The Junkyard

I took another look at the first team offense against the first team defense in the first half. And I have to say that I was impressed with how well the offensive line handled the defense. David Andrews did a wonderful job handling Big Jenkins. Much of the time, he was the only blocker needed. I also saw him get to the second level on a couple of plays and lock up on Gilliard (an area of weakness in our blocking last season).

The only real blemish on the offensive line in the first half was the 2 minute drill at the end. Jenkins lined up over Burnette and just bull rushed him a couple of times. Kolton Houston whiffed on Cornelius Washington once. And Andrews struggled with Washington on the last play finishing with one of the worst offensive line "holds" I've ever seen. (there was also a false start on Lynch). (JSW was lined up behind Lynch in a bunch set and whiffed on Vasser on another run play).

Excepting that last drive, the OL had probably bested the defense for the first half.
After that review, I'm more optimistic about Andrews at Center than I had been previously. He handled big men well. He was able to get to the second level and lock up on run plays. Admittedly, the majority of the pass attempts were 3 step drops which protected the young chemestry on the line. But they looked good.

meansonny and Gentry

For me, those were two good and inspiring posts! It was interesting to me to read both your re-reviews of our OL's G-Day Game performance. Knowing that I have neither of your football acumen, I had thought that, but had also thought my perception was flawed, and hesitated to even comment about it. I'm glad you did.

Especially with big John Theus coming in this summer and hopefully being able to learn the playbook quickly and possibly being able to compete well for a starting tackle position, I now have more faith that our OL can rather quickly gel and become a strength rather than a possible weakness for our team.

If it can do that, while it's my homeristic opinion, I think with all the other components of a good offense seemingly in place, and with our stellar defense knowingly set, with a little luck in resolving our special team's woes, I think we may legimitately contend to win the SEC. Then, if we do that, we should compete for the MNC.

Thanks, meansonny for reporting this, and for both of y'alls insight. It makes me even more excited for the upcoming 2012 season and the possibilities that lie ahead if our OL can just develop as we foresee it may. I hope you stay healthy, Dawgs, and get us all the way to the MNC!

Just my in this conversation. This Dawg fan is truly ready for some football!

like you, meansonny, i walked away from the spring game feeling much better about the first team OL than i expected to. the trick will be to develop depth. i think CMB said he wanted 8 guys who he could trust, and we've got 5-6 right now. looking for some combination of big john, austin long, and watts dantzler to step up this fall and give us the depth we need to block bama and LSU for 4 quarters.