If Bamadeli Olaseni was showing progress, then I’d listen to this argument. He’s not.
So let’s blow up a good thing because one player, who never played football in the US, didn’t pan out?
Where do we rank compared to the rest of the pac12 in other positions? My guess is it’s roughly the same.
Does the talent gap only effect the offensive line? Our other positions have performed very well compared to their recruiting numbers.
Is the talent gap at offensive line bigger than it has been at other positions? If so, why? Would you not call that a problem with the guy recruiting them?
Either way you look at it, it’s Harding that stopped us from beating Oregon last year, and it’s Harding that is to blame for the team’s biggest problem.
As I said before. We were told by people involved with the program that the offensive line would finally be caught up with the rest of the team.
Is there any proof that he knows how to recruit and coach pass blocking? Any at all? Nobody on the planet should be given as long as he has been to prove they are competent at their job.
We had a nice streak of offensive linemen being drafted…not anymore. I’ll give credit to Harding for the good run blocking he put together 2014-2016. 2017, 2018, 2019, and now 2020 have all been years where the offensive line has regressed.
What? So Harding gets credit for taking lower ranked OL and getting them drafted then told he needs to be fired after getting his recruiting to an elite level?
That makes no sense.
Utah OL drafted:
2020: 0
2019: 1
2018: 0
2017: 3
2016: 0
2015: 1
2014: 0
2013: 0
2012: 1
2011: 1
So, the only time we have had ANY success with multiple draft picks was with Harding. We know he can recruit to Utah at an ELITE LEVEL, which is probably our highest rated group the last two years.
We know he can put guys in the NFL, as he has done so in the past.
We know we were playing a vastly better group than our OL vs USC and it was their third game, our first and the OL was hit hard by COVID.
And your solution is to fire the guy who can get guys to the NFL and recruits his position better than any other Utah coach (although Swan may be making a run at Harding).
Naw. No thanks. I’ll stick with the guy who recruits the best on the team and gets guys to the NFL.
Point/Line 1: I don’t get your point. Seeing how our Team Talent Composite puts us seventh in the P12 and 39th overall, we don’t recruit that well.
Point/Line 2: The OL is a position that is easy to exploit. Hence the strategy to blitz and stunt. It’s a position where the DL gets to attack you and you have to react. It’s a position that if you step inside and the guy next to you steps outside, you have a huge hole and a problem. It’s a position where is you are playing three freshmen with limited practice time vs USC’s DL…you aren’t going to succeed. I don’t care who your coach is. So to compare it to a WR or CB, where they are on an island, or a RB, who just needs to hit his hole, or a QB who needs to make a read then throw and can have plays designed to succeed…that’s a tough call.
Again, if your OL are rated at a .85 level and you are going against a bunch .90 kids like Oregon, USC and Texas has…you won’t win. That is why you need to get kids rated better and why Harding is so important. He IS GETTING THOSE KIDS. His position average the last two years is an .87. I bet that is the best position rating the last two years.
To say the the people in the program lied to us and Harding sucks because we struggled vs USC…I have news for you. USC is just better than Utah. Always have been. Always will be.
Utah will ALWAYS struggle vs USC. That is just the reality of the situation. And UW has recruited well enough to compete for a national title the last five years as has Oregon.
The smart person realizes this and chalks up those games as losses every year because that is just the way it is.
And when we beat them…enjoy it. Because Utah accomplished something special that day.
You need to watch the game again. We match or exceed USC’s players at every position except OL, and QB until our OL injured our starting QB.
The two worst offensive linemen in our opener were players who started every game last year, Daniels and Ford. Ford is not a LT, he should be playing guard.
You made my point. Ford and Daniels are two of our lowest rated OL. Give it time. We will get there. When these young OL really blossom in a year or two, watch out. We will have a USC/UW/Oregon/Stanford level line, with a coach who can get OL to the NFL.
Bake that cake or whatever Jazz fans were toughting a couple years ago. Don’t bail now. We have the ingredients. They are being mixed. And when they come out of the oven, it will be beautiful. Don’t fire the chef when he finally has high quality ingredients. Let him work.
No, players getting worse year to year is a sign the position coach isn’t effective. Our recruiting has been better because we won the south division two years in a row thanks to our defense and Huntley and Moss. The OLine is holding us back, we should have a couple Rose Bowl appearances by now if not for the crappy OLine.
Didn’t we have 3-4 freshmen on the OL at various points in the game?
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From what I read in the Trib…yes.
They started.
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Call it a practice, a mini-season, an exhibition – the o-line played poorly, freshmen or not. Whether it’s a reason, an excuse, a rationale, it matters not – still poorly. That does not mean they won’t get better. That said, o-line in recent years has not been good, or average, in some time.
And, reasonable or not, poor o-line play is partially to blame for Rising’s injury.
My 2 pesos worth of observation.
The oline has been good at times in recent years. But it has been solidly beaten in every game against USC, Oregon, and Washington.
It’s also much better in years when we have good players at the skill positions.
I can accept “at times”. As far as when we had good skill players, debatable – players like Moss, more often than not, had to fight his own way out of the back-field.
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I saw Bam playing on ST - he was visibly pretty jacked up, excited.
For a kid from England to absorb all the intricacies of playing OL over American kids who’ve been doing it since they were 10 years old… I have a hunch the last chapter hasn’t been written on him.
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I don’t remember who the Oline coach was before Harding but I do recall everyone thinking Harding was a huge upgrade.
I don’t know that firing him is the answer, the Oline seemed fine last year until we ran into Oregon and Texas. Last year our Dline was causing the same havoc against everyone we played. Did their fans want their Oline coach fired after playing the Utes? IDK, but maybe USC’s Dline is really good and our Oline would look great if we played byu’s front 7.
Here’s highlights against one of the weaker opponents on our schedule at the end of the season when our Oline has had plenty of time to gel.
These are highlights, so plays where the Oline completely screws up and the play ends within a second aren’t included.
I still see more losses than wins by the Oline. Huntley’s completions are nearly all after evading a pass rusher, and it’s not like he’s taking seven step drops.
Ludwig needs to call more rollouts, ASAP.
The CU game was the warning shot on OLine play last year. Oregon & Texas saw the film and - with really good talent - they jammed us.
USC’s talent & us being 2 games behind was a bad look, unquestionably. (It was also evident USC was motivated.)
I’m not ready to call for a change, but there’s a concern. Play calling can keep a defense off balance, but if it’s 3rd and 1, you have to be able to punch it through.
Our DL has made many OCs look bad in the PAC. We need to find a way to make the next half step up on the OL. No question - Whit laid it out.
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