Mix and Match O line | The Boneyard

Mix and Match O line

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Confident Carl

Confident Carl

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I believe that OT Paul Nwokeji (rs-jr) 6”5”, 280lbs, is still on the team?
 
My educated guess is that the Center and both Tackle spots are pretty set with Mateas at C, Levy at LT, and Gifford at RT. The Guard spots are wide open. Cruz is still a wildcard. Samra (not listed in the OP), Rugg, and Schafenacker will probably battle it out with Cruz. I believe Rugg is listed as an OT but I think the staff will put the best 5 linemen on the field.

This is the one area of the team that gives me pause this year.

LT - Levy
LG - Samra
C - Mateas
RG - Schafenacker
RT - Gifford

That's my best guess.
 
Jimmy Serrano said:
My educated guess is that the Center and both Tackle spots are pretty set with Mateas at C, Levy at LT, and Gifford at RT. The Guard spots are wide open. Cruz is still a wildcard. Samra (not listed in the OP), Rugg, and Schafenacker will probably battle it out with Cruz. I believe Rugg is listed as an OT but I think the staff will put the best 5 linemen on the field.

This is the one area of the team that gives me pause this year.

LT - Levy
LG - Samra
C - Mateas
RG - Schafenacker
RT - Gifford

That's my best guess.
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Good assessment, J.S. Obviously hard to tell at this point. We all know that Mateas is the anchor at Center. Schafenacker and Rugg should play a lot. Let's hope Andreas Knapppe develops big time along with Levy and Gifford. Hoping Cruz is 100%. Keeping Foley on board should turn out to be a brilliant move!

“I know when I met with coach – we each went in for maybe a half an hour and sat down with him after he got hired - one of the first things I told him was I wanted to be here; that I thought it was a place we could definitely win. We’ve won before. We can win. We can win big. I’m excited about the university in itself and the players we have and the type of players we can get.” Mike Foley
 
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Left to Right
Levy, Samra, Mateas, Cruz, Knappe

I could see Schafenacker or Rugg for Samra. I also could see Gifford for Knappe or Levy.

I think Mateas would be definite. I also think a healthy Cruz should get the nod.
 
Anyone think Knappe will get a T spot this year? Or too soon?

Left to Right: Levy, Cruz, Mateas, Rugg, Gifford
 
My guess, Diaco will favor size and strength all else being equal rather than speed. You usually don't get all three. I think assignments and reads get greatly simplified with an emphasis on getting somebody pushed downfield instead of stand up and look and then block.
 
Where are those weights from? Accurate? Guards look light - and light on the roster on the UCONN website too. WE going to be doing a lot of pulling and trapping with the guards? Weights would seem to indicate it. I hope they got quick feet!! I'm not including Gus Cruz, but if he is good to go at RG, it's possible to get Samra a red shirt he didn't get the opportunity to have before and we can potentially have a starting OL that are upperclassmen with some experience - that's a bit of surpise to me looking at it. The OL depth, especially with the new class of rooks showing up in the fall, seems to be improving quite a bit from the swiss cheese roster we had 2 seasons ago.

C: Mateas, Bockeloh, ?

LG: Paull, Rugg, ?

RG: Samra, Schafenecker, ?

LT: Levy, Hopkins, ?

RT: Gifford, Knappe, ?

That's the way I see it shaking out - how much Knappe can push will be interesting, with that size and reach, and his age and hopefully maturity physically and mentally, you hope he can make it really hard for the other younger guys to keep him off the field.

Levy, Paull, Mateas, Samra and Gifford start left to right.
 
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I'm in agreement with those suggesting Knappe will open at OT. Levy and Mateas can be penciled in. I'm going w/the S's at OG, although I recall hearing good things about Basilica, so he may be the dark horse.

I also agree Rugg is an OG, but would not be surprised to see him at OT while we rebuild depth there.
 
Although the o line is an area of concern I do think they will be no worse if not better than last year. having a guard as a strong lean 285 i would take over 325 and weak.
 
Another take I have is this: unless Paull and Cruz are significantly better than Samra, Schafenaker, Rugg, or Hopkins I'd rather go with the youth movement and get them some game time experience. Need to build up this roster for the next 3-4 years.
 
Cruz is entirely a health concern. As a parent I would prefer to see a kid that age not consider risking his future but as he is obviously both passionate about the game and highly competitive (he never would have made it to this level if that were not the case) I imagine that he will put every possible effort into playing.

I would go with the kids myself and we will need to accept that it will take at least to the latter part of the 2015 season (possibly a bit longer) before our offensive line has the quality, experience and depth that we will need to be competitive at the level we are aspiring to (at that point, the top of the AAC).

I wish that Knappe was slotted as an offensive lineman from day one. About a year and a half of teaching was flushed down the toilet by keeping him with the defensive linemen.
 
Jimmy Serrano said:
Another take I have is this: unless Paull and Cruz are significantly better than Samra, Schafenaker, Rugg, or Hopkins I'd rather go with the youth movement and get them some game time experience. Need to build up this roster for the next 3-4 years.
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hopefully we will have games with mop up duty where this can get done
 
FfldCntyFan said:
Cruz is entirely a health concern. As a parent I would prefer to see a kid that age not consider risking his future but as he is obviously both passionate about the game and highly competitive (he never would have made it to this level if that were not the case) I imagine that he will put every possible effort into playing.

I would go with the kids myself and we will need to accept that it will take at least to the latter part of the 2015 season (possibly a bit longer) before our offensive line has the quality, experience and depth that we will need to be competitive at the level we are aspiring to (at that point, the top of the AAC).

I wish that Knappe was slotted as an offensive lineman from day one. About a year and a half of teaching was flushed down the toilet by keeping him with the defensive linemen.
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Think of all the unlearning he won't need... GDL never instructed him...
 
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Schanecker and Basilica are guys to watch, who might not be known to the average fan.
 
This is the last year for the foreseeable future that offensive line will be a concern, with all of the freshman coming in it will probably be the strength of the team next year, Foley is terrific and Cummings coached up the #1 pick in last years draft, plus they all get to work with Balis.....heck maybe they will surprise and be the strength of the team this year.
'
 
metsfan2323 said:
This is the last year for the foreseeable future that offensive line will be a concern, with all of the freshman coming in it will probably be the strength of the team next year, Foley is terrific and Cummings coached up the #1 pick in last years draft, plus they all get to work with Balis.....heck maybe they will surprise and be the strength of the team this year.
'
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I wish I could share your optimism.
 
metsfan2323 said:
This is the last year for the foreseeable future that offensive line will be a concern, with all of the freshman coming in it will probably be the strength of the team next year, Foley is terrific and Cummings coached up the #1 pick in last years draft, plus they all get to work with Balis.....heck maybe they will surprise and be the strength of the team this year.
'
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On that note lets hope he and Foley turn Andreas into a super beast!
 
LT: Levy, Hopkins
LG: Schafenecker/Cruz
C: Mates, Paul, Bockeloh
RG: Samra/Cruz
RT: Gifford, Rugg

Cruz can start in either side at the guard position, but because of some health issues I think Schafenecker and Samra makes the start if Cruz bad health continues.

We may have some question marks because a lot of these players on the O-line are young, however I believe that the O-Line will become a strength sooner than later. For one, we have Foley coaching the O-Line were he excels at; for two Hopkins Schafenecker, Samra, and Rugg were all highly touted players coming out of high school.
 
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metsfan2323 said:
This is the last year for the foreseeable future that offensive line will be a concern, with all of the freshman coming in it will probably be the strength of the team next year, Foley is terrific and Cummings coached up the #1 pick in last years draft, plus they all get to work with Balis.....heck maybe they will surprise and be the strength of the team this year.
'
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I agree
 
huskysupporter said:
I wish I could share your optimism.
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I don't see why you can't share his optimism "huskysupporter". The O-Line has always been a strength for us until DeLeone took over. Now we have Foley back as the O-Line coach, Cummings did coach up the #1 pick before (OT Fisher), and some of the young kids at the O-Line position were all high 3 star players coming out of high school. I think we'll be fine.
 
sportsart said:
Repeat after me. "I am optimistic" See, that was easy.
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I am optimistic. At least I know they have been in the gym since January.
 
Jimmy Serrano said:
My educated guess is that the Center and both Tackle spots are pretty set with Mateas at C, Levy at LT, and Gifford at RT. The Guard spots are wide open. Cruz is still a wildcard. Samra (not listed in the OP), Rugg, and Schafenacker will probably battle it out with Cruz. I believe Rugg is listed as an OT but I think the staff will put the best 5 linemen on the field.

This is the one area of the team that gives me pause this year.

LT - Levy
LG - Samra
C - Mateas
RG - Schafenacker
RT - Gifford

That's my best guess.
Expand ...
This with maybe Rugg in for Shaf
 
IMO the success of the Oline and the Offense in general rests on the development of the LT position. That’s allot of pressure to put on Richard Levey right now, but he has to hold up. Dalton Gifford has played LT, but in all honesty he has looked allot better at RT. If Levey cannot handle it, and Gifford ends up getting moved back to LT, then that means that Andreas Knappe or Tommy Hopkins ends up starting at RT (I do believe that Hopkins is now being developed as a LT, even though if I remember correctly he came in as a RT). Zach Rugg who did play some LT in High School was basically moved to LG as soon as he came in 2 years ago, I believe due to his height. And Paul Nwokeji, as far as I know has never seen the field.
 
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