Offensive Line

[BostonND]

I'm kind of panicking about this situation right now. Is it just me? Here's our situation:

Seantrel Henderson - We seem to be out
James Stone - Hopefully we can pull him out of the SEC
Matt James - Appears to be a Cincinnati lean
Chaz Green - We were never in it
Arie Kouandijo - Appears to be a Penn St. lean
Erik Kohler - Appears to be a Washington lean
Brandon Linder - Hopefully we're in pretty good shape
Christian Lombard - The actual verbal

So basically, we have two offers (James and Linder) that we're hoping to pull out of the south, three offers that seem to be leaning toward other schools, and everyone else we're out of play for. Where are the tackles? Lombard is a guard on scout, Linder is considered a center, and Stone is also projected at guard. Is it just me, or are we screwed at tackle yet again? How is this happening with the amount of playing time a good true tackle will get? I'm sorry to be one of those worriers, but how are people not discussing this more? Tackles are the #1 NEED for this class.

 

[BostonND]

The way that list looks, it'll be pretty much impossible to sign five linemen on signing day without making more offers, which means we missed on our real targets

 

[jason_h537]

Not sure we're you got Stone as a Gaurd but he is a LT and the 4th ranked tackle on Rivals.
Stone is very interested in Notre Dame and he has already planned his OV with the Irish. His only ov scheduled so far.
Linder will take his time but i believe we are in good standing with him, he can play any position on o-line.
James does not appearto be commiting anytime soon so breathe easy its a 2 team race
Lombard is more of a gaurd but he can also play RT.
The staff believes it can land all of these guys but yeah O-line will be struggle for us to recruit.
For all of Latina's faults, the man was a good recruiter. His firing may help us on the field but has hurt us in recruiting this year.

 

[irish4ever]

Not sure we're you got Stone as a Gaurd but he is a LT and the 4th ranked tackle on Rivals.
Stone is very interested in Notre Dame and he has already planned his OV with the Irish. His only ov scheduled so far.
Linder will take his time but i believe we are in good standing with him, he can play any position on o-line.
James does not appearto be commiting anytime soon so breathe easy its a 2 team race
Lombard is more of a gaurd but he can also play RT.
The staff believes it can land all of these guys but yeah O-line will be struggle for us to recruit.
For all of Latina's faults, the man was a good recruiter. His firing may help us on the field but has hurt us in recruiting this year.

Ahhh ... the optimistic viewpoint!!!

 

[Junkhead]

The offensive line has been so bad,, I'm not surprised the recruiting is slow. Maybe after a few games, and a lot of improvement on the field, things will start looking up.

 

[NDOM]

I think a lot of these kids too are kinda waiting to see how we do and how the new coach (Verducci) works out. I think we will get 3 lineman and I think we will get Henderson.

 

[NDinL.A.]

I'm kind of panicking about this situation right now. Is it just me? Here's our situation:

Seantrel Henderson - We seem to be out
James Stone - Hopefully we can pull him out of the SEC
Matt James - Appears to be a Cincinnati lean
Chaz Green - We were never in it
Arie Kouandijo - Appears to be a Penn St. lean
Erik Kohler - Appears to be a Washington lean
Brandon Linder - Hopefully we're in pretty good shape
Christian Lombard - The actual verbal

So basically, we have two offers (James and Linder) that we're hoping to pull out of the south, three offers that seem to be leaning toward other schools, and everyone else we're out of play for. Where are the tackles? Lombard is a guard on scout, Linder is considered a center, and Stone is also projected at guard. Is it just me, or are we screwed at tackle yet again? How is this happening with the amount of playing time a good true tackle will get? I'm sorry to be one of those worriers, but how are people not discussing this more? Tackles are the #1 NEED for this class.

There are tons of instances where guys come into college as guards and end up as tackles, and vice-versa. IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO PROJECT WHERE HIGH SCHOOL KIDS PLAY ON THE LINE. Kids switch positions all the time. I'm not looking for the prototypical LT as much as I am looking for quality O-Linemen.

Having said that, I agree with you that things don't look great with the O-Line. We basically have to get players that we don't necessarily lead with. Let's say Linder chooses a FL school, James goes to Cinci, Kohler goes to UW (almost a lock now w/ his comments yesterday) and Stone stays in the South. We're in trouble if that happens, and that could very well happen.

Then again, as NDOM said, we're feeling the Latina effect right now, as well as the effects of CW's job status. Say we win, we run the ball down these (weak) opponents' throats, and Sam Young gets early talk as a top 12 pick. Verducci get lauded, and suddenly ND looks like a place where O-Linemen develop instead of fade away. Things could change, and I think they will.

I don't think you're worrying should be construed as being a 'complainer' or anything. But like all things this year with ND, worrying now will do you no good. We just have to wait until we see results on the field. Then you'll see the top recruits come. Kevin Costner's dad said it best on Field of Dreams...

 

[IrishInFl]

I thought that d-line was the biggest need of this classs, but whatever.

 

[WabashFalcon]

Relax... we'll get some big uglies to come rocking in the trenches.

 

[aaronb]

OL recruiting isn't as pressing of a need this year. Only Sam Young and Paul Duncan are exhausting their eligibility after this season. We took 4 schollie and a Preferred Walk-on who had Scollie offers in this years Freshman class. Depth is there.

 

[jason_h537]

O line and D line are pressing needs every year. You want to keep adding depth at these positions because football is won in the trenches. that is why we are a 7-6 team

 

[WabashFalcon]

I like to reload each year with OL, but if we get a single tackle, we'll be good.