Alphonse Taylor Drops Florida State?

With all the injuries this year, it shouldn’t be a challenge for RT to explain why our OL struggled this year. However, with the way our OL recruiting has been going it’s NOT that easy. Even UF, who might have had a lesser OL then us is kicking our butts in OL recruiting.

Beaver tranquilizers? They have a DRusso, too?

we can get by as a good ACC team with this line, because the ACC is not a strong conference. If that’s your goal, ok. But I would rather be an elite team that can compete at the national level. I envision when we play Oklahoma at Doak, we should at the very least break even when matching our oline vs their dline. Back after that game so many people claimed OU’s defense was amazing and it wasn’t fair to criticize our line… but then Missouri goes out and runs for something like 175 yards against them the next week…. and we know what happened to OU as the season went on.

Yes, our line will be better next year. But Clemson’s defense should be better next year. Florida’s defense should be better next year. We have Virginia Tech on the schedule next year – I can’t imagine their defense will be any worse than they’ve been the past couple years.

I don’t mean to be doom and gloom… but I feel strongly that we have the pieces in place to make an undefeated season run next year, aside from this line. In my opinion Trickett’s line has a long way to go.

Lack of booster and fan support is what finally got Bowden canned because the FANS were tired of being mediocre. The most successful teams in college football also have the fans with the highest standards. It’s no coincidence.

Did disgruntled fans have anything to do with finally getting rid of Bobby? I’d say so.

I don’t have a problem with any coach on this staff except for Trickett. My fear is I think he might be an old stubborn military guy not adapting to change. I don’t have anything against him personally, I don’t think I can coach better than him, but I think that as CEO of the offensive line, he is not a good fit with what Jimbo wants to do on offense (see LSU under Jimbo) and even at his best I didn’t see a line that could control the game.

Well it’s an excuse, but I’m not buying it. It’s not like we are talking injuries to all-americans here. injuries on the offensive line are inherent and it’s frankly pitiful that Florida State University can’t fill at least 10 scholarships with elite linemen. Trickett did it his way, and we paid the price this year.

Jimbo and Trickett are boyz, yo

Their average weight on the OL is about 327 lbs.

Two of those guys shouldn’t have been starting because of injuries. Another one probably shouldn’t count as an upperclassman considering he had just as much FBS experience as a true freshman.

Forget that, though. You’re telling me after our first 5 starting OL that our best options are true freshmen? That’s a massive failure.

Lots of problems down at STA this year. Major, major problems.

Plus, Faircloth was also out the beginning of the year. Had everyone been healthy, I don’t think we would have seen Bobby Hart this year. When Datko went down Faircloth would have played OR Sanders would have slid over to LT and Faircloth would have gone to RT. Plus, once Krug wasn’t cutting it you would have seen Snider or Orelus. Same with Spurlock.

That being said, it’s not like any of these were surprises (except the Sanders injury…maybe not even then I don’t remember the circumstances surrounding the injury. Multiple knee problems or something?).

Datko and Sanders missed massive amounts of time recovering from playing hurt all the year before. We knew about the problems with Orelus and Spurlock. And instead of using more experienced, probably more physically mature players that we should have on our depth chart we were using true freshmen and JUCO transfers.

Wonder how other teams did against those two defenses (UF was not elite, iirc)?

is not only did he fail to live up to Trickett’s praise, he wasn’t even a below average lineman in the first few games. He looked like he had no business even stepping on a BCS campus, yet alone starting for the preseason #6 team in the nation.

Yep, though we as media may have mistaken what he said about snapping and bending for his overall ability at center

But like Orelus, I don’t think he’ll ever be great at it.

I saw you use capitalization for emphasis. Nobody can answer this question, though. I thought maybe if I gave it some emphasis it would get an answer.

That’s why I said douchey instead of something less… well, douchey. I’ve already been getting it from every angle today, man. Sorry.

And I feel like I might as well say this in a response to you because I haven’t said it anywhere else. I am not discounting the injuries at all. At the end of the day, I know the offense would be completely and totally different without them. I am not incredibly upset with how our offensive linemen played, either. They did just as well as anyone could expect for the MASH unit that they’ve been called all season long and that they certainly are.

I’m not disappointed with any of the results that this year has yielded. We’ve had injuries across the board and an incredibly tough schedule to contend with as well. It would be insane for me to make any of my argument based on the results of the season.

The problem, then, lies in the process. We’ve been hedging our offensive line success over the last two or three seasons with the same line that we’ve been running ragged now over the last two to three seasons. Why does nobody bring up the fact that Datko, Sanders and the other upperclassmen were part of what was often referred to as one of the younger, if not the youngest, offensive lines in the country when they began their careers here? They’ve put in their time and then they’ve put in more time. They’re worn out. Don’t get me wrong, none of us could have conceived the magnitude of the injury cluster truck that tainted our OL play throughout the year.

Cue the questions about recruiting and depth, because this all plays a part. I imagine that Coach Trickett was not immediately responsible for the condition of the stable of offensive linemen that he inherited upon beginning his stint with us here; however, I do think that it should have been his primary concern to build up depth on his already meager line that he inherited.

He failed to do so. Don’t get me wrong, he took what was projected to be a average-to-below average offensive line and turned it into something special. He was commended for it. But he did nothing to perpetuate the success. This is the thing that I really find inexplicable. He was riding these horses for years, and even though he obviously has shown that he absolutely CAN develop players into great talents, he hasn’t shown me that this year.

It’s my second contention that he failed to develop the players that he took in the years before last year’s recruiting class. There are more than one or two RsFR and SO linemen on the roster. These boys should have all been more ready to play at any point in this season than the two true freshmen that were playing instead. As I said, by virtue of familiarity with the scheme seniority should determine who is better and who should be on the field. In this case, though, Coach Trickett & co. decided that the new kids on campus who only had the fall to get familiar with their coach and scheme were better. This is a huge red flag for me.

These are my major problems and concerns with what CRT has done while he’s been here. I think my second contention or whatever is not exactly solid, but it’s a concern that’s there. The first point though really just illustrates how important his failures in recruiting really are. The writing was on the wall for needing greater depth and he did less than what many consider the minimum number necessary for offensive linemen on a normal basis- and remember, his cupboards were already bare.

This is the problem I can’t get over. Hindsight is 20/20, yes, but how many more signs does one need to see that we really needed to load up on OL? And he failed to do so.

I’d venture to say that anyone who isn’t a psychic was surprised by the injuries we had.

Ok sorry, misinterpreted there. In that case I’m with you one that.

who we had taking the ball, making the correct reads and audibling to the correct play on the field.