjue24

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Dec 2, 2009
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I know we have quite a few people on Tidefans connected with the A-Club and booster organizations that have had some access to the scrimmages, and I saw where CNS talked about the O-line not being physical enough. Is this comment a result of the D-Line that they are playing against or can we expect problems in establishing the line of scrimmage and drive blocking teams? I'm really more concerned with the group we expect to see start the season against WVU. I know the younger guys have to learn and develop. Any "insider info" would be appreciated. RTR
 

twofbyc

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Oct 14, 2009
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No insider info, but one of the linemen reportedly was not happy after watching film of Saturday's scrimmage, and hearing CNS' comments about O line play. So maybe they will crank it up a notch this week.
I think it would be a mistake to think going against Bama's front 7 will be easy for anybody, and with Bama's O line needing to gel, there should by all rights be an advantage for the defense. I think they will be OK. JMO
 
It's hard to gauge what's going on here. The OL was my main concern going in to this year. I wonder if they just didn't like what they see and it can be correctable. I wonder if our DL is just that good, or maybe even a bit of both. We will see I guess. I sure don't want to see what I saw last year. I"m hoping CNS is just talking to them out in public to put a spark to them or something.
 

Bamabuzzard

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The OL play will be under the microscope this season (at least by me it will). This is the second year of the new blocking scheme so it should be much better rooted than last year. If we struggle again this season then eyebrows could start to raise.
 

B1GTide

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Apr 13, 2012
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The OL play will be under the microscope this season (at least by me it will). This is the second year of the new blocking scheme so it should be much better rooted than last year. If we struggle again this season then eyebrows could start to raise.
Agreed - I am an O-line guy because of my history and your o-line last year not only made too many mistakes, but they were not as physical at the point of attack as previous teams under Saban. Obviously you lost a coach and 3 key players from the previous team, but I was surprised at the drop-off.
 

JustNeedMe81

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I think it was more of a personal depth chart behind the guys. Brown and Jackson were out for few weeks, and I think that affected their O-line. Now that both are back this week, I would expect the OL to be more physical this week. I'm not really concerned about OL right now, because Saban has been happy with the progress they had made going into the fall camp and all.... I think going against our D every day, if you can at least manage to do decent job against D, then that tells me both sides of the ball will be a beast to deal with for this year.
 

TrampLineman

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I think once Dominick Jackson and Leon Brown get it together and if Shank Taylor produces they could be a good group. I think our D-Line is just that improved as well.
 

GrayTide

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The OL play will be under the microscope this season (at least by me it will). This is the second year of the new blocking scheme so it should be much better rooted than last year. If we struggle again this season then eyebrows could start to raise.
This is exactly why right now, before the season starts, I see us losing 2 games. Something doesn't seem right with our OL and it is not obvious whether it is over rating of the recruits or coaching. I realize that the OL is the most difficult position to learn, but we supposedly have an excellent staff and talent; so as buzz said, this year should tell us a lot.
 

CrimsonForce

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This is exactly why right now, before the season starts, I see us losing 2 games. Something doesn't seem right with our OL and it is not obvious whether it is over rating of the recruits or coaching. I realize that the OL is the most difficult position to learn, but we supposedly have an excellent staff and talent; so as buzz said, this year should tell us a lot.
Just curious which two games?
 

bama0610

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Dec 6, 2006
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An interesting excerpt from this article: Alabama's O-line looks to bond even more

To do that, Alabama's offensive line tried to move faster this spring. Under new offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, speed has increased for lineman before snaps. Instead of lumbering to the line to make checks and adjust to the defense, redshirt junior center Ryan Kelly said offensive linemen have been running to get set and make calls earlier before the snap.

"That way we can at least be set before we want send motions or figure out what the defense is doing," Kelly said. "It's kind of speeding up the offense, but it's also helping us have more time and put us in better situations."
 

mittman

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Jun 19, 2009
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This is what I think will shake out as the best 5 and my concerns:

LT - Cam Robinson - Freshman, but nothing other than the fact he has no experience However, he seems to have come in and impressed enough to get a ton of reps with the 1's if he has not locked up the position entirely.
LG - Arie Kouandjio - he didn't exactly look great last year, but I actually think he will be one of the strengths this year.
C - Ryan Kelly - It is kind of hard to tell how much the injuries last year really had to do with his play. What is behind the fact that he seems to always talk about communication?
RG - Alphonse Taylor - From what I have been hearing he has been doing very well.
RT - Austin Shepherd - From what I have been hearing he has emerged as a vocal leader.

It appears that any others that possibly would have broken in as a top 5 guy have been dealing with injuries. I have been hearing that the chemistry is starting to come together, but there is no way of knowing until they are in the heat of a battle. Again, Kelly still seems to talk about communication an awful lot. I am not sure if he means that players were not doing what they were told, not knowing the checks, not knowing what to do when a check happens or what. Just the fact that he has said that multiple times gives me some pause.

With all that said, I believe we will have a very good OL this year. It may not be the best unit on our team, but I don't see them being so bad as to cost us losses.
 

Bamabuzzard

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Just curious which two games?
We could lose to LSU, aTm, Ole Miss,, Auburn, Florida and if the hype turns out to be true about Prescott and the Miss St defense, then we could lose to them. Football games aren't won on talent alone. They are won by teams that play the best on that day. It is definitely not out of the realm of possibility that our QB situation doesn't turn how we think it will (be it Blake or Coker) and the Oline doesn't much improve from last year. At that point we've got major problems.

Granted we THINK, WE HOPE the QB situations works itself out and the Oline has improved from last year. But it is not a guarantee. These teams aren't slouches. They are filled with SEC talent that if given the opportunity can beat anybody on any given day. To think that it is impossible for us to lose to anybody on our schedule this season is naive.
 

TRU

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I agree. 2012 = one of the most dominant lines in Tide history. 2013 = problems with half the line returning from 2012. The difference? A new coach and new scheme. The data points to an obvious conclusion as to the cause of the dropoff. I agree that this year will tell if last year was just a hiccup or there is a real problem. If there is a problem, I suspect that CNS will have a new OL coach early in 2015.
 

trenda

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I agree. 2012 = one of the most dominant lines in Tide history. 2013 = problems with half the line returning from 2012. The difference? A new coach and new scheme. The data points to an obvious conclusion as to the cause of the dropoff. I agree that this year will tell if last year was just a hiccup or there is a real problem. If there is a problem, I suspect that CNS will have a new OL coach early in 2015.
Crossing my fingers; but not holding my breath . . .
 

twofbyc

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mm said what I think - I don't think the O-line will face a d any better than the one it goes against in practice; I don't see it costing Bama any games, with the rb's and wr's on the team.
If Bama loses, I think it will be on the d (or special teams), and I don't see that happening either. JMO, and we all know on any given Saturday....
 

Moro Creek

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I agree. 2012 = one of the most dominant lines in Tide history. 2013 = problems with half the line returning from 2012. The difference? A new coach and new scheme. The data points to an obvious conclusion as to the cause of the dropoff. I agree that this year will tell if last year was just a hiccup or there is a real problem. If there is a problem, I suspect that CNS will have a new OL coach early in 2015.
I do not think it is a coach problem.
 

GrayTide

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Just curious which two games?
Let me re-phrase by saying I could see the possibility of losing two games if the OL shows no improvement over last year. The two most obvious would be LSU and auburn. I realize we have a wealth of talent, but most SEC schools have improved their talent level as well. As many have said on here, we simply cannot rely on our defense to win every game the offense has to do its part and that starts, IMO, with the offensive line.
 

CrimsonForce

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Let me re-phrase by saying I could see the possibility of losing two games if the OL shows no improvement over last year. The two most obvious would be LSU and auburn. I realize we have a wealth of talent, but most SEC schools have improved their talent level as well. As many have said on here, we simply cannot rely on our defense to win every game the offense has to do its part and that starts, IMO, with the offensive line.
Yea I agree. I feel like we basically have a two game season with LSU and AU. I think we just have to much talent for the other teams to hang with us, even if we play a couple of bad games.
 

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