At the NU Coaches press conference downtown
- Thread starter lou v
- Start date
Here is the video.....
Buried in Fitz's comments is him saying "I can tell 2019 and 2020 recruits I'll be the coach and these coaches will be here too". No changes planned!
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No surprise here. At this stage, Fitz personally owns the OL performance. Let's watch and see whether the OL performs adequately -- let alone well-- going forward. No changes planned ...... but may still happen. Loyalty is one thing; obstinacy is another.
Through observing at the games, I'm not a big fan of the OL coach and it's hard for me to vision any top OL wanting to play for him. I hear he is a really nice super guy and that's great, so I mean I am not a fan of his because I have seen no evidence of expected production or advancing a young man's potential and career. Not sure what he lacks, but it obviously has affected Fitz' ability to recruit "Top" OL. Even top OL who love NU have admitted they simply have to go elsewhere. Voltz family was a season ticket holder.
I certainly wouldn't want to end my OL career here if I could pass college to the NFL. In 12 years, there simply isn't any evidence that this program can make that happen. Some "Top" 4 stars or 5 stars have tried, like Ward, but their careers stalled and they simply weren't adequately prepared for the NFL. I'm not suggesting to fire Cushing and I don't have the answer, I'm just sayin that it isn't happening right now and I'm not really excited about the OL even though we have 4 starters coming back. Is it manageable? Yes, in college, you can get by with a half baked OL to get to a bowl game if you have a decent defense. And the OL isn't awful. Fitz does bring in 3 stars that are suppose to have some potential. But we have seen that we simply don't have the horses or hogs up front to move or plow against a Tennessee, Michigan, etc. Can we win a division with these sorta OL? Well, we haven't been able to but maybe we can come close if we get some lucky breaks.
That said, I fully admit I could be wrong and there may be other things at play. I felt that Thorson didn't help the OL out at all 2 years ago, although he seemed more comfortable in the pocket last year. And we don't spread the field to help neutralize the OL deficiency but still Jackson found enough room to lead the Big10. But I am uncomfortable giving credit to the OL for Jackson's performance, should I? I fully admit I could be biased against the OL due to perception. Just seems in the games that matter, we are boys up front against men on the DL and have a seriously hard time moving the ball at all, and lack protection skills.
I'm certainly not going to say NU has had wonderful offensive lines the past few years, and pass protection has been especially spotty (although WR play and QB recognition might account for part of that), but we come into the season with a running back who has more than 4,000 yards rushing, including a 220-yard effort in his last game. JJ is good, but somebody had to throw a block or two to get him to that point.
Well maybe a look at Crushing's resume might give a hint as to why the OL fails to progress. Also ,remember there will be an additional coach coming on board next season, so keep "nice guy" Cushing, who's also supposedly a pretty good recruiter, move him into a Special Teams or Superback coach and bring in a top flight OL guy. Maybe look at Wisconsin or Io-a's staff.
I am truly happy with the news of the contract extension, but I go forth knowing that we may need to settle for a division title once every 15 years or so, and consistent 7-8 win seasons with occasional good and bad outliers, and the only way Cushing leaves is due to his or Fitz's retirement.
While I am not satisfied with the performance of the OL, some of it might be because of changes in philosophy and being out of step with the guys we have. We have not had any 5 star linemen and Ward was the highest at 4 star. And while he was great for us, not sure he had the foot speed for NFL.
I don't buy complaints about the OL coaches being the problem. I remember when Jerry Brown was the problem with the secondary and poster calling for his head. now that we have better recruits and DL putting pressure , Jerry has become a great coach. Let's get recruiting and stop complaining about coaching
False. Some people called for Brown's head. Others knew he was an accomplished position coach in the NFL and had led the #1 secondary in the country before. Cushing? What has he ever done? Look at the respective resumes. Totally, totally different.
Don't really remember all of the calls for his head and after all he was an OC for Eastern Michigan. Also must remember that he has taught Sutton and JJTBC how to be 100 per game RB's.
There were a lot of folks wanting him fired during the Fields/Concannon days.
MacPherson was also EMU's safeties coach, not OC. His only coordinator experience is as DC at D-3 Kenyon and OC for DePauw's JV team.
Compare Sutton's number before and after Mac. I'm not personally a Mac fan because I think JJTBC was going to be a star no matter where he played, but the fact that Mac was in the conversation for the WMU job reminds me that I don't really know what I'm talking about and I'm mature enough to admit it
Can we at least wait a few games into the season before the "Fire Cushing" bandwagon gets rolling again? The line played much better as the season progressed (granted, could not be much worse after ISU) and at this point, we don't really know anything new. Vogel or Sgt. Klock will be the starter at RT, it seems, barring injury, so let's see how they play for a few games.
If our 4 returning starters stink it up, then we can go to Cushing's house with fire brands and pitchforks. Heck, I'll bring some beer and a rope.
Agree. And that was the point of my post. Let's watch and see whether, with stability and some "competitive depth," the OL can improve its performance. With four returning starters, the OL should be decent this year. If that level of performance does not materialize, however, then the HC/OC need to reassess the status quo.
I'm sort of hoping for that 10th coach to be someone who can address the issues. If it is a development problem, couldn't it take a couple of seasons to build the unit up strength wise? These big guys don't get from 18- 21 years old over night strength wise.
I think OL recruiting went "too developmental," giving up too much on initial size for "growth potential." Also think we have had too many nice guys in the OL room lately.
That is interesting. Attitude would also contribute to development in the weight room. So If I'm hearing you right we were a little undersized to begin with and lacked a it of a mean streak.
My original question still stands. Won't that take a couple of years to turn around?
Yes, but I think we've already started seeing the changes for a couple years now. The recent OL classes have pretty markedly shown a shift toward bringing in bigger guys, especially since the 2016 class (though Otterman also came in with pretty good size in 2015; Thomas and Lemke-Bell were more the "true project" type).
EDIT: Klock is also an interesting way to add "competitive depth" from a guy who's been on a P5 SC a program for a while.
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I can't wait to see Klock on the field. If only for the novelty and story line. I like that a guy can put in his time and for at least one year shop his wares around. In some cases it would be like the vassal working his way to freedom.
GCG, could this also be due to a shift occurring in basic offensive philosophy ? i.e., McCall's background ( if I recall correctly ) is more geared to an option offense with a true dual threat QB and so the OL need is for more mobile OL, as opposed to what now looks like a more tradional B1G West offense with road graders and a "Pro style" QB?
No one really knows (yet) if Cushing is a Jerry Brown or a Greg Colby. The results would indicate the latter, but I think this season will be telling in many ways. And by the way, it was Fitz who pulled the trigger on canning Colby, so he has shown that he will do it if he thinks it's necessary.
McCall's background/scheme is predicated toward a ball control passing game. He's shown the ability to work a mobile QB into the run game, but, in my opinion, that's less critical than a QB who can consistently make the short, timing-based throws that move the chains in McCall's offense.
I have wondered this also many times. We used to talk a lot about recruiting smaller quicker linemen on purpose. Specific linemen for the spread offense. After Colter and Persa we no longer had that same mobile QB behind the smaller more mobile linemen. Alviti didn't supplant Simeon and Thorson, who fits the Simeon model, had the better arm. The current older members of the line were recruited more for the Alviti style QB and where it may be in some fashion still a spread offense, we don't use the option or the rolling pocket in the same way we used to. Our spread is very different looking to me than it was. Our QBs are still pretty mobile guys but we don't move them around like we used to and they get sacked and banged up a lot.
Both Persa and Colter could, and did, scramble out of collapsing pockets....Siemian and Thorson not as shifty and elusive.
It seems like 1500 of those yards are JJ's innate ability to always get an extra step in and fall forward when met at the mine of scrimmage due to missed blocks.
OL opened some nice holes vs. Illini and Pitt. Pass protection wasn't terrible either. Olsen was definitely a weak link but he is gone. I'm looking for a much better performance from the get-go from the offense this year, especially with the sold experience we have at the skill positions. If we don't see that, maybe we plug in an OL coach as the tenth member of the staff come January.
Perhaps, not. But, that's not really the bar right now if we're just trying to see some improvement. Basically, just picking up a random guy from the street who knows nothing about football, might be enough to generate some improvement. My mother is retired and available. She seemed to have a knack for kicking my ass if I couldn't do what I was supposed to and I suppose that's enough of a qualification at this point in time.
Surely, there is an equivalent to an automatic tennis ball machine solution to the OL. It seems to have done wonders for the WR unit the last year when they purchased and deployed a few. Maybe investing in a few monster truck tires, and making them throw those around like they do in those strength competitions will do the trick.
