Sidebar

Tyler Steen To Alabama

P

Patton

1st Team
Nov 10, 2021
329
283
87
forumripper1 said:
I think Coach Wolford is going to do great things at Bama. Look at what he did at a very average program (UK), with very average players.
Click to expand...
He is a VERY highly regarded and respected O-Line Coach in college football. As good a teacher as there is in Coaching technique,consistency,and toughness.A tremendous hire.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheRealPokeChop and Con
J

JohnD

1st Team
Dec 22, 2003
997
1,413
262
4Q Basket Case said:
The O-Line isn't young so much as it is under-achieving.

Left to right, you have in the spring:
LT -- Randolph. 6th year Senior
LG -- Cohen. Junior
C -- McLaughlin. 3rd year Sophomore
RG -- George. Junior
RT -- Latham -- Sophomore.

And that doesn't include a 5th year Senior (Ekiyor) and a 4th year Senior (Dalcourt) out for the spring.

Depending on how you account for Ekiyor and Dalcourt, that's between 17 and 20 years in the program across 5 positions.

I agree with JustNeedMe81 regarding the probable gist of Steen's recruitment -- turn on last year's OL film and say, "If you don't think you can beat this, you probably don't need to transfer at all."

The question I have is why we've underachieved so badly on the OL.

All of these guys were highly recruited. And sure, you're going to have some who don't live up to their recruiting hype -- that's just the nature of predicting human performance. But it seems that the significant majority haven't -- shoot, we've got players who were 4 and 5 stars coming out of HS who can't crack 2nd team, when 2nd team frankly isn't very good.

I'm not sure if it's coaching (note that Marrone is no longer on the staff), or talent evaluation, or something else. But we should be light-years better on the OL than we are. I'm hoping Steen and Coach Wolford help us get there.
Click to expand...
George and McLaughlin were 3 stars. So those guys may be in the overachieve column. The rest were moderately to highly recruited. Not all were can't miss by any stretch.
Randolph has spent the last 2 seasons as a blocking TE, which is likely what he will do in the fall. A couple of the other players were banged up last season. I think a significant part of the issue is we've signed a bunch of players with IOL skills and tried to make tackles out of them, with mixed results. And it's a big jump from high school OT to SEC OT and some just have not made that jump.
 
  • Like
Reactions: seebell and The Ols
G

gtgilbert

All-American
Aug 12, 2011
4,015
7,102
187
JohnD said:
George and McLaughlin were 3 stars. So those guys may be in the overachieve column. The rest were moderately to highly recruited. Not all were can't miss by any stretch.
Randolph has spent the last 2 seasons as a blocking TE, which is likely what he will do in the fall. A couple of the other players were banged up last season. I think a significant part of the issue is we've signed a bunch of players with IOL skills and tried to make tackles out of them, with mixed results. And it's a big jump from high school OT to SEC OT and some just have not made that jump.
Click to expand...
I mentioned it earlier, but I also think we've had some recruiting classes that just missed on OTs and there's a pattern

2017 - Leatherwood and Wills - both top 10 guys, and worked out that way

2018 - 0 OT's, unless you count T. Brown who was rated as an OG

2019 - better, got Neal (clearly worked out), Quick (highly ranked, but a miss), and Kight (at least competing at the position, looked better than KR this weekend and looked decent in spot duty last year just not sure how he didn't beat out Owens last year and KR this year). All three were top 10 guys

2020 - Cohen (borderline 3/4 star, done well as an OG, doesn't appear to be deeply in the mix to move to OT) and George (3 star OT, appears to be more likely to stay at OG and might end up as depth guy overall once all the starters from last year are healthy)


2021 - Latham (in the mix now and maybe should have been the RT last season) and Brockermeyer (mystery - I've seen vague reference to injuries, so maybe that's holding him up. Apparently looked better against our edge guys at LT in aday than anyone else so if he can get healthy maybe he's an answer next year.)

so it looks like every other year, we haul in a decent OT group, but then the next year had been a pretty big drop off. Maybe when guys are committing if they see two OTs starting to contribute and play as true Freshmen, they see that as an obstacle ahead of them and don't commit to us, or the coaches maybe think we are set at that position and don't prioritize it, but either way when we have some who don't end up working out, we end up with challenges.

Thankfully in 2022, we brought in two top 10 guys, so hopefully we're not in this spot again in a couple of years.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Con, RollTide_HTTR, Tiderollin32 and 2 others
F

forumripper1

BamaNation Citizen
Apr 12, 2022
81
100
52
After watching the sprig game, it's clear that W Anderson, D Turner, and C Braswell might be the best 3 players on the team with the Exception of B Young. The announcers and coach Saban himself said as much. I think the only 2 things that will keep this years team from winning the natty is 1. Injuries 2. The O line. I really hope they get the O line issues figured out in the next 4 months, and that they have no serious injuries this year. I love the makeup of this years team! Roll Tide!!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Con and seebell
T

Tideflyer

Hall of Fame
Dec 14, 2011
8,392
4,794
187
Savannah, GA
forumripper1 said:
After watching the sprig game, it's clear that W Anderson, D Turner, and C Braswell might be the best 3 players on the team with the Exception of B Young. The announcers and coach Saban himself said as much. I think the only 2 things that will keep this years team from winning the natty is 1. Injuries 2. The O line. I really hope they get the O line issues figured out in the next 4 months, and that they have no serious injuries this year. I love the makeup of this years team! Roll Tide!!!!
Click to expand...
OK. I guess "natty" is just something we have to live with. Vernacular of the young, I suppose.
 
  • Like
  • Facepalm
Reactions: AlBamaWagg, The Ols and TiderJack
T

tideindc

1st Team
Jan 2, 2015
349
506
117
forumripper1 said:
After watching the sprig game, it's clear that W Anderson, D Turner, and C Braswell might be the best 3 players on the team with the Exception of B Young. The announcers and coach Saban himself said as much. I think the only 2 things that will keep this years team from winning the natty is 1. Injuries 2. The O line. I really hope they get the O line issues figured out in the next 4 months, and that they have no serious injuries this year. I love the makeup of this years team! Roll Tide!!!!
Click to expand...
I wish I was as confident as you that we will win the national title by avoiding injuries and improving the OL play. Unless some of the young guys make a big leap, the O Line could be a huge liability. I understand Steen is slotted for LT, and while he is supposed to be a solid SEC caliber tackle, he is far from the surefire NFL starter we are used to having in that position. Unless some players dramatically step up, this will be the first receiving group without at least one, if not multiple NFL first rd picks. And from what we saw last year and in the spring, the youngsters still have trouble holding onto the ball.

So, do I also think we can win the national title...possibly if things go our way....but at this point in the spring, I see us as one of a bunch of teams who could win it all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jjv0004
P

Patton

1st Team
Nov 10, 2021
329
283
87
Windsortide said:
Will he play left or right tackle? Any news on that front?
Click to expand...
Great question!!!...The narrative will say he plays LT...BUT....I dont know about that.Lets see how 2-3 guys develop over the summer and fall practice. Remember 1 thing. We have a top-Notch O-Line Coach with his eyes ONLY on one thing. And that is player development,cohsion,and production up front for this outfit. Nothing more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Windsortide and Con
G

Guido

All-SEC
Feb 24, 2017
1,889
1,973
187
Let's just get to the question
TiderJack said:
He played LT for 3 years at Vandy and I suspect that is where he will play for us. IMO JC Latham will get a year at RT and then change over to LT next year if he develops like many thinks he will.
Click to expand...
Yep, agree here but for some reason I'm beginning to wonder when will Tommy B. emerge as a big time player, I know he just got here but I gotta funny feeling.
 
P

Patton

1st Team
Nov 10, 2021
329
283
87
Guido said:
Let's just get to the question

Yep, agree here but for some reason I'm beginning to wonder when will Tommy B. emerge as a big time player, I know he just got here but I gotta funny feeling.
Click to expand...
Tommy came in underweight last year and needed,and still does,a lot of S+C....He really hasnt played any football to speak of since his Jr year in HS in 2019.He has his weight room and testing #'s up,and I think he has his body weight up over 300 lbs. I know he has had a problematic shoulder issue,among other things,and maybe he wont ever make it in THE SEC as an OT. Sure hope I am wrong. As a redshirt freshman? It is time to make a strong push this summer and fall if he can physically.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheRealPokeChop
W

Windsortide

Hall of Fame
Nov 11, 2019
5,149
3,037
187
TiderJack said:
He played LT for 3 years at Vandy and I suspect that is where he will play for us. IMO JC Latham will get a year at RT and then change over to LT next year if he develops like many thinks he will.
Click to expand...
Sounds good to lean on the veteran and make next year’s transition easier.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TiderJack
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Posts

Fubo TV Free Trial - Cut the cord!

Purchases may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.

Latest threads

Top Bottom