Let’s talk Offensive Line

[Montgomery-Magic]

More smarter than me ISU fans,

How do you grade our OL right now?

What’s the best OL and DL in the Big12?

WHEN we make it to the final 12 perhaps as a low seed and face a SEC defense will we all suffer bean dip asphyxiation?

I don’t know what else to ask. Tell me some things

 

[CYCLNST8]

We have a mauler at left tackle. I feel bad for James Neal, but Jalen is an upgrade. He can really move people, and is more polished. As for everyone else, they seem to be adopting Clanton’s violent philosophy. Carson Hansen has the right speed and timing; allowing the blocking to develop before he hits the hole. “Action” Jackson is shifty and hard to find amongst the trees. My hunch is that Abu is seeing less snaps because he’s too darned fast. He arrives at the lane before it’s there. I hope for his sake he gets some more reps because he’s such a home run threat.

Mouse probably deserves a ton of credit as well. Rather than just throwing all of our tight ends to one side of the formation telegraphing where the play is going, we’ve been mixing things up with power I formations under center as well as taking deep shots early in the game so defenses can’t just load the box.

 

[Kinch]

This is the first year I can remember that the offensive line has been given kudos from so many people. Usually, when we get beat or have a losing season that everyone points to the OL. When you have three different backs who can get more than 100 yards, you have to believe it starts with the OL.

 

[bosco]

 

[isucy86]

We have a mauler at left tackle. I feel bad for James Neal, but Jalen is an upgrade. He can really move people, and is more polished. As for everyone else, they seem to be adopting Clinton’s violent philosophy. Carson Hansen has the right speed and timing; allowing the blocking to develop before he hits the hole. “Action” Jackson is shifty and hard to find amongst the trees. My hunch is that Abu is seeing less snaps because he’s too darned fast. He arrives at the lane before it’s there. I hope for his sake he gets some more reps because he’s such a home run threat.

Mouse probably deserves a ton of credit as well. Rather than just throwing all of our tight ends to one side of the formation telegraphing where the play is going, we’ve been mixing things up with power I formations under center as well as taking deep shots early in the game so defenses can’t just load the box.

My take- Abu is getting fewer snaps because he tries to turn every run into a 60 yarder. And to do so he cuts horizontally and ends up with runs for no gain.

Would be curious on what someone like Woody or Bruns take on Abu not being the dominant back. Is it gap vision, not following blocks, not patient or other guys are his equals/betters?

Jackson has great vision to make horizontal cuts. And Hanson has prototypical slasher vision. He see's a hole and with his size and strength will get minimum of 3 yards. IMO Hanson's style is very appealing to Campbell & Mauser's style of ball-control offense.

 

[CYCLNST8]

My take- Abu is getting fewer snaps because he tries to turn every run into a 60 yarder. And to do so he cuts horizontally and ends up with runs for no gain.

Would be curious on what someone like Woody or Bruns take on Abu not being the dominant back. Is it gap vision, not following blocks, not patient or other guys are his equals/betters?

Jackson has great vision to make horizontal cuts. And Hanson has prototypical slasher vision. He see's a hole and with his size and strength will get minimum of 3 yards. IMO Hanson's style is very appealing to Campbell & Mauser's style of ball-control offense.

Agree with you on Abu other than I think he has the highest ceiling. He’s not being out-talented. I think it’s a vision and timing issue.

 

[superiorcyclone]

Agree with you on Abu other than I think he has the highest ceiling. He’s not being out-talented. I think it’s a vision and timing issue.

Abu is struggling to get the tough yards and to go North and South. In high school he could run circles around everyone. Hopefully he gets it figured out as he is a great open field runner and a home run threat.

 

[ISUATC]

Can Abu switch positions and become the next Noel?

 

[Kaner04]

Can Abu switch positions and become the next Noel?

We only have Jackson for one year. It’ll be back to Sama and Hansen next year

 

[Peter]

Sama takes the handoff and immediately runs toward the sideline. Needs to get his butt up the field and hit the gaps.

 

[byebye]

Personally, I think the OL play is the #1 reason we are 6-0

We are winning the TO battle, we are committing very few penalties & we are leading TOP - this is win-in-the-margin stuff & I think this all starts up front

After last night, I'm a true believer - we are playing really good, SOUND football, we aren't shooting ourselves in the foot & we have homerun hitters on O & absolute DAWGS on D

 

[jackrabbit]

We only have Jackson for one year. It’ll be back to Sama and Hansen next year

Iowa State will also have Dylen Lee and Ryver Peppers as running backs.

 

[ForeverIowan]

Sama's pure talent is through the roof. They won't give up on him. He is still a really young back. He just needs to understand a gain of 3 is perfectly fine and keeps us ahead of the chains. One cut, stick your foot in the ground and get up field. If he starts focusing on getting north and south he is going to break off some arm tackles for some huge plays.

With all of that said, damn, really liked what we saw from Jackson and Hansen the past 2 games. Hansen really really impressive last night.

 

[nrg4isu]

Personally, I think the OL play is the #1 reason we are 6-0

We are winning the TO battle, we are committing very few penalties & we are leading TOP - this is win-in-the-margin stuff & I think this all starts up front

After last night, I'm a true believer - we are playing really good, SOUND football, we aren't shooting ourselves in the foot & we have homerun hitters on O & absolute DAWGS on D

We have zero fumbles lost on the year. We have punted 2 times total in the last 2 games. We're +9 in turnover margin.

Those are things that are beyond lucky bounces - they're the outcome you'd expect from a well oiled machine. As @1238576073jb said that all starts up front. Both in the pass protection and ability to create push in the run game.

 

[burn587]

We only have Jackson for one year. It’ll be back to Sama and Hansen next year

Lee looks really impressive as well, he’ll be joining the 3 headed monster.

 

[AuH2O]

Can Abu switch positions and become the next Noel?

Sama will be fine at RB. He and Hansen are actually pretty similar backs, or at least they need to be. And early in the year they were struggling with the same thing, trying to pop too many outside, stringing them out and missing opportunities to get upfield. Hansen has greatly improved. He’s been more decisive and needs to be that one cut and go guy.

Sama runs tough and is physical, but he’s just not decisive right now. If our OL continues to play well Abu will get there.

OL has been really good. They pass protected well last year too, and the run game blocking is getting pretty good. The best thing I’ve seen from Clanton is our OL has really improved against stunts. A couple years ago the OL was horrible against stunts and delayed blitzes.

 

[cyclone1209]

Sama will be fine at RB. He and Hansen are actually pretty similar backs, or at least they need to be. And early in the year they were struggling with the same thing, trying to pop too many outside, stringing them out and missing opportunities to get upfield. Hansen has greatly improved. He’s been more decisive and needs to be that one cut and go guy.

Sama runs tough and is physical, but he’s just not decisive right now. If our OL continues to play well Abu will get there.

OL has been really good. They pass protected well last year too, and the run game blocking is getting pretty good. The best thing I’ve seen from Clanton is our OL has really improved against stunts. A couple years ago the OL was horrible against stunts and delayed blitzes.

- What raised my eyebrows last week was when Dylan Barrett went out with injury we subbed in Trevor Buhr at left guard. First play with Trevor Buhr in? Carsen Hansen right behind his ass for a 10 yd touchdown. Trevor Buhr can be an anchor for this line in the future.
- Tyler Miller is playing very solid football at right tackle
- Our Offensive Line as a whole is way different with J. Travis at Left Tackle
- our OL has some real depth i'm excited about next year. We do lose some key guys. I'd love to know if Jalen Travis wants to use a covid year or if he's just off to the NFL

There's a lot of unknown guys who may be good as well like Tyler Maro, Deylin Hesert. We have quality in the pipeline. Same goes for the Helton brothers (Wade and Brent)

 

[Aclone]

- What raised my eyebrows last week was when Dylan Barrett went out with injury we subbed in Trevor Buhr at left guard. First play with Trevor Buhr in? Carsen Hansen right behind his ass for a 10 yd touchdown. Trevor Buhr can be an anchor for this line in the future.
- Tyler Miller is playing very solid football at right tackle
- Our Offensive Line as a whole is way different with J. Travis at Left Tackle
- our OL has some real depth i'm excited about next year. We do lose some key guys. I'd love to know if Jalen Travis wants to use a covid year or if he's just off to the NFL

There's a lot of unknown guys who may be good as well like Tyler Maro, Deylin Hesert. We have quality in the pipeline. Same goes for the Helton brothers (Wade and Brent)

I don’t know that the Helton twins are the best of the five (/six counting Carson Rhodes) freshman OL. They’re simply the most polished at the moment.

In particular, CMC glowed about Lewis Central’s Garret Rutledge on Cyning Day.

 

[Chitowncy]

My take- Abu is getting fewer snaps because he tries to turn every run into a 60 yarder. And to do so he cuts horizontally and ends up with runs for no gain.

Would be curious on what someone like Woody or Bruns take on Abu not being the dominant back. Is it gap vision, not following blocks, not patient or other guys are his equals/betters?

Jackson has great vision to make horizontal cuts. And Hanson has prototypical slasher vision. He see's a hole and with his size and strength will get minimum of 3 yards. IMO Hanson's style is very appealing to Campbell & Mauser's style of ball-control offense.

I think the bolded part is true.

That said, Sama still obviously has a ton of talent and I imagine he'll keep his head up and realize he's a big part of this team and we'll need him going forward. All 3 backs provide something different and all 3 are good. It's quite a blessing.

But, the real reason I opened this thread was to also give plaudits to the offensive line. They've improved and it is fun to watch!

 

[Cyclonsin]

- What raised my eyebrows last week was when Dylan Barrett went out with injury we subbed in Trevor Buhr at left guard. First play with Trevor Buhr in? Carsen Hansen right behind his ass for a 10 yd touchdown. Trevor Buhr can be an anchor for this line in the future.
- Tyler Miller is playing very solid football at right tackle
- Our Offensive Line as a whole is way different with J. Travis at Left Tackle
- our OL has some real depth i'm excited about next year. We do lose some key guys. I'd love to know if Jalen Travis wants to use a covid year or if he's just off to the NFL

There's a lot of unknown guys who may be good as well like Tyler Maro, Deylin Hesert. We have quality in the pipeline. Same goes for the Helton brothers (Wade and Brent)

I am absolutely in love with Buhr and loved seeing that series of events unfold. The dude's got a bright future.