A good O-line: what does it take?

[raptorcj]

 

recruiting and emphasis on recruiting big men up front

 

we never had either

 

usf never had a salesman running the football program

 

usf has always underachieved

and we need a qb...

...and it's all judy's fault.

[NewEnglandBull]

Money

[Paisa el Toro]

We've had some pretty good offensive lines under CJL. The main problem for us has generally been not enough depth and experience at the same time. Injuries to one or two OL makes it very difficult to adequately replace. The most important thing to replace is cohesiveness as a unit. One OL not doing his job properly ruins it for everyone else.

I never thought they were good. I thought the o-lines under Leavitt overachieved for being mostly walk-ons. Recruiting o-line players didn't seem like as much of a priority under CJL as it seems to be for CWT. I'm hoping that this year provides us the most depth and experience we've had at USF in this position.

[SANJAY]

We've had some pretty good offensive lines under CJL. The main problem for us has generally been not enough depth and experience at the same time. Injuries to one or two OL makes it very difficult to adequately replace. The most important thing to replace is cohesiveness as a unit. One OL not doing his job properly ruins it for everyone else.

I never thought they were good. I thought the o-lines under Leavitt overachieved for being mostly walk-ons. Recruiting o-line players didn't seem like as much of a priority under CJL as it seems to be for CWT. I'm hoping that this year provides us the most depth and experience we've had at USF in this position.

I think the OL recruiting was a priority, but the results lacked. Part of that is the OL coaches just were not good recruiters. Combine that with whiffing on a bunch of guys academically it created a problem. I think the 2006 OL class had 5 guys sign but only 1 lasted longer than a year. Another part is that the OL takes 3 years to develop and that 2006 class would have been the upper classmen in 2009 but instead we had walk-ons, young guys and jucos.

[SANJAY]

To answer the title of the thread, if we get 4 solid 3 star guys a year and keep them in strength and conditioning for 3 years we should have a decent to above average line. But it will take time to develop. I expect that our OL this year will start developing and growing as the young guys we have are athletically talented they just need experience.

[Mama_Bull]

Well if this is any indication things are looking up:

 

Tampa-Tampa- Panama City’s 3-star RT Christion Gainer (6’6, 285) commits to the Bulls.

 

“USF is a great school,†Gainer said. “Committing to the Bulls just felt right.’’

 

Gainer made his pledge to the USF last Saturday. It’s a huge commitment for the Bulls as they keep shoring up the need of lineman.

 

Gainer has great listings and upside.

 

Gainer chose USF over Florida, Miami, NC State and North Carolina.

 

He has his own thread on the recruiting board, for more info.

[Mama_Bull]

 

We've had some pretty good offensive lines under CJL. The main problem for us has generally been not enough depth and experience at the same time. Injuries to one or two OL makes it very difficult to adequately replace. The most important thing to replace is cohesiveness as a unit. One OL not doing his job properly ruins it for everyone else.

I never thought they were good. I thought the o-lines under Leavitt overachieved for being mostly walk-ons. Recruiting o-line players didn't seem like as much of a priority under CJL as it seems to be for CWT. I'm hoping that this year provides us the most depth and experience we've had at USF in this position.

 

 

The era of Sarosi, Frank Davis (played in NFL), Heron, and a couple of other OL was probably our best OL.

 

"The offensive line is young, and the only area that was depleted from graduation. Lost were starters Fitts, Sparrowhawk, and Snellgrove. In their place are Newton (replacing Sparrowhawk at guard, started 3 games as a true freshman), Frank Davis (quicker, stronger, and slightly bigger than Snellgrove, although Snellgrove had better footwork), and Houston. The returning starters are Sarosi (started all 11 games at tackle, and at 6-6, 305 is developing into one of the best tackles in the South as a sophomore); the other starter is Herron at center, another young talent who started eight games at center as a redshirt freshman. During his tenure at center there were no snapping issues and the team yielded zero sacks against Pittsburgh when Herron was calling the line assignments. This year Herron returns bigger, stronger, and more experienced. Expect the offensive line to start slow, but the experience and talents of Herron, Newton, and especially Sarosi should carry the front line to loftier expectations."

 

http://www.nationalchamps.net/NCAA/2002Preseason/southflorida.htm

[USFbulls24]

Need to develop players like the Leavitt era. We're never going to have the most talent in America at any position. Just have to develop the players we do have.

[George_Bullnard_Shaw]

Need to develop players like the Leavitt era. We're never going to have the most talent in America at any position. Just have to develop the players we do have.

 

Truth.

 

I fear that player development is the Achilles heel of Taggart and his coaches.

[Mama_Bull]

Need to develop players like the Leavitt era. We're never going to have the most talent in America at any position. Just have to develop the players we do have.

 

The best example of that is Frank Davis. CJL brought from Panama after he just started he  to play football. At the time, Davis didn't even have shoes to fit his feet when playing. Under Leavitt he developed enough to end up starting in the NFL for a few years.