I'm all for bringing in a guy or two if they are good and the staff sees a need. This is how I see the OL next year:
LT: SR McCree / RS-Soph Tafai / RS-Soph Jackett
LG: RS-Frosh Finau OR Portal
C: JR Hatchett / RS-Soph Henning
RG: SR Memmelar / RS-Frosh Watkins
RT: JR Azzopardi / RS-Soph Faasolo OR RS-Frosh Hylkema
At least to me, the unknowns are 1) how the staff feels about Finau developing and potentially being ready to start at LG. If they think he needs another year, bringing in a Junior or Senior in the portal to give him another year (while he runs at #2 LG as a RS-Frosh) would be ideal. 2) Whether or not they think Azzopardi will be able to take the next step after his first starting season in the B1G. 3) If a guy medically retires or transfers.
That is not good enough. They absolutely need 1 (preferably 2) portal studs at O line to be competitive. You're not going to have a shitty o line suddenly turn good just because they have a years experience.
Fuck you Vanilla!
Kalepo went from holding bags to getting bags from Mississippi. Below was benched his RS freshman year at tackle because he was awful. Guys do develop and get better. That said, I have no idea what the staff thinks about the kids on this roster. One? Two? Four? None? Only Carrol and Fish really know how many they’re looking at portalling in.
That's not really any different than this year where you had an OL that proved effectively that it isn't good enough
So the question is how does the OL get better?
Some of it is by younger players getting better
The other part of it is upgrade the talent
I'm fine with McCree, Tafai, and Faasolo fighting it out for a starting spot … I do wonder if there is a higher ceiling for the young guys inside instead of outside
Hatchett I'm willing to move to center and assume that another year removed from his injury will raise his level
I do think there's a good chance that Paki either starts next year or is part of the G rotation next year
Gaard walking just makes me think he's gone one way or the other … assuming he's out I'd like to get an experienced piece here to stabilize the interior
I've largely not been impressed by Azzopardi and think he's a below average B10 OT … I'd look to upgrade at T as I think it's the easiest spot to do so … look for a LT that can come in and then take those that have been playing LT this year and have them compete to be RTs next year (which is a slightly easier spot for what we had this year)
So what I'd go is as follows:
LT: Portal
LG: Paki/Portal
C: Hatchett
RG: Portal/Paki
RT: McCree/Tafai/Faasolo
6-8: 2 RT depth (move 1 of them into the interior) + Henning
All else being equal, I'd like to make sure that I'm pairing my LT/LG and RT/RG with experience and youth instead of having 1 side heavy experience and 1 side relative youth.
I think this gives you a good chance at elevating the play of your OL as well as ensuring that you have good depth to not only cover injuries but also transition into 2026 as well.
Looks like UW is flipping Austin Simmons from WSU. 6’5” 220lbs TE out of Oregon. Doesn’t have the athletic upside of ButtPloog but maybe PaoPao can make another Drew Sample type player out of him.
Yes, my theory is that he was highly coveted but then got way too heavy going into his senior season so most schools backed off because they want a guy ready to compete for a spot after redshirting. That is totally reasonable in today's win now CFB but Carroll knows he has a little more runway since they need to do what it takes to build the lines back up.
Seems to me the guys coming up from FCS are hard to project and frequently average at the very best. Would rather see guys from other major programs for the most part.
we? can’t afford guys from other programs. Assumption made on last year though the counter argument could be made that we only saw the attempt in the second period and the counterpoint to that could be they knew they were fucked on the line and should’ve spent as needed and the counter point to that would be… fuck the kids.
Comments
keep working the phones nacho!
I'm all for bringing in a guy or two if they are good and the staff sees a need. This is how I see the OL next year:
LT: SR McCree / RS-Soph Tafai / RS-Soph Jackett
LG: RS-Frosh Finau OR Portal
C: JR Hatchett / RS-Soph Henning
RG: SR Memmelar / RS-Frosh Watkins
RT: JR Azzopardi / RS-Soph Faasolo OR RS-Frosh Hylkema
At least to me, the unknowns are 1) how the staff feels about Finau developing and potentially being ready to start at LG. If they think he needs another year, bringing in a Junior or Senior in the portal to give him another year (while he runs at #2 LG as a RS-Frosh) would be ideal. 2) Whether or not they think Azzopardi will be able to take the next step after his first starting season in the B1G. 3) If a guy medically retires or transfers.
That is not good enough. They absolutely need 1 (preferably 2) portal studs at O line to be competitive. You're not going to have a shitty o line suddenly turn good just because they have a years experience.
Does a world exist where Hatchet portals back from Oklahoma?
Fuck you Vanilla!
Kalepo went from holding bags to getting bags from Mississippi. Below was benched his RS freshman year at tackle because he was awful. Guys do develop and get better. That said, I have no idea what the staff thinks about the kids on this roster. One? Two? Four? None? Only Carrol and Fish really know how many they’re looking at portalling in.
7.
It sure seems odd to me that you'd walk on Senior night and then come back
Reality is that the OL needs to improve versus this year
Is Gaard part of the solution to improving? I don't know the answer to that
That's not really any different than this year where you had an OL that proved effectively that it isn't good enough
So the question is how does the OL get better?
Some of it is by younger players getting better
The other part of it is upgrade the talent
I'm fine with McCree, Tafai, and Faasolo fighting it out for a starting spot … I do wonder if there is a higher ceiling for the young guys inside instead of outside
Hatchett I'm willing to move to center and assume that another year removed from his injury will raise his level
I do think there's a good chance that Paki either starts next year or is part of the G rotation next year
Gaard walking just makes me think he's gone one way or the other … assuming he's out I'd like to get an experienced piece here to stabilize the interior
I've largely not been impressed by Azzopardi and think he's a below average B10 OT … I'd look to upgrade at T as I think it's the easiest spot to do so … look for a LT that can come in and then take those that have been playing LT this year and have them compete to be RTs next year (which is a slightly easier spot for what we had this year)
So what I'd go is as follows:
LT: Portal
LG: Paki/Portal
C: Hatchett
RG: Portal/Paki
RT: McCree/Tafai/Faasolo
6-8: 2 RT depth (move 1 of them into the interior) + Henning
All else being equal, I'd like to make sure that I'm pairing my LT/LG and RT/RG with experience and youth instead of having 1 side heavy experience and 1 side relative youth.
I think this gives you a good chance at elevating the play of your OL as well as ensuring that you have good depth to not only cover injuries but also transition into 2026 as well.
Looks like UW is flipping Austin Simmons from WSU. 6’5” 220lbs TE out of Oregon. Doesn’t have the athletic upside of ButtPloog but maybe PaoPao can make another Drew Sample type player out of him.
Apparently this guy committed yesterday.
we? can’t afford him.
If his position coach has patience, and the kid has a work ethic, this kid could be serviceable in 2-3 yrs. Body types like that don’t grow on trees.
Yes, my theory is that he was highly coveted but then got way too heavy going into his senior season so most schools backed off because they want a guy ready to compete for a spot after redshirting. That is totally reasonable in today's win now CFB but Carroll knows he has a little more runway since they need to do what it takes to build the lines back up.
Would give us 4 kids out or Oregon this year, assuming we keep Stascausky
Seems to me the guys coming up from FCS are hard to project and frequently average at the very best. Would rather see guys from other major programs for the most part.
we? can’t afford guys from other programs. Assumption made on last year though the counter argument could be made that we only saw the attempt in the second period and the counterpoint to that could be they knew they were fucked on the line and should’ve spent as needed and the counter point to that would be… fuck the kids.
At least raid the MW conference.