Drc - Unt Has Depth In Trenches

[MeanGreen61]

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/sports/stories/DRC_untnotebook_0331.1fe072740.html

[UNT90]

http://www.dentonrc.....1fe072740.html

The title of the article should have read "UNT has depth in the trench."

[SilverEagle]

The title of the article should have read "UNT has depth in the trench."

I saw Fortenberry go into many games last fall and he's still not on a ship?

[Harry]

I agree with Brett on more than I disagree but I have to take issue with this article. In my opinion, the offensive line is the thinnest area of this program right now and certainly not worthy of consideration of his tutle "depth in trenches". Actually when I saw the title I thought he might be speaking to the defensive tackle position which in terms of size, talent and experience in better than it has been in some time.

Kelvin Drake is a very good player, and I think Esteban Santiago is not far behind. JJ Johnson has been solid as a shotgun snapper but I would not yet put him in the class of say an Andy Brewster. Has anyone else proven themselves on the battle field? I like Victor Gill, and he has played well above his 260 weight, but I don't think he is the prototypical offensive tackle Dodge thought he would have in place at this time in his career at UNT. Matt Tomlinson appears to be a capable fill in at the tackle spot, but other than him there is not another tackle that is proven. Coleman Feely also has potential but has yet to emerge.

The rest of the crew, Fortenberry, Bean etc.. all have ability but have yet to show enough to me to feel comfortable about the depth of this line. JJ Johnson says it well in the article, “We are starting to build depth.” Add a "Hoping" somewhere in that quote and you have a better description of the current situation.

[GrayEagle]

I agree with Brett on more than I disagree but I have to take issue with this article. In my opinion, the offensive line is the thinnest area of this program right now and certainly not worthy of consideration of his tutle "depth in trenches". Actually when I saw the title I thought he might be speaking to the defensive tackle position which in terms of size, talent and experience in better than it has been in some time.

Kelvin Drake is a very good player, and I think Esteban Santiago is not far behind. JJ Johnson has been solid as a shotgun snapper but I would not yet put him in the class of say an Andy Brewster. Has anyone else proven themselves on the battle field? I like Victor Gill, and he has played well above his 260 weight, but I don't think he is the prototypical offensive tackle Dodge thought he would have in place at this time in his career at UNT. Matt Tomlinson appears to be a capable fill in at the tackle spot, but other than him there is not another tackle that is proven. Coleman Feely also has potential but has yet to emerge.

P.S. I left out another lineman who I believe will be a hoss...John Noble. He needs playing time as well.

The rest of the crew, Fortenberry, Bean etc.. all have ability but have yet to show enough to me to feel comfortable about the depth of this line. JJ Johnson says it well in the article, “We are starting to build depth.” Add a "Hoping" somewhere in that quote and you have a better description of the current situation.

You are right about the experience for the most part but I believe (at least I hope) that there was a reason for this. Feeley, who started 7 or 8 games as a true freshman, Bean, and Franklin were all red-shirted last year in order to provide talent for 2011, the opening season in the new stadium, since Drake, Gill, and Santiago graduate after this next season.

I didn't/don't approve of the action because talent doesn't improve sitting on the bench; talent improves with experience. I don't know whether it was Lefty's decision to play his starters almost exclusively (using Fortenberry and Tomlinson as the backups) or he was mandated to do so but unless there is a great dropoff in talent linemen need to be fresh because its tiring to constantly battle 300 pounders.

I'd expect the starters for this coming season to be Gill, Feeley, JJ Johnson, Drake and Santiago. Fortenberry, Tomlinson, Bean, Franklin, and Flax all seem to be capable backups and I hope all get considerable playing time. After this I hope that they'll just play their ten best lineman and let recruiting fill in the gaps.

Edited April 1, 2010 by GrayEagle

[GrandGreen]

It is very common for teams to go almost entirely with their starting five in the offensive line. The benefits of playing one unit and the increased familiarity with the defense as the number of plays increase can offset any benefits of being fresh in the offensive line. The downside is that secondary players get little experience . However, although it is difficult to believe with NT having the majority of it offensive line out for the Spring, offensive linemen are the least likely to have serious injuries; therefore teams think that a couple of backups are enough.

I disagree a little with Harry, I think that the offensive line is the deepest part of the team with the exception of wide receiver. NT returns four starters from last year with Santiago, Gill, Drake, and Johnson plus one starter from the year before in Freeley. Tomlinson also started several games at offensive tackle. The only losses were Bailey and Hollovay who alternated in the guard position. Redshirts Noble, Flax, Franklin and Bean along with Fortenberry should form a good back up unit. I think the offensive line was actually good last year at least compared with most of the team, there were few sacks and Dunbar had a heck of a year. No-one got any all conference recognition which is to be expected with NT's Belt record. There are no kept conference stats on offensive linemen. A skill position or a defensive player can sometimes get recognition on a bad team because there are statistics such as yards gained, tackles, etc. to highlight their performance, but it very difficult for an offensive linemen to get recognized unless he is truly dominating.