News of Austin Clark's flip to Virginia Tech brings the highest rated true offensive lineman to Virginia Tech since current NFL'er Vinston Painter (per 247) and with that rating; optimism and expectations. Furthering this optimism is our recent recruiting successes, and successful conversions to the positions over the past year.
Lets look at what this offensive line is going to look like next year, assuming everybody comes back.
Our only seniors are Wade Hansen (a converted DT), and Ross Ward (a walk-on who has only seen 13 snaps in mop-up duty last season). Neither of these, I would expect, would factor into a two or three deep.
The Juniors of this class are Alston Smith (another converted DT), Jack Willenbrock (an undersized OL at 243 lbs), Adam Taraschke (who has yet to crack the depth chart), Augie Conte (A super-Iron Hokie and starter at RG), and Jonathan McLaughlin (a two year starter at both Tackles and most veteran of the group)
Sophomores are Wyatt Teller (another converted DT who has surged into the starting LG spot), Kyle Chung (a converted TE), Parker Osterloh (Current Blindside backup and the only man who looks down on Bucky), and Andrew Williams (another Walkon) ***sidenote, Teller and Chung are the youngest converted Offensive linemen, so that means the rest have all played the position in High School and were recruited to battle in the trenches.
Redshirt Freshmen of the Line (Grimes' Spear Tips if you will) are Braxton Pfaff, Eric Gallo (current backup C), Billy Ray Mitchell (Voted Best Named Offensive Lineman), Colt Pettit, and Tyrell Smith (currently at Cushing Academy), Cody Rhodes and Andrew Moras are both current walkons who may either advance as Sophs, r-Fr, or not be brought back.
Incoming Freshman (Searels' First Haul) are Austin Clark (4-stars), Mike Arnold (3-stars), and Frederick Johnson (3-stars).
Current targets include Barnabas Baning (3-star and 6-5 330 lb OT from Maryland recruited by Searels and Moorhead), Kenny Thomas (unranked 6-6 330 OT from Alabama recruited by Gray and Searels, with offers from Miss St and Louisville), Pete Seftas (2-star C from Fredericksburg recruited by Foster, no offer yet), and Marcus Pettiford (unranked OG from North Carolina recruited by Searles and Wiles)
I, for one, am excited about the future of the offensive line, provided they are developed to the level we need to get us out of this rut that has been brought about by poor recruiting and development from 2010-2011. Consider that none of those players have had any appreciable playing time on the offensive line this year. From the 2012-2014 classes, five players are in the two-deep and two of those are current starters.
The adage goes, "the best thing about freshman is that they become sophomores." That saying is completely true, especially when it comes to offensive linemen. We will have eight freshmen advance to either r-Sophs or r-Fr next year and an additional four freshmen coming in. With five r-Jr and Jr leaders, this offensive line is being built to be deep and (hopefully) reliable, so long as they develop.
Comments
With all the youth and talent at skill positions the Hokies have this year, I can understand why Coach Beamer keeps saying he's proud of his team and the future is bright. I agree with Beamer but this team also has the talent to go to a bowl game.
Applause. Another reason to have everyone sit tight for a bit.
6'5/330, 6'6"/330...everybody is now a Tony Mandarich!*
I'll take, "Hormones in the chicken", for a thousand, Alex.
Some of you younger fellas here will live to see an OL that averages 7'0"/400
*Who the heck is Tony Mandarich, you ask:
A little step back into time, for any history buffs out there.
Back in the day (late 80's), blindside OT was just starting to become known as one of the most coveted pieces to the NFL team puzzle. The Redskins outstanding trade (yes the Skins were run well at one time, but I digress) for Jim Lachey in '88 as a prime example of the clamor for pass protecting OTs. Mandarich exploded on the scene as a virtual drawn up cyborg, in a position that was creating a huge amount of buzz...the stars were all seemingly coming into alignment, and Sports Illustrated was breathless...
Then he proceeded to become what may be the biggest hyped bust in NFL history.
Wiki: Mandarich played his senior year of high school football at Theodore Roosevelt High School (Kent, Ohio). Recruited to Michigan State University by defensive back coach Nick Saban, Mandarich played in the 1988 Rose Bowl, was named as a First-team All-American, an Outland Award finalist and a two-time Big Ten Lineman of the Year. Upon his entry into the 1989 NFL Draft, both scouts and media (most notably Sports Illustrated, which did a cover story on him, nicknaming him "The Incredible Bulk")[2] began trumpeting Mandarich as the best offensive line prospect ever, touting his "measurables", "He weighed 330, ran the 40 in 4.65 seconds, did a standing long jump of 10' 3", leaped vertically 30" and bench-pressed 225 pounds an unheard-of 39 times". He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice and was also a colorful character, illustrated by such instances as challenging thenHeavyweight Boxing Champion Mike Tyson to a fight, missing scheduled public appearances due to being drunk or hungover, his well-documented love of the band Guns N' Roses (he had a dog named Axl and also a tattoo of the cross-design from the cover of Appetite for Destruction on his arm), and referring to Green Bay as "a village".
Edit: Please, God, when my time comes...can I just be put in a loop re-doing the 80's?
I'm just sayin', if we put those two on the same side of the line as Osterloh, and give them all a reasonable dinner the night before the game, that's a half ton of beef bulldozing the field.
The Skins back then were well managed and had a great offense. Jim Lachey was a BEAST!
Glad I'm seeing some more positive posts around here...
Finally ... maybe we can finally - for a while, anyway - stop saying that the OL is a position of weakness. Seems that's all we've been saying for 15 years.
What makes you think Hansen won't be in the two deep?
He's the 3rd best tackle on the roster right now; with Gibson departing, I see little reason to think he won't be one of the top 4 next season.
Just quick clarification - Teller played both OL and DL in high school. While he was initially recruited as a DL, he was quickly switched to OL during fall camp his freshman year, and red-shirted as an OL. Not quite the same situation as guys like K.Chung and A.Smith who had to learn OL from scratch.
Yes, 2016 should have a nice OL.
If we get Barnabas Baning he could take over the title of best named offensive lineman.
It is great to see some positive comments here. I know many people here are calling for removal of the coaching staff, I believe in just the opposite. It appears now we have a group of coaches who recruit well, continuity with these guys will bring us back to a great program. I know in our win now culture this thought is unpopular but I truly believe it is in the best interests of the program.
Joshua Nijman, a Hokie lean who plays DT or OT and is a 2015 recruit has been given a 4* rating by 247. Things are looking up, guys.
Frankly, I was expecting significant improvement this year. Gibson would finally be getting consistent minutes, Conte is a manchild and was going to be starting from Day 1. Wang was competing with Teller for the OG position. Farris is a warrior and has been around.
Talent, as far as we can tell as fans, is an OLinemans measurables. Conte, Teller, McGlock and Gibson have that. Farris is a bit chunky and slow, but he's tough. Wang is mobile but way too light. Shuman and Benedict got hurt, but we were cynical about whether those two would be valuable contributors anyway. Now, seeing how this season has gone, they couldn't have been much worse.
So, do we have the "talent" this year but we're getting this performance?
We are also running the 3rd system in 3 years for some of these guys. They have been asked to do different things each year and it takes time to play without thinking. Physically they are mature but they are coming into a situation like freshman and they are playing like freshman right now. Grimes was pure zone, Searels has guys pulling and doing different things along with his zone. Zone blocking schemes work great when executed perfectly and right now, we seem to be 1 guy away from making a play most of the time.
Talent and measurables are far from being the same. Good technique and form will win out brute strength at this level when they were able to get away with it in high school. We have been able to do things this year that we couldn't last year (short yardage situations and some games having a good running game). There have been glimmers of what is to come and there has been big breakdowns.
We are young and strong and I think we will see improvements next year as these guys get more experience with the system, their assignments and with playing with each other for the most part.
Swapping Gibson and McGlock didn't exactly help, either. They are both basically learning a new position this year.
Of note on recruiting, this was a surprising post on 247:
Joshua Nijman, a prep schooler VT has offered and leads for, was given a 4* rating and a grade of 91, which is higher than Austin Clark. Nijman is only 265 lbs, but very athletic on his 6'6" frame.
http://virginiatech.247sports.com/Bolt/Virginia-Tech-lean-earns-four-star-grade-32623537
6'6 265, isn't that about what Bucky is?
I believe Bucky is around 245.
If we got him and he came in at 270, he could be 290-300 by the time he was a RS Fr. Adding weight to a 6'6" lineman frame isn't a difficult thing to do
Thanks for the update on Nijman. I didn't see anything about him until after I posted, but then nothing regarding star rating