O-line Shopping

[Box_O_Rocks]

Players previously mentioned..off the top of my head...

OC: Kyle Young, Fresno State
LT: Jake Long, Michigan
LT: John Greco, Toledo
LT: Ryan Harris, Notre Dame

Fresno provided the Pats with Mankins and Toledo provided Kaczur, Notre Dame's Stevenson is on the Practice Squad. This article discusses Purdue's O-line, noting they may be as good as the 2001 Rose Bowl boys who provided the Pats with Light, Gorin, and Mruczkowski...

Boilers’ engine driven by line: Purdue brings together formidable, hungry group to win ‘the trenches’

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/sports/colleges/15562549.htm

Through the first three games of the season, Otto rates the line’s performance as good but nowhere near where it can be.

Run blocking must get better, he said. There have been some missed assignments in pass blocking, too.

But Purdue’s offense is one of the highest-rated in the nation, averaging 475 yards a game (No. 8) and scoring 45.3 points a game (No. 3).

Though Otto would like the run blocking to improve, Kory Sheets hasn’t gotten off to a shabby start. In three games, Sheets has 245 yards rushing and eight touchdowns.
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Tom Dienhart, who covers college football for The Sporting News, said he expects Grimes, Otto, Sester and Nwaneri to play at the next level.
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Black and gold line
Left tackle

Mike Otto

Notes: Fifth-year senior; 6-foot-5, 304 pounds; from Kokomo

Left guard

Uche Nwaneri

Notes: Fifth-year senior; 6-3, 300; from Garland, Texas

Center

Robbie Powell

Notes: Senior; 6-5, 297; Roanoke, Va.

Right guard

Jordan Grimes

Notes: Junior; 6-3, 325; Plainfield

Right tackle

Sean Sester

Notes: Junior; 6-8, 309; Fort Thomas, Ky.

Edit: plugged in the correct names for players previously mentioned. I've seen televised games:
Oregon @ Fresno State - Young was very noticable in the middle.
Kansas @ Toledo - Greco appeared to dominate his end of the line.
Notre Dame each week - I haven't been paying close attention to their line, but before Michigan, the line as a whole seemed capable.

Hopefully, some of the rest of you will have your observations to flesh out my impressions.

 

[Clonamery]

Players previously mentioned..off the top of my head...

OC: Kyle Young, Fresno State
LT: Jake Long, Michigan
LT: John Greco, Toledo
LT: Ryan Harris, Notre Dame

Fresno provided the Pats with Mankins and Toledo provided Kaczur, Notre Dame's Stevenson is on the Practice Squad. This article discusses Purdue's O-line, noting they may be as good as the 2001 Rose Bowl boys who provided the Pats with Light, Gorin, and Mruczkowski...

Boilers’ engine driven by line: Purdue brings together formidable, hungry group to win ‘the trenches’

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/sports/colleges/15562549.htm



Edit: plugged in the correct names for players previously mentioned. I've seen televised games:
Oregon @ Fresno State - Young was very noticable in the middle.
Kansas @ Toledo - Greco appeared to dominate his end of the line.
Notre Dame each week - I haven't been paying close attention to their line, but before Michigan, the line as a whole seemed capable.

Hopefully, some of the rest of you will have your observations to flesh out my impressions.

Yes, we're watching the same games.

Purdue will get some TV time soon so we'll get a look at them.

I will say that I can't tell a lot on Harris (ND). The OL (for Jr's and Sr's) has seemd overwhelmed and undisciplined. I don't think that shines on Harris' performance...it's just been hard to qualify or dignify it.

At this point I'd trust anyone they draft for OL but at this point Young (Fresno) has my lead vote.

 

[dryheat44]

Some of my favorites unmentioned above:

OT Joe Thomas, 6-8, 305, Wisconsin - Will likely be first lineman taken.
OT Justin Blalock, 6-4, 330, Texas - Nice RT type, but I think with O'Callaghan and Kaczur we're set for a while.
OT Joe Ainslie, 6-6, 310, Minnesota
OT Josh Linehan, 6-5, 315, Oregon St - Mike's son.

G/C Dan Mozes, 6-4, 295, West Virginia -- absolutely love this guy. If Koppen were to leave, he's the guy I'd want.
G/C Josh Beekham, 6-2, 325, Boston College
G/C Ben Grubbs, 6-3, 305, Auburn
G/C Bob Morton, 6-3, 295, Notre Dame - Since we brought up ND
G/C Roman Fry, 6-3, 295, Clemson
G/C Brian Chacos, 6-3, 305, North Carolina
G/C Scott Stephenson, 6-3, 305, Iowa St.
G/C Mark Fenton, 6-3, 295, Colorado

 

[Ochmed Jones]

As a pure run blocker, you have to love Grubbs from Auburn. He is strong and really comes off the line with a flat back. He hand punches like he has a taser in each fist. As a pass protector, however he's got some issues.

Another force at OG (and he could be the first OG taken in the draft) is Beekham. I'm a little concerned about height, but it hasn't hurt him so far.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/dr_z/09/21/running.game/1.html

SVN posted this in the main forum, it seems applicable to the discussion.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

I flipped back and forth between games yesterday, some general impressions:

LT Ryan Harris, Notre Dame, seemed okay as a pass blocker, not as good at run blocking.

Purdue's O-line took control of a suspect Minnesota D-line, and looked pretty decent doing it.

Minnesota had some O-line push for awhile, but seemed not to be able to handle a reportedly suspect Purdue D-line.

East Carolina is a pretty scrappy bunch, though West Virginia may not have come to play...

 

[Clonamery]

I flipped back and forth between games yesterday, some general impressions:

LT Ryan Harris, Notre Dame, seemed okay as a pass blocker, not as good at run blocking.

Purdue's O-line took control of a suspect Minnesota D-line, and looked pretty decent doing it.

Minnesota had some O-line push for awhile, but seemed not to be able to handle a reportedly suspect Purdue D-line.

Yes sir....Purdue o-line did whatever they wanted to.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Yes sir....Purdue o-line did whatever they wanted to.

They certainly made that passing offense look pretty decent today.