Fans Were Panicked About Offensive Line and Now Questions Shifted to Running Back

Pretty sure nobody has stopped asking about the Oline. It's the least experienced group with the most to prove and show. You can't have a any RBs without them. The questions and concerns need to start up front. If they can prove to be a decent Oline then move to RBs.

Good thing now as concerns OL is that we pretty much know we have a decent offensive line IF they can avoid another rash of injury losses this year. Likely
the best Dickie has had to work with at OSU. Both talent and depth are seemingly present at every spot.
But rb really isn't really resolved by just having "pretty decent" rb's. It takes a special talent (or multiple) to make the run game really click and force a defense to give it extra attention.
I wouldn't be too surprised if Dominic ends up being special, but he was there last year and it was obvious that our special rb last year was Jalen Warren only. Now whether that was due to just God given talent or whether maturity and experience gave Jalen that boost is hard to know. But we need someone to rise up to that Jalen, Chuba, Thurman, Justice, Kendall, etc. level to be a fully competitive team.
Whether that's Dom, Nixon or a freshman, we need a guy who can average 4+ yards and make more happen than just what the line hands him.

This Oline has so many questions it's not funny. Dickey can't recruit to save his life and if 1 goes down the whole team is done. He just can't get it right. He is too old to be coaching at this point. He doesn't relate to his players at all.

Crazed_Stallion said:

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This Oline has so many questions it's not funny. Dickey can't recruit to save his life and if 1 goes down the whole team is done. He just can't get it right. He is too old to be coaching at this point. He doesn't relate to his players at all.

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Okay, I'll bite... care to explain? (since nobody on this forum agrees with you)

Absolutely disagree. Dickie's had two full recruiting cycles and we're looking at a 4 deep OL chart with 2 fairly good strings IMO. In fact, I think we can absorb one injury at all three spots of tackle, guard or center with little drop off. I personally expect our OL will be in the top 4 in the conference this year. Cal's remark is on point....please explain who on this line you're disappointed in.

I don't see a clear 2 deep that will compete with the better Dlines in the conference. Sure, I think the the starting 5 will be ok, maybe 5th or 6th in the conference. Dickey has shown nothing when it comes yo young talent recruiting at OSU. We consistently miss out on any big time guys. Sure he got 2 JUCO guys. 1 severely overweight when he came in and 1 way under wait that now will maybe compete for the guard spot. Who else? The Oline hit the portal this season and we have zero centers to fall back on in the future. That room is hurting bad. Maybe he will hit the portal hard this off season and fix some holes. That's the future anyway (the portal).

Crazed_Stallion said:

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I don't see a clear 2 deep that will compete with the better Dlines in the conference. Sure, I think the the starting 5 will be ok, maybe 5th or 6th in the conference. Dickey has shown nothing when it comes yo young talent recruiting at OSU. We consistently miss out on any big time guys. Sure he got 2 JUCO guys. 1 severely overweight when he came in and 1 way under wait that now will maybe compete for the guard spot. Who else? The Oline hit the portal this season and we have zero centers to fall back on in the future. That room is hurting bad. Maybe he will hit the portal hard this off season and fix some holes. That's the future anyway (the portal).

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you keep saying the same thing over and over, but that does not make it so.

Teams never have a 2-deep on the OLine (practically never), it's consistently the top 8. (but I think we have a legitimate 2-deep across the line). We have a clear backup center, he started the last few games of the season when Danny G. went down.

and all of that with one of our best linemen still on the sideline injured.

Our line has been plenty good the past 2 years, good enough to play for the conf championship. Good enough to thump BU in regulation and ranked ND in the bowl.

we got 2 P5 transfers too, odd that you should fail to mention them.

do you even know how many freshman and RSfreshman OLinemen we have on the team?

Here is how College Football News ranked them:

CFN Preview 2022 Preseason College Football Offensive Lines Unit Rankings: Big 12
Click on each school for its 2022 preview to dive into the Offensive Lines and the rest of the team.
1 Baylor
2 Oklahoma State
3 Oklahoma
4 Iowa State
5 West Virginia
6 Kansas State
7 Texas
8 Texas Tech
9 TCU
10 Kansas

BU
Oklahoma
Kstate
Texas
OSU
Tech
TCU
WV
ISU
Kansas

The list should say. We will see, its just not that strong to hold up against the better defenses. We played ND when they sat a ton of players, its a bowl game dont look at it like that. ND had their best players sitting out and we scrapped by. A win is a win, but dont look at it as a program changing victory. Questions we have LT, LG, Center. The right side should be ok since that is who we are returning. they are not strong but at least its returning players.

Thanks for responses Stallion. I agree that LT and LG are up in the air about starter, but I'm hopeful that's due to having two candidates/depth at each spot with no returning starter (at least with many starts). Two of the candidates are juco recruits of Dickies' first two classes who were top rated. He did quite a bit of juco fishing at KSU I believe and his lines gave OU fits.

Two or three of the projected, possible starters are Juniors from Henson's recruits I believe. Five are from Dickey's 2.5 recruiting/transfer classes. So he's starting to have mostly his guys in the mix. The info I've seen has been that we have a good starter at Center with a decent backup, so I'm hopeful you're not a former player with some inside scoop that would show that's incorrect. As concerns Preston Wilson, he made the national (Rimington) watch list for top center in the country (which I know means very little), but I assume 10 Big XII Centers aren't on that list). I hope Dickie positively surprises you this year. We'll soon know!

Crazed_Stallion said:

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BU
Oklahoma
Kstate
Texas
OSU
Tech
TCU
WV
ISU
Kansas

The list should say. We will see, its just not that strong to hold up against the better defenses. We played ND when they sat a ton of players, its a bowl game dont look at it like that. ND had their best players sitting out and we scrapped by. A win is a win, but dont look at it as a program changing victory. Questions we have LT, LG, Center. The right side should be ok since that is who we are returning. they are not strong but at least its returning players.

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ND had 3 key players out, their LT who was injured (our Center was out), their RB who sat out for the NFL, and their Safety who sat out for the NFL, and who hadn't suited up their final 7 games due to an injury against USC.

https://notredame.rivals.com/news/where-notre-dame-turns-for-help-in-fiesta-bowl-without-hamilton-williams