I'll be concerned if Foster is a starter next year. He hasn't looked good when he has been out there.
I'll be concerned if Foster is a starter next year. He hasn't looked good when he has been out there.
It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. There are 23 OL listed on the roster, and 16 are currently FR, RS FR or RS SO. There are 4 more OL coming in, 2 of them this spring. Some of these guys have played, some have started, but who fills in the holes will be interesting. The only seniors next year are Foster, who has one last chance to prove he is as good as his rankings, and Noah Juergensen, who I believe is a walkon.
I thought 23 seemed awfully high for number of OLs on the team. We usually only have between 14 and 16 OLs on scholarship at any one time. So I went back and checked for myself. When I count returning players, I only count scholarship guys because with walk-ons you just never know if they'll still be on the team next year.
There are currently only 11 scholarship OLs on the roster, which seems like a way more reasonable number to me for a position group. Then we have the four coming in, which puts us at 15, right in the middle of where you want to be.
I didn't know who was a walkon, and who wasn't. Besides, just because a guy is a walkon does not mean he can't develop into a starter. It certainly has happened at ISU before. The odds are just not as good. Heck even Iowa will have a walkon starting once in a while, and they are way ahead of ISU in the OL department.
I never said they couldn't develop into a starter. It's just that the average fan never knows if they will or if they will even be there come next year. So I never count them when trying to guess who will contribute next year.
Regarding walkons I've heard the staff is very high on true Freshman Will Clapper. Of course he's a couple years away.
https://cyclones.com/sports/football/roster/coal-flansburg/10341You would think that some backup middle linebacker would fit the bill for a guy that you could plug in for a few plays each game to play fullback and go blow up the hole for Breece.
Is he related to Ted Clapper, that played for the Clones in the late 70's. Ted was on my floor in college.
Is he related to Ted Clapper, that played for the Clones in the late 70's. Ted was on my floor in college.
It doesn’t matter who starts if we don’t have the coaches to develop them. IIRC, our OL has been trash for years.
From the The Clapper family of fine household lighting products?
2021 is "a few years" away?I'm still very high on this staff. But I think they are still a few years away from being the o-line machine they were at Toledo. Thus, I'm looking to 2021 (Purdy's senior year) as our breakout season as a conference and national power. With Campbell's ability to recruit skill position players and d-linemen, I can hardly wait for us to have great senior o-lines year-after-year like they seemed to have at Toledo.
2021 is "a few years" away?
I think that the line will take some time to settle in together next season, but I don't think that it's going to be a huge step back. As Ben Bruns kept saying, Bryce Meeker did a nice job at right tackle--for a guy who's a natural guard playing out of position at tackle, to help the team. Next year the odds are that both starting tackles are actually going to be natural offensive tackles. And I'm pretty sure that everyone playing is going to have a much higher ceiling. That can only be a good thing.
As far as 2021 is concerned, I agree. Assuming that Sean Foster doesn't grab a starting spot, all five starters will be back, everyone will have that much more experience, and what looks like a good crop of current signees will be coming off their redshirts, adding even more depth.
Come to think of it, in 2021 the offensive line should start out helping compensate for some graduation/NFL losses elsewhere. I'm sure we'll all be complaining about the unknowns at tight end and safety going into that season. Maybe even defensive end...but I'm pretty sure the young guys there will have shown us enough by then that we won't be too terribly frantic about it.
Well...this is CF, I guess.
When he was being recruited, I had heard that the coaches may use him as a fullback at times.He's the first one I thought of as well.