I'm not been a Blake Hance fan if only for his poor-to-putrid pass blocking footwork that never truly improved over the course of the season. In NU's last 3 games in 2016, I boldly stated that Hance had regressed to the point where I personally speculated that he was damaged goods that should have been benched for a healthier sub. For an O-lineman who had started 21 games, his pass bolcking foundation looked like he was falling back on his high school-level techniques used against weaker, smaller competition - even against an over-matched Ill-annoy DL - which was an indicator that Blake was playing injured - and playing badly. Yet, his position coach, Adam Cushing, continuned to roll the performance dice and call on Hance to continue playing because no other OL had shown definitively that they were better than his hurting ROT starter at that point (again, pure opinion here). If subbing Hance in the 3rd pre-season practice in 2017 lights the proverbial fire under Blake's pads, then I'm all for it. For the 'Cats to improve to the next level offensively in 2017, it's an absolute imperrative to get more consistent & reliable pass blocking results from the ROT position.
