Yeah, you're correct, and the real problem is the "IDK" because I don't know either and I doubt these coaches know. There is no clear solution. Your returning starters are bad, and there is no evidence their backups are better.
A year ago, we had two A+ talents on the left side, a very solid center, and an A- (and that's grading harsh) talent at RG. The only hole was RT, where Hainsey graded out as one of the worst in college football by PFF and Kraemer wasn't much better. So A+/A+/B+/A-/F is going to get the job done the vast majority of the time because you can adjust for that one hole on your line to make it less of an issue.
Fast forward a year and.... well, you have a C- player at LT, a B+ player at LG with potential to be an A level player, a ? at center, a C- player at RG, and a D player at RT. Like what in the actual fuck happened on the OL? Where is the talent? Where are the players being groomed to step up? You look at the depth chart, and there is no obvious talent coming up that is going to be the answer and you almost never want to start a true freshman on the OL regardless of how good they are.
You're basically stuck praying that a healthy Eichenberg develops into a B+ player, that Banks becomes an A at LG, that Ruhland is at least a B at center, that Hainsey or Kraemer can figure out how to be a B at RG, and that some new player like Lugg or Patterson can be a B+ at RT. While that's still a huge step below 2017's line, that would at least be a top 25-50 group that would do wonders for the offense. But that requires a million things to go right. I hate being the guy who criticizes players, but this unit had obvious problems since Week 1 against Michigan and they did not get figured out as the year went along. There is no reason besides blind faith to assume they play markedly better in 2019.
