Offensive Line Play

Got5onIt · December 17, 2017

They improved as the year went on. I felt the playcalling didn’t help them many times, either. Definitely, lots of room for improvement there.

Edited December 17, 2017 by Got5onIt

Venson · December 18, 2017

The OL was bad, but I don't know if they were any worse than they were last year. We threw a lot more this year and had 10 less sacks. Improvement? Yes. Was it the line or Mason and Wilson covering up for them? Maybe. Either way, I think SL gives Langston another season to see if the line gets better with all the redshirts getting a chance next season.

Aldo · December 18, 2017

Going into the CCG, North Texas had allowed 24 sacks (according the cfbstats). In the 2 postseason games, they allowed 15 more.

Yes that's awful, and that's what facing great d-lines looks like. This vulnerability was there all year long, but really picked up steam after UTSA laid the blueprint.

O-line has been an issue since 2015, and hopefully recruiting and development the past couple of classes are ready to improve this situation.

GMG24 · December 18, 2017

53 minutes ago, Aldo said:

Going into the CCG, North Texas had allowed 24 sacks (according the cfbstats). In the 2 postseason games, they allowed 15 more.

Yes that's awful, and that's what facing great d-lines looks like. This vulnerability was there all year long, but really picked up steam after UTSA laid the blueprint.

O-line has been an issue since 2015, and hopefully recruiting and development the past couple of classes are ready to improve this situation.

I think Mose, Parish and possible Brammer all start next season.

TheFlyingWorm · December 19, 2017

On 12/17/2017 at 12:07 PM, SHD said:

The current OL coach cannot carry Brad Davis's water bottle (Brad Davis is worth two more wins on the season). The OL lived off what Coach Davis had taught them last year with very little, if any assistance from new guy. From Beaumont to Denton he was outcoached thoroughly at this level. What was exposed yesterday was the same damn thing the DE from SMU did to us the first game of the year, I was just amazed more opposing "D" did not pick up on it. When you have one OLineman have bad game or bad group of games, then we can point to the kid or kids, and lets remember these are kids, but when you have a group of three or four or the whole damn group having bad games back to back to back then its coaching and no changes were ever made because the current staff can point to the 9-3 season and go "look at the improvement". Put the blame where it belongs NO WAY Littrell keeps this guy.

The line with Brad Davis allowed more sacks than the line with Livingston. When a DE can run the hump and beat your tackle play after play, that isn’t on the coach. That’s on the players, you can only coach someone so much. And if your whole group is getting beat, then maybe that’s a clue that we don’t have the talent on the field to compete with good defensive fronts.

UNTLifer · December 19, 2017

I think they regressed throughout the year. Played really well against Iowa and Southern Miss, then it was a head scratcher as the year progressed.

greenminer · December 19, 2017

@UNTLifer good observation

GrandGreen · December 19, 2017

The offensive line must and should improve. 4 starters could return plus NT uses a lot more then average ships on offensive linemen.

Aquila_Viridis · December 19, 2017

The only way to recruit OL or any position is have a position coach that is sure to help the player develop more than he would develop at peer programs. So the question is, do we have such a position coach? I don’t know who the coaches are at that level. I figure you can’t have the luxury of getting a dream position coach at every position; so choices must be made. But how is a craphole place like Troy making us look so bad?? We need to be killing the Troy and SO Miss and LT kind of places. I know it takes time to get back from being so bad, but I would like to hear about specifically how NT plans to get there.

meangreenJW · December 19, 2017

12 hours ago, Aldo said:

Going into the CCG, North Texas had allowed 24 sacks (according the cfbstats). In the 2 postseason games, they allowed 15 more.

Yes that's awful, and that's what facing great d-lines looks like. This vulnerability was there all year long, but really picked up steam after UTSA laid the blueprint.

O-line has been an issue since 2015, and hopefully recruiting and development the past couple of classes are ready to improve this situation.

Agreed. I don't get most of the criticism of this staff's recruiting especially on offense. They have recruited playmakers all of over the field. But the one area that does concern me is in the trenches. I know that's generally the hardest area to recruit and takes the longest to 'develop' but we were grossly out-manned vs FAU and Troy.

meangreenJW · December 19, 2017

30 minutes ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

The only way to recruit OL or any position is have a position coach that is sure to help the player develop more than he would develop at peer programs. So the question is, do we have such a position coach? I don’t know who the coaches are at that level. I figure you can’t have the luxury of getting a dream position coach at every position; so choices must be made. But how is a craphole place like Troy making us look so bad?? We need to be killing the Troy and SO Miss and LT kind of places. I know it takes time to get back from being so bad, but I would like to hear about specifically how NT plans to get there.

Actually, every program in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana have huge athletic linemen. People talk about DFW being such a recruiting hotbed and I think it is for skill positions but I'll take the hand those schools in the deep south play in terms of recruiting linemen all day every day. If you ever watch the Southland schools from Louisiana, they have linemen bigger and stronger than half of CUSA. Troy beat LSU for a reason this year. They've upset schools like Oklahoma State in the last few years as well. We look at down on schools like Troy but in reality, their tradition is just as good or better. CUSA barely has a better name with recruits than the Sunbelt and Troy has a long winning tradition.

UNTLifer · December 19, 2017

Plus, their entrance exam is below:

Fill in the blank to complete the word, "TR_Y."

FirefightnRick · December 19, 2017

31 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Plus, their entrance exam is below:

Fill in the blank to complete the word, "TR_Y."

They accept a 17 on the ACT. Is that good?

Rick

BTG_Fan1 · December 19, 2017

What will be very interesting and telling is the tackle spot, maybe the most exciting spot to watch at the spring game..

Can Parish move Murray out of the LT starting spot.. Murray can not handle speed rushers at all..

Can Brammer then take over the RT spot.. efficiently moving Murray to a 3rd OT role..

I think Mose and his brother lock down the C/RG spots as well, and it will be interesting to see what happens at LG between Woody and Weatherspoon (if he is a OG).

Edited December 19, 2017 by BTG_Fan1

meangreenJW · December 19, 2017

33 minutes ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

What will be very interesting and telling is the tackle spot, maybe the most exciting spot to watch at the spring game..

Can Parish move Murray out of the LT starting spot.. Murray can not handle speed rushers at all..

Can Brammer then take over the RT spot.. efficiently moving Murray to a 3rd OT role..

I think Mose and his brother lock down the C/RG spots as well, and it will be interesting to see what happens at LG between Woody and Weatherspoon (if he is a OG).

I try to be positive/realistic in all things in life. I am especially so on UNT sports. And I don't like calling out players. That being said, I find it more difficult to watch Murray play than any other player I can remember. Just seems to always get whipped. If he starts next year, we didn't make the improvements I was hoping for.

GMG24 · December 19, 2017

8 hours ago, meangreenJW said:

I try to be positive/realistic in all things in life. I am especially so on UNT sports. And I don't like calling out players. That being said, I find it more difficult to watch Murray play than any other player I can remember. Just seems to always get whipped. If he starts next year, we didn't make the improvements I was hoping for.

What if he drops another 30 pounds like he did last off season? He very well could and would still be massive but much lighter and move better.

Christopher Walker · December 19, 2017

10 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

They accept a 17 on the ACT. Is that good?

Rick

Nope.

For comparison: https://admissions.unt.edu/freshman/admission-requirements

Edited December 19, 2017 by Christopher Walker

TheFlyingWorm · December 19, 2017

2 hours ago, GMG24 said:

What if he drops another 30 pounds like he did last off season? He very well could and would still be massive but much lighter and move better.

He lost 30lbs this year and didn’t move much better. At 6’9” 330lbs he’s plenty lean. Feet are something you either have or don’t have. Think back to the days of Antonio Johnson playing LT. I don’t recall ever seeing someone beat him with speed.

GMG24 · December 19, 2017

4 hours ago, TheFlyingWorm said:

He lost 30lbs this year and didn’t move much better. At 6’9” 330lbs he’s plenty lean. Feet are something you either have or don’t have. Think back to the days of Antonio Johnson playing LT. I don’t recall ever seeing someone beat him with speed.

Well aware of that, but I think if he played at 300 pounds he'd be much quicker than at 330. I am not saying he'd be some unstoppable force but I think he'd definitely be serviceable.

GMG24 · December 20, 2017

On 12/17/2017 at 12:07 PM, SHD said:

The current OL coach cannot carry Brad Davis's water bottle (Brad Davis is worth two more wins on the season). The OL lived off what Coach Davis had taught them last year with very little, if any assistance from new guy. From Beaumont to Denton he was outcoached thoroughly at this level. What was exposed yesterday was the same damn thing the DE from SMU did to us the first game of the year, I was just amazed more opposing "D" did not pick up on it. When you have one OLineman have bad game or bad group of games, then we can point to the kid or kids, and lets remember these are kids, but when you have a group of three or four or the whole damn group having bad games back to back to back then its coaching and no changes were ever made because the current staff can point to the 9-3 season and go "look at the improvement". Put the blame where it belongs NO WAY Littrell keeps this guy.

LOL

UNTLifer · December 20, 2017

On 12/19/2017 at 12:13 AM, BTG_Fan1 said:

What will be very interesting and telling is the tackle spot, maybe the most exciting spot to watch at the spring game..

Can Parish move Murray out of the LT starting spot.. Murray can not handle speed rushers at all..

Can Brammer then take over the RT spot.. efficiently moving Murray to a 3rd OT role..

I think Mose and his brother lock down the C/RG spots as well, and it will be interesting to see what happens at LG between Woody and Weatherspoon (if he is a OG).

What has happened to Barr?

UNTLifer · December 20, 2017

On 12/17/2017 at 12:07 PM, SHD said:

The current OL coach cannot carry Brad Davis's water bottle (Brad Davis is worth two more wins on the season). The OL lived off what Coach Davis had taught them last year with very little, if any assistance from new guy. From Beaumont to Denton he was outcoached thoroughly at this level. What was exposed yesterday was the same damn thing the DE from SMU did to us the first game of the year, I was just amazed more opposing "D" did not pick up on it. When you have one OLineman have bad game or bad group of games, then we can point to the kid or kids, and lets remember these are kids, but when you have a group of three or four or the whole damn group having bad games back to back to back then its coaching and no changes were ever made because the current staff can point to the 9-3 season and go "look at the improvement". Put the blame where it belongs NO WAY Littrell keeps this guy.

Really? We improved in sacks allowed.