10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

[claw]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

I would not agree. Put another way, the recruiting and development has been far better at some positions than others. That was more my point. Saying that "talent isn't an issue at UNI" is not correct, IMO.

I'm not exonerating any of the coaches for our current or past offensive woes. How you can only get DJ seven touches in one of the losses last year is beyond me, and fracking stupid. Wasting a very talented group of receivers, failure to develop a throwing QB other than Sawyer, etc., etc. No need to further kill that horse. However, don't assume we've consistently had comparable levels of talent, at all position groups, as some of the elite level teams over the same stretch. We haven't.

I don't think anyone has said UNI has had elite talent at every position - I know I never did. To think that the talent UNI has, even as maligned as the offense has been recently, isn't a quarter finals or deeper team EVERY YEAR is pretty nuts. UNI's defense is consistently top 10 in the nation, even if the total defense stat doesn't put them there.

This UNI team still has top 10 talent, top to bottom. I mean, for cying out loud, Bailey was a 4 star player out of high school with offers from Airzona, Boston College, Colorado State, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northern Illinois, Northestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Is he a QB? Probably not, but the reality is, there isn't more than 3 or 4 other players in the FCS with his kind of pure/raw talent.

It's not knowing how to use that talent that's the issue, year after year

[SteinPizza]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

I don't think anyone has said UNI has had elite talent at every position - I know I never did. To think that the talent UNI has, even as maligned as the offense has been recently, isn't a quarter finals or deeper team EVERY YEAR is pretty nuts. UNI's defense is consistently top 10 in the nation, even if the total defense stat doesn't put them there.

This UNI team still has top 10 talent, top to bottom. I mean, for cying out loud, Bailey was a 4 star player out of high school with offers from Airzona, Boston College, Colorado State, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northern Illinois, Northestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Is he a QB? Probably not, but the reality is, there isn't more than 3 or 4 other players in the FCS with his kind of pure/raw talent.

It's not knowing how to use that talent that's the issue, year after year

You're singling out one player at one position. Granted, QB is the single most important, but football is still 22 against 22. If you have weak links, they'll be exploited, regardless of whether you have Aaron Rogers.

My take is UNI needs to step up it's game in recruiting and developing O Lineman. If that had kept pace with the other side of the ball, then we'd be talking about a few more playoff runs.

[Trapped in California]

Player development and luck have a large part of the outcome. Look at DJ or Carson Wentz - neither were highly recruited, but one is already in the nfl, the appears to be headed that way soon.

From my NSA monitored nexus 5

[ronfitch]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

SPOT ON. Plus Farley USED to have a dominating recruiting advantage in the twin cities & that is virtually gone.

I doubt it has any sway in recruiting, but you can't get out of eyesight of an NDSU billboard in the Twin Cities these days .... Dr. TJ Eckleburg has nothing on the Bison.

[Born-a-Panther]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

My take is UNI needs to step up it's game in recruiting and developing O Lineman. If that had kept pace with the other side of the ball, then we'd be talking about a few more playoff runs.

This is a huge one. Our o-line has not been near what it used to be for a few years now.

Hard for QB's to do what they need to do when they don't have any time to do it.

[SteinPizza]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

This is a huge one. Our o-line has not been near what it used to be for a few years now.

Hard for QB's to do what they need to do when they don't have any time to do it.

Agreed. That's not to fault anyone who's played there the last few years, either. Just an observation.

You combine the above with the dysfunctional schemes put out by the offensive staff and Farley, it spells some less than stellar play.

[vbfan19]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

o. line: hey coach, what sort of blocking techniques should we study up and practice on? read option running qb? pocket passer? no huddle hurry up?

coach: meh, it all depends on how I'm feeling at gametime

[Blue42]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

o. line: hey coach, what sort of blocking techniques should we study up and practice on? read option running qb? pocket passer? no huddle hurry up?

coach: meh, it all depends on how I'm feeling at gametime

I think this is a huge point.

We spent all last spring and most of fall practice working on a different scheme than we're not running now.

Impacts the O-line, the WRs, the RBs...and of course the QB.

It's hard enough to find a way to beat your opponents in the MVFC. You don't have to make it harder by wasting most of your practice time on a scheme you're not going to run.

[Born-a-Panther]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

In regards to the o-line. We seem to be getting smaller, too - or is that just me? Are we focusing too much on strength and speed in that position and not enough on size? The Western line looked like beasts compared to ours.

[SteinPizza]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

In regards to the o-line. We seem to be getting smaller, too - or is that just me? Are we focusing too much on strength and speed in that position and not enough on size? The Western line looked like beasts compared to ours.

Size only goes so far. Technique, athletic ability, and nastiness are huge parts of being a good O Lineman. If size and weight made all the difference, then every big fat kid in the world would have a legit shot at the NFL. It doesn't work that way, not even close. I'll take a 290 lb. bada$$, who's a pretty good athlete, and willing to work at his craft any day over a much bigger kid who's average in all those areas.

Also, don't underestimate the importance of a mean, nasty disposition. O Lineman are almost always the biggest hammerhead idiots on any football team. That's not by coincidence either.

[Born-a-Panther]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

Size only goes so far. Technique, athletic ability, and nastiness are huge parts of being a good O Lineman. If size and weight made all the difference, then every big fat kid in the world would have a legit shot at the NFL. It doesn't work that way, not even close. I'll take a 290 lb. bada$$, who's a pretty good athlete, and willing to work at his craft any day over a much bigger kid who's average in all those areas.

Also, don't underestimate the importance of a mean, nasty disposition. O Lineman are almost always the biggest hammerhead idiots on any football team. That's not by coincidence either.

I'm not saying size is the only factor. I understand the o-line. My husband was one. But we seem to be getting smaller, and production has gone down.

[claw]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

In regards to the o-line. We seem to be getting smaller, too - or is that just me? Are we focusing too much on strength and speed in that position and not enough on size? The Western line looked like beasts compared to ours.

Significantly smaller

6 years ago average was 6'4/6'5 310
Now it's 6'4 290

[Born-a-Panther]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

Significantly smaller

6 years ago average was 6'4/6'5 310
Now it's 6'4 290

There you have it. When my husband was recruited to UNI back in the early 2000's, they told him to be on the o-line he would need to get to 315.

[ronfitch]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

Size only goes so far. Technique, athletic ability, and nastiness are huge parts of being a good O Lineman. If size and weight made all the difference, then every big fat kid in the world would have a legit shot at the NFL. It doesn't work that way, not even close. I'll take a 290 lb. bada$$, who's a pretty good athlete, and willing to work at his craft any day over a much bigger kid who's average in all those areas.

Also, don't underestimate the importance of a mean, nasty disposition. O Lineman are almost always the biggest hammerhead idiots on any football team. That's not by coincidence either.

As a group, O-linemen tend to test very well on the Wonderlic test that NFL teams administer to prospective draftees and free agents (the 2013 results are at http://www.bestmastersdegrees.com/smartest-players/, but SI's Paul Zimmerman had an entire chapter about intelligence by position in the original "The Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football" in the early '70s and the newer edition in the '80s).

I recall hearing TA say that - as a group - O-linemen tend to be very orderly, smart and regimented when he spoke to a group back when he was coaching at UNI (this was a "Football for Women" or some sort of thing that I tagged along on with my then-girlfriend; he brought in game films and just seemed to go free-form and off on tangents, asking and answering questions, seemed to be really having fun doing it ... the folks in the room certainly had fun).

[SteinPizza]

Re: 10/19/15 Coaches' Poll

As a group, O-linemen tend to test very well on the Wonderlic test that NFL teams administer to prospective draftees and free agents (the 2013 results are at http://www.bestmastersdegrees.com/smartest-players/, but SI's Paul Zimmerman had an entire chapter about intelligence by position in the original "The Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football" in the early '70s and the newer edition in the '80s).

I recall hearing TA say that - as a group - O-linemen tend to be very orderly, smart and regimented when he spoke to a group back when he was coaching at UNI (this was a "Football for Women" or some sort of thing that I tagged along on with my then-girlfriend; he brought in game films and just seemed to go free-form and off on tangents, asking and answering questions, seemed to be really having fun doing it ... the folks in the room certainly had fun).

I didn't mean to imply lack of intelligence. The smartest people around can still have a huge mean streak, put their head through a brick wall on a bet, etc. That's what I meant. IQ, being regimented, good students, etc., is totally different.