oline question for the pack.........

[jacksonreb]

re martinas rankin.......I know we recruited him hard but he signed with msu. as juco I know both he and the msu staff believed he'd come in an be the left tackle this yr. I know we thought he'd come in and start or at least be a big part at right tackle for us.........

so he's not playing at all and with respect your oline is not the best its been...so what's the problem? is he injured, not as good as thought or what? I'm just surprised he's not at least playing if not starting given the hype during recruiting.

side note.....maybe I'm wrong and he is playing but my impression is that he's not??

 

[121Josey]

side note.....maybe I'm wrong

I agree.

 

[dawgstudent]

Your guess is as good as ours on this one.

 

[patdog]

I don't think it's that complicated. If he was good enough to help us on the field this year, he'd be playing. Hopefully, he just needs a year to develop and can help us next year and the year after.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

He whipped his stepfather's *** and then went joyriding with his agent. We're holding him out to clean up the NCAA part of it. Aside from that, nothing to see here.

 

[dawgstudent]

Then we swung and missed on his evaluation.

 

[57stratdawg]

Who knows. I think he's headed to OG next year.

The odds of him ever playing LT at MSU though look slim to none.

 

[msstate7]

Yeah, hopefully he'll be like gennesy of aTm. Fairly certain he redshirted last year as a juco and now he's playing well

 

[121Josey]

Then we swung and missed on his evaluation.

If he were playing and not starting, then they would have swung and missed on his evaluation.

 

[dawgstudent]

I just don't think you recruit the #1 Juco OL and plan for him to redshirt. And not play over a converted TE who has struggled at times.

I hope he's an All-AA next year.

 

[msstate7]

I hope he's an All-AA next year.

I'll settle with him just being a solid starter

 

[patdog]

That's my assumption until I see something different. I guess there's a possibility he has an injury we don't know about. Since we don't talk about injuries.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Is it possible that the coaches don't think one dude will correct our Oline this year but expect things to be much better going forward. Basically chose to save his talent for help the next 2 years?

 

[patdog]

That's some pretty extreme wishful thinking there. The short answer is no. That really isn't possible.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I was trying on my optimism hat this afternoon...

 

[SorryDog]

Same as other positions, we seem to be playing/planning for next year. But it never actually gets here. Hard to believe that other schools can have more success with true freshmen OL then we do with the #1 JC OL.

 

[121Josey]

I just don't think you recruit the #1 Juco OL and plan for him to redshirt. And not play over a converted TE who has struggled at times.

I hope he's an All-AA next year.

I don't think the plan was to redshirt him. He's the #1 JUCO OL, but is he the #1 OL now at his position? #1 OL is relative. What if Justin Cox were the #1 JUCO DB in 2013? He played in 2013 but he didn't deserve to be playing over anybody. He was more effective in 2014.

It takes a year for JUCO's to catch up to the speed of the game, especially the OL. Why waste at least half a year when you have two comparable players ready to go? The problem is that now the JUCO OL may have to beat out the incumbent OL next year. Ok, not so bad for State.

 

[johnson86-1]

I'll settle with him just being a solid starter

I think that's basically the best case scenario. Can't imagine that somebody that can't play on our current line as a Junior is going to improve enough with a RS year that they will be anything more than solid. I know the strength and conditioning program he's on now is likely much better than he was on at JUCO, but I'd be surprised if it made such a difference that he was better than a solid starter next year.

With Jenkins and Senior coming back next year, I would assume the best case scenario if he stays at OT is to be the backup next year and then take over the RT spot from Rankin in 2017. Don't know if he can move to OG, but it should be easier to get playing time there than OT next year.

 

[patdog]

I don't think we're "playing for next year." Coaches are paid to win THIS year, and that's generally all they are focused on. If you "play for next year" too much, you'll play yourself right out of a job.

 

[msstate7]

Here's a guess... Maybe in juco, he was just told block the guy in front of you. Now he's having to learn zone blocking, so it's the mental side more so than the physical. I'm hoping for this anyway