Could Andrew Olesh be a wideout and play this fall?

[tboyer]

What is Olesh's 40? 4.5?

I haven't seen but based on high school film he would be in that range. Same kind of athlete as Colston Loveland. Runs like a smaller man. Short strider, like a running back. Thing is, if you're 6-5 with long arms and ball skills, you don't need to be faster than corners. You can give the QB 12 inches of target that the corner can't reach. Or at the sideline you can do back shoulder catches and the corner is basically stuck at your waist and can't defend unless they pull your arms down.

 

[tboyer]

Juwan Johnson played WR for us and is now a TE in the NFL. Maybe Troy Drayton did the same?

Good pt, Drayton was a very early example of this prototype. Johnson had all the tools, should have been a monster at PSU, just kind of lost his confidence for a season -- the wideout coaching was a mess at that time.

 

[ryoder1]

I haven't seen but based on high school film he would be in that range. Same kind of athlete as Colston Loveland. Runs like a smaller man. Short strider, like a running back. Thing is, if you're 6-5 with long arms and ball skills, you don't need to be faster than corners. You can give the QB 12 inches of target that the corner can't reach. Or at the sideline you can do back shoulder catches and the corner is basically stuck at your waist and can't defend unless they pull your arms down.

I think the only way this would fly with Olesh and his parents is to say we are going to use you all over the field like a Travis Kelce. Another poster mentioned this. So you will line up in the slot more like a WR, as a tight end and whatever else. Maybe try him on the outside as well. Tell him we want to use your athletic ability to get you the ball in different creative ways, blah, blah, blah. You can't just go to him and say we are weak at WR and need you there. If he has any sense he knows that the WR group is a total unknown for us. Poor production and a coach on shaky ground who has proven nothing in developing talent. Would need to assure him he would still be part of the TE room and will benefit from that coaching. Not sure of he could be a hybrid guy and participate in both rooms. I guess you could target having him fill out to about 230 and be a lighter TE.

 

[indynittany]

He doesn't need to be the top pass catcher to contribute. ONE catch can win a game.

With a minute left to win a game do you want Clifford or oLESH going up for a jump ball?

Neither. I think Reynolds is the man.

 

[voltz99]

Neither. I think Reynolds is the man.

Warren played in all the losses this year.

 

[indynittany]

Warren played in all the losses this year.

Missing your point.

#85, IMO, is really athletic. I think he’s going to breakout this season.

 

[ryoder1]

Missing your point.

#85, IMO, is really athletic. I think he’s going to breakout this season.

He won't be Warren of this season. And we still need a WR or two to emerge and give us significant better production than last year. I think Reynolds is great also but he is a tight end.

 

[KnightWhoSaysNit]

This situation is exactly why the OC needs to adapt his offense to the 11 best available. If that means a lot of plays with 3 tight ends then so be it.

To me when you have two backs like Allen and Singleton, AND considering their north/south running styles, a 3 tight end set makes a lot of sense. It would then lend itself to a more elaborate short-passing attack by shifting the tight ends wide or into the backfield.

We are in desperate need of a ball control offense rather than this quick-strike "explosive play" dream that Franklin seems to covet. We lose games against the better teams by having our defense wear out. We are not deep defensively and have gaps that need to be filled as it is.

Time of possession is key. Coach AK MUST consider a ball-control grind-it-out type of offense that will really utilizes the TE/RB and OL strength that is available -- for the betterment of the entire team, most especially the defense. And please -- forget about this hurry-up stuff. Use that when it makes sense at the end of a half.

Now get to work rewriting the playbook. Let's be smart for a change. PSU is now Tight End U.

 

[PSUWrestlingFanSince2011]

In concept it certainly is feasible but in all practicality I don't see it. Jurevicious was never a TE first of all. Also I think it is a bit of a pipe dream to think a HS tight end can come out of high school and magically transform into a solid starting WR in the B10 as a freshman, 8 months later. Plus this would be a huge deal for him. He has to essentially give up bulking up to be a TE and then what happens at the end of the season? He goes back to TE? He's way behind then. TE is his meal ticket, he and his family don't want to muck that up.

Why is he a HS TE? He was a WR in high school.

 

[PSU20]

What is Olesh's 40? 4.5?

Jerry Rice was a 4.7 Lasted until the last pick in rd #1 because all the other nit wit GM's thought he was not fast enough. Put pads and a helmet on some of these 4.4 guys and see what they run.