Brown wasn’t super highly rated coming out of high school. Presumably, one of the reasons for that is he wasn’t completely physically developed, which can take a few years to happen. Contrast this with Vatikani, who was already a physical beast when he arrived. Also tackle is a trickier position to play than guard, you have to have to have gotten your footwork and other techniques down or severe consequences happen immediately, especially if you’re up against a team with some good rushers. Patience, Brown, patience. He’s not gone yet, hopefully he’ll have some deep discussions with Coach Bloesch and decide to stick around. The good thing about the portal is that entering it means that you can evaluate your options, it’s not necessarily a one way trip out the door.
Great size for a tackle, especially if he's athletic and has good feet. Hopefully the 305 is mostly muscle and not mostly baby fat. Ideal tackle is 6'6" to 6'8" , 305# to 320#, long arms, athletic and has quick feet.
So what do young o-linemen need to learn? Everything. Leverage. Ass down, how to maintain football position, it's the only way you win battles. But you need strength to go with that, unless the player is already benching around 400 pounds and has a grip like a bear. You need to have a great stance that does not telegraph what you are doing (run, PP or pull), but you need to be able to get off explosively. This is a big problem for young o-linemen, getting off the ball quick. And depending on your block you will utilize different techniques and it all starts with the right read and the first step. If you make the wrong read you get beat (in fairness either the QB or the C is calling out the blocking assignments), but you have to get physically into the defender before he can execute his 'stunt' like a slant or other things. If you get into the defender then you have a chance to beat him, if you don't then you get beat. Then there are combo blocks, knowing who's on who and how to set up the first level and then get to the second level. There's straight second level blocking which a lot of o-linemen just can't do. You have to get out fast and take on the LB with your helmet in his numbers, pounding him as hard as you can. If you pick a side you get beat. If you are lower than the LB and hit him in the numbers (with your ass down) then he has to pick a side, if he can, and the RB goes the other way. There's straight up run blocks and there are down blocks. If you are good you know the first read of the defender and you can set him up if you are quick. When I played I wasn't light but I wasn't big. Back then big guys were 270# yo 275# and I was 6'5" 260 but I was quick and strong. I was quick enough to set up defenders who's first read was your first step. If I had a big guy I had to drive block I would take a quick jab step to the inside and let him angle down and then destroy him with a down block. It's much easier to take on a big d-lineman at an angle versus straight on. There's reach blocks for zone read. How you take your first step and engage the defender is critical. There's pass pro. How you set up relative to your defender and the angle to your QB at his max drop is critical (even coaches fuck this up). There's is your football position (where is your ass, how vertical is your back, where are your hands, how are your arms extended...ass down, back up, arms extended but not locked out, hands inside - hold the breastplate of the defenders shoulder pads - refs never call it if your hands are inside). Getting your feet right, your base and movement are so critical. All of this stuff takes reps and reps and reps. And the big thing with pass pro is being patient and not attacking the defender (unless it's a specific technique that calls for it, like a pop pass). If you get body out ahead of your feet you are done. Anyway, the aforementioned basics should give you an idea. There is a lot of nuance to technique as well. A lot of this work can be done offseason, but it takes a kid that wants to be good and who has the work ethic to do it. There are a lot of little things that I have not even mentioned but I hope this give you an idea of what it takes.
Are there some techniques that are inherently easier for novice OL to learn/execute (by buying a little more decision time or being more forgiving)? I vaguely remember a discussion when Yenser installed VSPP.
Spavital and Bloesch will hopefully figure out a way to maximize our new QB's protection based on available personnel. I think Musgrave (being in the NFL so long) may have assumed his OL personnel were more capable and knowledgeable than they were.
I wish I could say yes but the truth is no. I actually don't like the VSPP, I think it gives ground too fast. I could go into the type of PP I like but I'd need a whiteboard and a couple of hours of your time....it all depends on timing where the QB drops, 3 step, 5 step or 7 step (even if they are in pistol or gun) and personnel, 5, 6 , 7 (max pro). Remember, football, like so many other sports is about time and space. Depending on the PP the QB will have different responsibilities as well. In 5 man if he sees a speed rush from the edge he has to go to the hot read. I hate double reads for guards because as soon as they abandon their inside position to bounce outside to pick up an outside rush then the QB is vulnerable to the delayed blitz. My rule with my OC's was on 5 man PP will will not get beat inside the two tackles and ideally the tackles will run the rusher by the QB as the QB steps up into the pocket. In 6 man PP I prefer a RB to a TE in protection and in 7 man max pro its a RB and TE joining the 5 o-linemen. Lots of schemes depending on how the defense lines up and what they show when they come out of their 'sugar' looks. It really is a chess game and everyone has to be on the same page and have the right technique. You can see why it's so easy for things to go sideways...there is a lot going on.
I'll be very close to Telluride so if any of you come that way, please let me know and we can meet up. Sadly, no game in Boulder for CAL this year. And Deion just cleaned house. He only has something like 20 scholarship players left from last year. Trying to find 65 quality players for scholarships in one year is next to impossible. He's in a rebuild in a tough P5 conference. I expect him to do well but its not going to happen as fast as at Jackson State.
People stay just a little bit longer
We want to play, just a little bit longer
Now the promoter don't mind
And the union don't mind
If we take a little time
And we leave it all behind and sing
One more song
Jackson Brown, the rock star! Very good!
one could say the line is Running on Empty
I wish he’d Stay, just a little bit longer.
Yet another proof that college football has devolved into nothing more than which school can pay the most for a prospect
The NFL has more integrity than this mess..
Brown wasn’t super highly rated coming out of high school. Presumably, one of the reasons for that is he wasn’t completely physically developed, which can take a few years to happen. Contrast this with Vatikani, who was already a physical beast when he arrived. Also tackle is a trickier position to play than guard, you have to have to have gotten your footwork and other techniques down or severe consequences happen immediately, especially if you’re up against a team with some good rushers. Patience, Brown, patience. He’s not gone yet, hopefully he’ll have some deep discussions with Coach Bloesch and decide to stick around. The good thing about the portal is that entering it means that you can evaluate your options, it’s not necessarily a one way trip out the door.
Congratulations to Daniel Scott, 5th round pick of the Colts.
They wouldn't be able to match what I make doing what I do. ;-)
Sorry to see him leave but as a sophomore he's clearly impatient...he's not close to being ready for a starting spot. Let's see where he ends up.
Great size for a tackle, especially if he's athletic and has good feet. Hopefully the 305 is mostly muscle and not mostly baby fat. Ideal tackle is 6'6" to 6'8" , 305# to 320#, long arms, athletic and has quick feet.
So what do young o-linemen need to learn? Everything. Leverage. Ass down, how to maintain football position, it's the only way you win battles. But you need strength to go with that, unless the player is already benching around 400 pounds and has a grip like a bear. You need to have a great stance that does not telegraph what you are doing (run, PP or pull), but you need to be able to get off explosively. This is a big problem for young o-linemen, getting off the ball quick. And depending on your block you will utilize different techniques and it all starts with the right read and the first step. If you make the wrong read you get beat (in fairness either the QB or the C is calling out the blocking assignments), but you have to get physically into the defender before he can execute his 'stunt' like a slant or other things. If you get into the defender then you have a chance to beat him, if you don't then you get beat. Then there are combo blocks, knowing who's on who and how to set up the first level and then get to the second level. There's straight second level blocking which a lot of o-linemen just can't do. You have to get out fast and take on the LB with your helmet in his numbers, pounding him as hard as you can. If you pick a side you get beat. If you are lower than the LB and hit him in the numbers (with your ass down) then he has to pick a side, if he can, and the RB goes the other way. There's straight up run blocks and there are down blocks. If you are good you know the first read of the defender and you can set him up if you are quick. When I played I wasn't light but I wasn't big. Back then big guys were 270# yo 275# and I was 6'5" 260 but I was quick and strong. I was quick enough to set up defenders who's first read was your first step. If I had a big guy I had to drive block I would take a quick jab step to the inside and let him angle down and then destroy him with a down block. It's much easier to take on a big d-lineman at an angle versus straight on. There's reach blocks for zone read. How you take your first step and engage the defender is critical. There's pass pro. How you set up relative to your defender and the angle to your QB at his max drop is critical (even coaches fuck this up). There's is your football position (where is your ass, how vertical is your back, where are your hands, how are your arms extended...ass down, back up, arms extended but not locked out, hands inside - hold the breastplate of the defenders shoulder pads - refs never call it if your hands are inside). Getting your feet right, your base and movement are so critical. All of this stuff takes reps and reps and reps. And the big thing with pass pro is being patient and not attacking the defender (unless it's a specific technique that calls for it, like a pop pass). If you get body out ahead of your feet you are done. Anyway, the aforementioned basics should give you an idea. There is a lot of nuance to technique as well. A lot of this work can be done offseason, but it takes a kid that wants to be good and who has the work ethic to do it. There are a lot of little things that I have not even mentioned but I hope this give you an idea of what it takes.
Always awesome, Rugbear. I hear you’re moving. What’s your new team, so we can root for them?
The Golden Bears will always be my team! I bleed Blue and Gold. I'm still a 49er, Warrior and Sharks fan (even though the Sharks suck lately). :-)
Are there some techniques that are inherently easier for novice OL to learn/execute (by buying a little more decision time or being more forgiving)? I vaguely remember a discussion when Yenser installed VSPP.
Spavital and Bloesch will hopefully figure out a way to maximize our new QB's protection based on available personnel. I think Musgrave (being in the NFL so long) may have assumed his OL personnel were more capable and knowledgeable than they were.
I wish I could say yes but the truth is no. I actually don't like the VSPP, I think it gives ground too fast. I could go into the type of PP I like but I'd need a whiteboard and a couple of hours of your time....it all depends on timing where the QB drops, 3 step, 5 step or 7 step (even if they are in pistol or gun) and personnel, 5, 6 , 7 (max pro). Remember, football, like so many other sports is about time and space. Depending on the PP the QB will have different responsibilities as well. In 5 man if he sees a speed rush from the edge he has to go to the hot read. I hate double reads for guards because as soon as they abandon their inside position to bounce outside to pick up an outside rush then the QB is vulnerable to the delayed blitz. My rule with my OC's was on 5 man PP will will not get beat inside the two tackles and ideally the tackles will run the rusher by the QB as the QB steps up into the pocket. In 6 man PP I prefer a RB to a TE in protection and in 7 man max pro its a RB and TE joining the 5 o-linemen. Lots of schemes depending on how the defense lines up and what they show when they come out of their 'sugar' looks. It really is a chess game and everyone has to be on the same page and have the right technique. You can see why it's so easy for things to go sideways...there is a lot going on.
I'll be very close to Telluride so if any of you come that way, please let me know and we can meet up. Sadly, no game in Boulder for CAL this year. And Deion just cleaned house. He only has something like 20 scholarship players left from last year. Trying to find 65 quality players for scholarships in one year is next to impossible. He's in a rebuild in a tough P5 conference. I expect him to do well but its not going to happen as fast as at Jackson State.
??
Exactly what time are you thanking Mr.
Brown for?
you know exactly what
Ugh,! Man thin seems like an understatement. We need to get some big humans soon :-) Quality and depth on the line is key.
Doesn’t seem like this move affects our OL viability this season, for the most part. Best of luck to JB!
See my post.