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thoughts about our offensive line.

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finsgonewild

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we have one of the best offensive line coaches in the game who can turn no names into great players. :cooldude: We have the talent on the offensive line. I would say we have even more talent than San Diego had last season. Houck does have his work cut :o out for him but he is working with a lot of talented players not properly coached. Maybe he can do something with Wade Smith and/or Taylor Whitley(if he can do anything with him, houck is a savior:)). Saban signing Stockar McDougle is an upgrade to our line. :cooldude: Hopefully he can move to RG so Hadnot can play center. Carey should start at LT next year. DMAC was awful last season. :shakeno: Carey needs to get on the field and he would also bring youth and power to a position that is one of the hardest in football to play.
 
all i know is we had the youngest O-line in the NFL last season so better coaching, training, and experience should make them better. How much I don't know.
 
finsgonewild said:
we have one of the best offensive line coaches in the game who can turn no names into great players. :cooldude: We have the talent on the offensive line. I would say we have even more talent than San Diego had last season. Houck does have his work cut :o out for him but he is working with a lot of talented players not properly coached. Maybe he can do something with Wade Smith and/or Taylor Whitley(if he can do anything with him, houck is a savior:)). Saban signing Stockar McDougle is an upgrade to our line. :cooldude: Hopefully he can move to RG so Hadnot can play center. Carey should start at LT next year. DMAC was awful last season. :shakeno: Carey needs to get on the field and he would also bring youth and power to a position that is one of the hardest in football to play.
Click to expand...

Very good observations if you ask me....

After Wanny left, the line changed to using an occassional zone blocking scheme, and it paid off. This was one of the younger groups, that had never played together before so the man on man scheme was killing them. The zone gave them a brother to trust, and clearly pulled them closer together as a unit at a much faster pace than, always playing on your own island, in the zone.

This line has plenty of unseen talent, now lets hope that Houck's the man at bringing it out...
 
Let's see, Houck is proposing the following:

LT McIntosh, Carey, St. Clair
LG James, E. Wilson
C Mckinney, Wade Smith, Hadnot, St. Clair
RG Hadnot, Whitney,
RT McDougal, St. Clair, Carey

Of course we have the unknown FA's
Then we have the draft.

Out of all this shuffling, there has to be a solid 5, so I'm more hopeful about this OL than I've been in about 4 years.

Our OLine can be

LT Carey
LG James
C W. Smith - I really think McKinney will start again.
RG St. Clair
RT McDougle

Backups, Hadnot, McIntosh, Pape, Draft pick, I hope Whitney gets cut, a waste
 
MDFINFAN said:
Out of all this shuffling, there has to be a solid 5, so I'm more hopeful about this OL than I've been in about 4 years.

Our OLine can be

LT Carey
LG James
C W. Smith - I really think McKinney will start again.
RG St. Clair
RT McDougle

Backups, Hadnot, McIntosh, Pape, Draft pick, I hope Whitney gets cut, a waste
Click to expand...
Perfect imo! Macintosh could be the swing tackle since hes played both RT/LT at this level and hadnot can play the interior OL with McKinney being able to do the same.
 
I would like to see..

LT: McIntosh
LG: James
C: St. Clair, Smith or Hadnot
RG: Carey
RT: McDougle

as our starting line up with the centres being backups and competing for jobs.
 
I don't know but it is posted in other threads that he is going to be tried there, he does have all the physical attributes to play, he doesn't need that extra weight he put on and he can play at 295-300. Has good height for the position, upper body strength isn't really that greater issue, has good leg drive and has quick feet. He just needs to be taught better technique and how to make good calls at the line of scrimmage. But I hope that St. Clair starts there, he played good last year and is versatile and is smart also, I think he could be a good centre for us in the coming years if he gets the chance to start.
 
Don't expect Houck to turn these guys into an eventual good line. Remember in San Diego Houck overturned the entire line. He got a journeyman to come in and play tackle. Drafted his LG the first year he was there. Played 2 rookies this year and played a vet at RG. Only their LG played ever played there more then one year. So basically he couldn't do anything with the players there and managed to luck out with a couple low round draft choices and a couple vets brought in via FA.
 
I think a lot of people are overlooking Carey's potential to play LT. If HH and Saban believe hes got the goods to man the spot, I tend to think so as well. At worst hes still faster than D-MAC, so I dont think that meancing pass rushers will be a problem. He will have to learn the nuances of the position, but that is where HH will really earn his paycheck.

I can see a starting five of:

LT:Carey
LG: Jeno
C: Wade Smith
RG: Hadnot
RT: Mcdougle

I can also see Hadnot getting a shot at Center and drafting a second day linemen to compete for the RG position.
 
The Center is the leader of the line....and is almost as hard of a position to play as QB having to read the opposing D, make line calls, protection / zone adjustments, pick up blitzers etc. Smith couldn't even pick up a one man rush on his side let alone need to recognize strong safeties coming up in a 4/3 or which LB in a 3/4 is going to blitz, which way the line should pull and all that fun stuff.

For the record, the only one on the team at the time who had quicker feet (after agility testing) was McKnight if I'm not mistaken. Smith is extremely strong and his biggest 'problems' at playing LT was size and technique (which he didn't get down after a year and lost his spot in the 2nd year).

In the end...my point being Smith doesn't have what it takes to be a C....(also scored a 23 I think on the Wonderlic if I remember correctly).
 
wade smith cannot do any worse than mckinney has done at our center position. mckinney has been if not the worst offensive linemen we had last season. Wade smith on the other hand has the pysical gifts and speed to play the position. Everytime Wade Smith played against slow but strong defensive ends, he played good. When he played against fast defensive ends he had trouble(Dwight Freeney) :rolleyes:. At center he will not have to deal with those fast defensive ends as much as the strong defensive tackles. Wade Smith also is much stronger than Mckinney. He can actually push the defenders back. I think Wade Smith might have some trouble adjusting to the scheme of the new position. He has the luxury of working with other offensive linemen however, he needs to give commands for the line(which Mckinney cannot do).

...Another position that I want to get competition at is LG. Jeno James has not impressed me at all from last season. He was great when he played with Carolina, but last season was a different story. No one on this offensive line should be guaranteed a starting spot. I do not care how much money he is making. Every position on this offensive line seems to have competition at except for LG. Competion brings out the best of players. We need the best from Jeno James for our line to be succesful.
 
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