OL Issues/Recruiting

[Fishhead]

I think we all agree the OL is not good/bad.  I'd venture to say had O not been able to convince Deculus, Shanahan, and Ingram to come back this year, we would look even worse...probably catastrophically so, like 0-8 SEC record bad. 

Let's review our recruiting and development.

2017

Deculus
Ingram
Seth Stewart
Saahdiq Charles

Deculus, Ingram, and of course Saahdiq turned out to be good recruits that were developed enough to the point they all won a championship and a Joe Moore award.  Yes, I believe Clyde and Joe deserve a chunk of that award, but they have proven to be productive and in fact good.
Seth Stewart...no clue who he is, I don't believe he's still on the team.  It should be noted Stewart and Deculus were recruited at tackles, Charles and Ingram as guards.  Stewart, who knows?  But the other 3 are actually all guards, Deculus just happens to be playing tackle at LSU.

2018

Chasen Hines
Badara Traore
Dare Rosenthal
Cam Wire
Cole Smith
Damien Lewis

So, let's review.  
Damien Lewis obviously was a good get.  He starts in the NFL now.  
Funny thing about Rosenthal and Hines is that neither was actually recruited at OL.  They were DL prospects that we had to move.  It worked out with Rosenthal but he plays for Kentucky now.  He's good too.  
Hines has contributed, but mostly early in his career.  He hasn't played this season and was not much of a contributor last year or 2019.
Cam Wire is contributing thanks to Rosenthal's issues staying eligible last year and departure this year shortly before the season.
No clue who Cole Smith is, doubt he's with the team.

2019

Kardell Thomas
Ray Parker
Anthony Bradford
Thomas Perry
Charles Turner

Kardell was injured and overweight before the season started, and has never contributed, although he was very highly rated. 
Parker moved to TE for a minute, I believe he left the team at some point.
Bradford hasn't contributed
Perry hasn't contributed
Turner finally got a shot when Wire and Deculus both went down against UCLA and started against McNeese.  He should be playing C.

2020

Marcus Dumervil
Marlon Martinez
Xavier Hill
Liam Shanahan

Good or bad, Shanahan has contributed.  
Dumervil, Martinez, and Hill each saw their first opportunity for real action last weekend with more than half the OL out injured.  When Dumervil was signed, it was considered a great thing because we desperately needed a tackle. He didn't even play tackle this weekend.  

2021

Garrett Dellinger
Kimo Makaneole

Dellinger has already seen the field even coming off a camp injury.  No clue on Kimo. 

Problem is, as these recruiting classes have failed to produce a couple of legit tackles, we landed TWO total OL prospects in 2021.  Coming off 2019 and the NC, how in the world were we unable to snag a couple elite OL??  

So long and short of it, don't let the numbers fool ya.  Not all of these names were even recruited as OL, and so many have not contributed that have been here 3+ years.  

Brad Davis inherited a mess and unfortunately inherited it in May 2021 with all 25 roster spots filled.  We truly needed to hit a couple OTs in the portal and didn't do it. 

2022 

For those wondering, we have the #1 OT committed in Will Campbell.  Louisiana doesn't produce many top level OTs, so we HAVE to get him signed.  
Aside from him, we have Ben Bordelon, which quite frankly, is being offered a scholarship due to his father being an ex Tiger.  He's not SEC starter material.  Sorry for being blunt but it is what it is.  But hey, if you recall the "Get the Gat" video from the White House...
Yeah, that's his mom, so I guess it is what it is. 

Hopefully we can add more in 2022, and we MUST utilize the transfer portal to get the talent on this line required to compete at this level.  We're stacked with talent at the skill positions, especially WR, DL, and RB.  Not saying we can't recruit any of those positions, but we don't need to add 5 WR, 4 or 5 DL, and 2 or 3 RBs.  We MUST use some of those spots for OL (and S and LB?)

 

 

 

 

[COTiger]

So we didn't recruit any in 2020?

[Fishhead]

22 minutes ago, COTiger said:

So we didn't recruit any in 2020?

Posted early before I was finished by accident

But for what it's worth, we recruited hardly any for 2021.  

 

[cadillacattack]

2 hours ago, Fishhead said:

Hopefully we can add more in 2022, and we MUST utilize the transfer portal to get the talent on this line required to compete at this level.  We're stacked with talent at the skill positions, especially WR, DL, and RB.  Not saying we can't recruit any of those positions, but we don't need to add 5 WR, 4 or 5 DL, and 2 or 3 RBs.  We MUST use some of those spots for OL (and S and LB?)

 

 

 

 

Hey, …. get in line, pal …… Auburn was here first.  j/k

with a better-than-average OL and some depth, I would pick AU to go 10-2 instead of 7-5 this season …  against one of the toughest schedules around

[Herb]

So, we need to remember that OL (and DL) depth were fairly serious issues under Miles also. Miles - like Orgeron - hauled in highly ranked recruiting classes that were characterized by a plethora of 4* "athletes" that would wind up populating various positions in the defensive backfield and flanker spots.

This was Miles' position as a player and the gripe always was that he never could seem to fill out OL and DL depth in his recruiting classes (with some notable exceptions like La'El Collins).

When Orgeron was hired, there was some sense of relief that Eaux was adding line depth thr0ugh the portal that had been neglected under Miles (though this was skewed more towards adding DL depth to be honest).

Louisiana does not produce "enough" OL talent in any given year to fill out a starting unit (Collins, Faneca, and others are exceptions, not the rule) so we have to go out of state to get the Whitworths and Mawaes of the world. "Building a fence around Louisiana" in terms of recruiting is short sighted. We need to recruit everywhere and we can't lose the Cam Robinson's we produce to schools like Alabama.

And Fishead is correct in that we really don't have any OT's that are true OT's.

We have to do better filling out the OL and can't paint a Zebra's black stripes white and call it a prized Arabian horse.

[Fishhead]

La'el was a rare Louisiana elite OL like Campbell. 

Bottom line is those are few and far between nowadays. 

[Nutriaitch]

On 9/14/2021 at 7:26 PM, Herb said:

So, we need to remember that OL (and DL) depth were fairly serious issues under Miles also

true. 

but at same time, Miles’ lines didn’t get manhandled like we have the last 2 seasons. 

 

On 9/14/2021 at 7:26 PM, Herb said:

When Orgeron was hired, there was some sense of relief that Eaux was adding line depth thr0ugh the portal that had been neglected under Miles (though this was skewed more towards adding DL depth to be honest).

 

there was a mass exodus of linemen when O was hired. 

he didn’t go after transfers until his “hope and pray” comment after saying Troy had better players than we did. 

also, the transfer portal did not even exist when Miles was here 

[COTiger]

On 9/14/2021 at 6:13 PM, cadillacattack said:

Hey, …. get in line, pal …… Auburn was here first.  j/k

with a better-than-average OL and some depth, I would pick AU to go 10-2 instead of 7-5 this season …  against one of the toughest schedules around

If I were you I would wait until Sunday morning before making a 10 - 2 prediction.