Tyler Steen To Alabama

[forumripper1]

Finally he commits to Alabama! Is he the starting left tackle right away, or will he have to compete for it? I heard he would only come to Bama if a starting position was guaranteed.

Tyler Steen, former Vanderbilt OL, announces SEC transfer destination

Tyler Steen is staying in the SEC!

www.saturdaydownsouth.com

 

[TiderJack]

Great to hear but no way he was guaranteed anything. He will compete but the guy has started 33 games at a SEC program so I think he has a leg up. I was worried about LT but feel better about it now, appears Kendall Randolph has been with the 1's most of the time this spring and just not sure he is the answer. Brockermeyer appears to not be ready yet. Steen will have 2 years of eligibility remaining.

 

[BearFoot]

Finally he commits to Alabama! Is he the starting left tackle right away, or will he have to compete for it? I heard he would only come to Bama if a starting position was guaranteed.

Tyler Steen, former Vanderbilt OL, announces SEC transfer destination

Tyler Steen is staying in the SEC!

www.saturdaydownsouth.com

Welcome to the forum Mr. Steen

 

[Evil Crimson Dragon]

I figured it would be this week…… weighing all his options

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

Finally he commits to Alabama! Is he the starting left tackle right away, or will he have to compete for it? I heard he would only come to Bama if a starting position was guaranteed.

Tyler Steen, former Vanderbilt OL, announces SEC transfer destination

Tyler Steen is staying in the SEC!

www.saturdaydownsouth.com

Coach Saban doesn't operate that way. NOBODY coming in is guaranteed a starting position unless they have earned it. Being that he has not yet put on a uniform and competed on OUR practice field, I really doubt that he was guaranteed anything except a fair chance.

 

[JustNeedMe81]

Saban didn't have to say anything. He just showed Steen the film from this past season and spring and just said, "Well when you ready, let me know."

 

[Tideflyer]

It`ll be mucho significant if he can hold his own against Anderson and Turner, even if that means breaking even since I strongly suspect that they`ll be the best in the conference if not all of college football. If he can do that...... would love to see a video of that!

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

It`ll be mucho significant if he can hold his own against Anderson and Turner, even if that means breaking even since I strongly suspect that they`ll be the best in the conference if not all of college football. If he can do that...... would love to see a video of that!

There aren't many pros that can do that... just sayin'.

 

[Tideflyer]

There aren't many pros that can do that... just sayin'.

I`m sure that`s true. That`s why it would be great if he can do it at least part of the time.

 

[bamafaninbham]

Finally he commits to Alabama! Is he the starting left tackle right away, or will he have to compete for it? I heard he would only come to Bama if a starting position was guaranteed.

Tyler Steen, former Vanderbilt OL, announces SEC transfer destination

Tyler Steen is staying in the SEC!

www.saturdaydownsouth.com

Obviously by the new member moniker you are new here. But are you also new to how Coach Saban operates? This is not the plains, this is not ole siss, this is not puke UT orange. That is not how things work at Bama under the best ever.

 

[forumripper1]

I know how coach Saban operates, he is the GOAT. I'm just sayin that Steen had other options, and schools that really wanted him. I know UCLA and Virginia were really courting him, and he pretty much would be guaranteed to start at both of those schools. He also could have the chance to play with his brother at UVA. He has 33 career starts in the SEC, that says a lot. We have so much talent at Oline, but they have very little experience. Steen can anchor the OLine at left tackle, and help teach the younger guys as well. I heard that Latham has been looking really good in the spring, and could lock down the starting RT position.

 

[Tideflyer]

Certainly players are brought in through the portal with the intent and expectation that they contribute and likely start. Having said that, I just don`t think it`s in CNS`s nature to " guarantee " anybody anything other than a fair opportunity.

 

[Guido]

We got lucky with Landon dickerson, what a great transfer he was, so i'm not expecting steen to have that kind of impact but how about 75 percent of what Landon was, that would be great. I know it's difficult to be a leader when you're the new guy, but tyler has been around for a while and this line is very young.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

The O-Line isn't young so much as it is under-achieving.

Left to right, you have in the spring:
LT -- Randolph. 6th year Senior
LG -- Cohen. Junior
C -- McLaughlin. 3rd year Sophomore
RG -- George. Junior
RT -- Latham -- Sophomore.

And that doesn't include a 5th year Senior (Ekiyor) and a 4th year Senior (Dalcourt) out for the spring.

Depending on how you account for Ekiyor and Dalcourt, that's between 17 and 20 years in the program across 5 positions.

I agree with JustNeedMe81 regarding the probable gist of Steen's recruitment -- turn on last year's OL film and say, "If you don't think you can beat this, you probably don't need to transfer at all."

The question I have is why we've underachieved so badly on the OL.

All of these guys were highly recruited. And sure, you're going to have some who don't live up to their recruiting hype -- that's just the nature of predicting human performance. But it seems that the significant majority haven't -- shoot, we've got players who were 4 and 5 stars coming out of HS who can't crack 2nd team, when 2nd team frankly isn't very good.

I'm not sure if it's coaching (note that Marrone is no longer on the staff), or talent evaluation, or something else. But we should be light-years better on the OL than we are. I'm hoping Steen and Coach Wolford help us get there.

 

[Evil Crimson Dragon]

The O-Line isn't young so much as it is under-achieving.

Left to right, you have in the spring:
LT -- Randolph. 6th year Senior
LG -- Cohen. Junior
C -- McLaughlin. 3rd year Sophomore
RG -- George. Junior
RT -- Latham -- Sophomore.

And that doesn't include a 5th year Senior (Ekiyor) and a 4th year Senior (Dalcourt) out for the spring.

Depending on how you account for Ekiyor and Dalcourt, that's between 17 and 20 years in the program across 5 positions.

I agree with JustNeedMe81 regarding the probable gist of Steen's recruitment -- turn on last year's OL film and say, "If you don't think you can beat this, you probably don't need to transfer at all."

The question I have is why we've underachieved so badly on the OL.

All of these guys were highly recruited. And sure, you're going to have some who don't live up to their recruiting hype -- that's just the nature of predicting human performance. But it seems that the significant majority haven't -- shoot, we've got players who were 4 and 5 stars coming out of HS who can't crack 2nd team, when 2nd team frankly isn't very good.

I'm not sure if it's coaching (note that Marrone is no longer on the staff), or talent evaluation, or something else. But we should be light-years better on the OL than we are. I'm hoping Steen and Coach Wolford help us get there.

Some misses on evaluation maybe, but I think coaching was a large part of it

 

[JustNeedMe81]

I truly believe it's the coaching. Marrone is good, but he just wasn't a good fit. If we continue to struggle.. Something is wrong.

 

[BhamToTexas]

Marrone was only there one year.

 

[Evil Crimson Dragon]

Marrone was only there one year.

True, but a lot can happen in that amount of time……… the new OL coach is highly regarded so given some time hopefully he can get it squared away

 

[gtgilbert]

The O-Line isn't young so much as it is under-achieving.

Left to right, you have in the spring:
LT -- Randolph. 6th year Senior
LG -- Cohen. Junior
C -- McLaughlin. 3rd year Sophomore
RG -- George. Junior
RT -- Latham -- Sophomore.

And that doesn't include a 5th year Senior (Ekiyor) and a 4th year Senior (Dalcourt) out for the spring.

Depending on how you account for Ekiyor and Dalcourt, that's between 17 and 20 years in the program across 5 positions.

I agree with JustNeedMe81 regarding the probable gist of Steen's recruitment -- turn on last year's OL film and say, "If you don't think you can beat this, you probably don't need to transfer at all."

The question I have is why we've underachieved so badly on the OL.

All of these guys were highly recruited. And sure, you're going to have some who don't live up to their recruiting hype -- that's just the nature of predicting human performance. But it seems that the significant majority haven't -- shoot, we've got players who were 4 and 5 stars coming out of HS who can't crack 2nd team, when 2nd team frankly isn't very good.

I'm not sure if it's coaching (note that Marrone is no longer on the staff), or talent evaluation, or something else. But we should be light-years better on the OL than we are. I'm hoping Steen and Coach Wolford help us get there.

I think the underachieving part is true for some, but not all.

Cohen and Ekiyor played pretty well last year for the most part. Over 14 games played, Cohen had 10 games with no sacks allowed, and 2 games with just a half sack. Ekiyor only gave up 2.5 sacks over his 15 starts.

Dalcourt fits the bill as underachiever - he gave up as many (or more) pressures and sacks at the OGs did combined, in fewer games played.

when McLaughlin came in, we were immediately better across the entire line. It's a smaller sample size, but across his starts and other PT jumping in for injured players, McLaughlin surrendered ZERO sacks.

KR - agree on underachieving, although he wasn't super highly rated and was projected as an OG, so maybe he is just is what he is.

Latham - if he starts at RT a sophmore, I'd say that is on schedule for a lot of our top tier line guys.

That said, I think we've not recruited as well on the OL as we could have. We've gotten several highly rated guys, Neal, Latham, Brockenmeyer, Wills, Leatherwood since 2017 (picked that since that was when KR signed), but otherwise a lot (not all) of guys on the roster now were lower 4 star guys instead of higher 4 star guys, plus we had some misses like Quick, and T Brown.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I think the underachieving part is true for some, but not all.

Cohen and Ekiyor played pretty well last year for the most part. Over 14 games played, Cohen had 10 games with no sacks allowed, and 2 games with just a half sack. Ekiyor only gave up 2.5 sacks over his 15 starts.

Dalcourt fits the bill as underachiever - he gave up as many (or more) pressures and sacks at the OGs did combined, in fewer games played.

when McLaughlin came in, we were immediately better across the entire line. It's a smaller sample size, but across his starts and other PT jumping in for injured players, McLaughlin surrendered ZERO sacks.

KR - agree on underachieving, although he wasn't super highly rated and was projected as an OG, so maybe he is just is what he is.

Latham - if he starts at RT a sophmore, I'd say that is on schedule for a lot of our top tier line guys.

That said, I think we've not recruited as well on the OL as we could have. We've gotten several highly rated guys, Neal, Latham, Brockenmeyer, Wills, Leatherwood since 2017 (picked that since that was when KR signed), but otherwise a lot (not all) of guys on the roster now were lower 4 star guys instead of higher 4 star guys, plus we had some misses like Quick, and T Brown.

Excellent information on the individuals. Thanks for the research.

I would say, though, that the OL is more of a single unit than a collection of five individuals. As a unit, the OL significantly under-achieved last year, and that was with Neal.

If the individuals are about on track, but the unit suffered, that would argue for coaching as the problem.

Agree that McLaughlin stabilized the line after the offensive near-debacle in Auburn, but I think the jury’s still out on him. He did well in the 2nd half of the Auburn game, in the SECCG, and the national semi-final. Not so much in the NCG. On the other hand, you have to give UGA credit for a great defense, so a lot of centers would have struggled. We’ll see how he develops in 2022.