I have heard from a bunch of folks about the lack of talent from the OL...is it REALLY lack of talent or is it coaching kids up?
I got to thinking...do Iowa and NW recruit better than us on the OL? I would find it hard to believe...
I then looked at the starters on both Iowa and Northwestern' offensive lineman, examined their years in their respective programs and their Rivals ranking. Here are the results:
IOWA
Meyers - LT - RS Soph Walk-on
Welsh - LG - RS Soph 3*
Blythe - C - RS Jr. 4*
Walsh - RG - RS Jr. 4*
Croston - RT - Jr. Walk-on
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Average Stars = About 2.5*
NORTHWESTERN
Hance - RS Frosh 3*
Mertz - SR. 3*
Park - JR. 3*
Frazier - SR. 3*
Olson - JR. 3*
--------------------------------------
Average Stars = 3.0*
PENN STATE
Palmer - JR. 4*
Mangiro - SR. 3*
Laurent - JR. 2*
Gaia - RS SOPH. 3*
Nelson - SOPH. 3*
----------------------------------------
Average Stars = 3.0*
Do we hear these other teams whining about their OLs? If so, they are still winning...
Can we agree we have comparable talent? So we just need to shut up and coach them up!
I got to thinking...do Iowa and NW recruit better than us on the OL? I would find it hard to believe...
I then looked at the starters on both Iowa and Northwestern' offensive lineman, examined their years in their respective programs and their Rivals ranking. Here are the results:
IOWA
Meyers - LT - RS Soph Walk-on
Welsh - LG - RS Soph 3*
Blythe - C - RS Jr. 4*
Walsh - RG - RS Jr. 4*
Croston - RT - Jr. Walk-on
------------------------------------------
Average Stars = About 2.5*
NORTHWESTERN
Hance - RS Frosh 3*
Mertz - SR. 3*
Park - JR. 3*
Frazier - SR. 3*
Olson - JR. 3*
--------------------------------------
Average Stars = 3.0*
PENN STATE
Palmer - JR. 4*
Mangiro - SR. 3*
Laurent - JR. 2*
Gaia - RS SOPH. 3*
Nelson - SOPH. 3*
----------------------------------------
Average Stars = 3.0*
Do we hear these other teams whining about their OLs? If so, they are still winning...
Can we agree we have comparable talent? So we just need to shut up and coach them up!
