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Building the team from the inside out?

Buffnik

Buffnik

Real name isn't Nik
Club Member
Junta Member
I was watching the Arkansas-Texas bowl game last night and one of the announcers was waxing on about how Bielema was building things from the inside out as a team that can win in the trenches. The point that was made was about how the philosophy is the better approach for long-term success as opposed to the Petrino approach Arkansas had before where the success of a season really came down to the QB and skill guys.

After reading that, I figured I'd look at CU recruiting for the 3 years under MacIntyre (2015 class so far) and compare it with the 3 years prior to get a count on OL/DL, TE/LB/FB and Other as a percentage of the class. I'm curious if there's been a different emphasis. I'm not including transfers, but those would seem to bump HCMM's emphasis to the interior due to Callahan on the OL and then Rippy & Talianko at LB. I'm also going by what position the player actually fit on the roster (i.e., Gilbert at DE rather than LB).

YEAROL/DLTE/LB/FBOTHER
20107 (29%)6 (25%)11 (46%)
20116 (17%)2 (9%)14 (64%)
201210 (37%)3 (11%)14 (52%)
20138 (38%)4 (19%)9 (43%)
201412 (53%)4 (17%)7 (30%)
201511 (55%)2 (10%)7 (35%)

Certainly not definitive. Too few years to really determine whether there is a philosophy at work or simply a response to depth chart issues on the interior. But one thing that is clear is that the interior is being addressed. Also, that 2015 is not as out of balance as the impression of it that a lot of folks seem to have. It's missing a TE and WR, though, to finish it off. Maybe another DB and/or a third LB.
 
I heard that, too. I didn't bother to go and do any research on it, though. I figured it was just Brian Griese looking to talk about something while the game was going on.
 
The question is if we are getting the right guys, especially on the DL. I don't necessarily question the raw numbers, but the actual players signed.
 
I think 99% of people would agree that the success of a football team relies, first and foremost, on the play of the trenches. OL and DL first and fill everything in from there. You get a strong MLB and great safety play to back up the DL and you have yourself a very good defense. Offensively, after the OL, I'll take QB, RB, TE, WR (In that order for a college team.. RB moves to the end in NFL).

BTW, Arkansas' LT is named Dan Skipper who is listed at 6'10" 326 lbs as a true sophomore. He's a Colorado native and went to High School at Ralston Valley in Arvada. Another one that got away at the end of Embree/beginning of MM. Check out his offer list on Rivals if you have doubts about how highly he was thought of coming out.
 
Undefeated said:
BTW, Arkansas' LT is named Dan Skipper who is listed at 6'10" 326 lbs as a true sophomore. He's a Colorado native and went to High School at Ralston Valley in Arvada. Another one that got away at the end of Embree/beginning of MM. Check out his offer list on Rivals if you have doubts about how highly he was thought of coming out.
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We're all familiar with Dan Skipper. There was quite the debate raging here about him. Many - myself included - thought he was pretty stiff and didn't have real good movement, especially for a guy who would end up playing OT. I actually saw him play in person and I came away with the impression that he would kind of lean on guys as opposed to getting out and blocking them. He has turned out much better than most of us expected.
 
sackman said:
We're all familiar with Dan Skipper. There was quite the debate raging here about him. Many - myself included - thought he was pretty stiff and didn't have real good movement, especially for a guy who would end up playing OT. I actually saw him play in person and I came away with the impression that he would kind of lean on guys as opposed to getting out and blocking them. He has turned out much better than most of us expected.
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I loved Skipper's pad level and would have been happy if CU had signed him, but I also saw him as a big risk since so few players near his height have been successful at football. Hindsight is 20/20 and obviously he should have been one of - if not the the top prospect on CU's board that year.
 
Undefeated said:
I think 99% of people would agree that the success of a football team relies, first and foremost, on the play of the trenches. OL and DL first and fill everything in from there. You get a strong MLB and great safety play to back up the DL and you have yourself a very good defense. Offensively, after the OL, I'll take QB, RB, TE, WR (In that order for a college team.. RB moves to the end in NFL).

BTW, Arkansas' LT is named Dan Skipper who is listed at 6'10" 326 lbs as a true sophomore. He's a Colorado native and went to High School at Ralston Valley in Arvada. Another one that got away at the end of Embree/beginning of MM. Check out his offer list on Rivals if you have doubts about how highly he was thought of coming out.
Click to expand...

Yep
Skipper is pretty good.
 
Wonder if you can see the same pattern with Duke/Cutcliff and MM's three years at SJSU

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Undefeated said:
I think 99% of people would agree that the success of a football team relies, first and foremost, on the play of the trenches. OL and DL first and fill everything in from there. You get a strong MLB and great safety play to back up the DL and you have yourself a very good defense. Offensively, after the OL, I'll take QB, RB, TE, WR (In that order for a college team.. RB moves to the end in NFL).

BTW, Arkansas' LT is named Dan Skipper who is listed at 6'10" 326 lbs as a true sophomore. He's a Colorado native and went to High School at Ralston Valley in Arvada. Another one that got away at the end of Embree/beginning of MM. Check out his offer list on Rivals if you have doubts about how highly he was thought of coming out.
Click to expand...
You should look at his thread in our recruiting forum!
 
Darth Snow said:
You should look at his thread in our recruiting forum!
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I definitely will. I bet people on these boards went crazy when he de-committed from Tennessee, thinking CU had a shot. I had spoken with a few of his high school coaches at one point, and they had no doubt he'd be playing on Sundays. They said they'd never seen a kid as physically gifted, with the "prick" mentality it takes to play big time OL, and the smarts to go with it (was a ~4.0 student who was choosing schools based on engineering programs as well as football). It's so rare to have all 3 of those things but you can certainly tell why he was a 3* (Rivals) prospect with an offer list that matched most 5* recruits.
 
Undefeated said:
I definitely will. I bet people on these boards went crazy when he de-committed from Tennessee, thinking CU had a shot. I had spoken with a few of his high school coaches at one point, and they had no doubt he'd be playing on Sundays. They said they'd never seen a kid as physically gifted, with the "prick" mentality it takes to play big time OL, and the smarts to go with it (was a ~4.0 student who was choosing schools based on engineering programs as well as football). It's so rare to have all 3 of those things but you can certainly tell why he was a 3* (Rivals) prospect with an offer list that matched most 5* recruits.
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Let's not get carried away here. He definitely had some question marks as a High schooler. That being said, wish we had him.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Dan Skipper recruitment is a good example on why posters should be careful not to make a premature judgement of high school students based on junior film and what they did in High school.
 
Duff Man said:
The question is if we are getting the right guys, especially on the DL. I don't necessarily question the raw numbers, but the actual players signed.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I love the numbers on the DL but we need at least two or three of these guys to be damn good and ready to be a pac 12 talent.
 
This is just how good football teams are built, in high school, college, pro... I hate the Cowboys, but look at what they've been doing. They built their line and now they have a dominant offensive line and a solid front 7 on D.
 
You've got to think about what MacIntyre walked into.

His first season, he had to move Jack Harris from RG to LT. Only had 2 seniors and 2 juniors on the OL. That's followed by having to take a sophomore just recovered from a broken foot and convert him from OG to LT for his second season.

On the DL, we just went through a spring practice with so few bodies available that the team couldn't run full practices or scrimmages. That gets followed by a season with freshmen logging a ton of snaps and no upperclassmen available to play DE.

What I'm glad to see is that we didn't see a reaction like under previous coaches where they over-signed one year and then left it virtually empty the next two. There have been some transfers and JUCOs to balance out the classes along with a roster commitment to make sure that these types of situations don't arise again. If you look at the OL, for example, there is 1 senior in 2015 (Nembot). Behind that, we've got 4 juniors, 4 sophs, 3 RS-Frosh & 4 true frosh. Finally. I expect the DL and LB numbers to balance out in a way that makes sense once the 2015 redshirts and position changes shake out (expect Shaver, Hasselbach and Gilbert to all get looks at LB this spring). I'd expect at least 1 of the 3 JUCO DLs to redshirt this year.
 
Buffnik said:
You've got to think about what MacIntyre walked into.

His first season, he had to move Jack Harris from RG to LT. Only had 2 seniors and 2 juniors on the OL. That's followed by having to take a sophomore just recovered from a broken foot and convert him from OG to LT for his second season.

On the DL, we just went through a spring practice with so few bodies available that the team couldn't run full practices or scrimmages. That gets followed by a season with freshmen logging a ton of snaps and no upperclassmen available to play DE.

What I'm glad to see is that we didn't see a reaction like under previous coaches where they over-signed one year and then left it virtually empty the next two. There have been some transfers and JUCOs to balance out the classes along with a roster commitment to make sure that these types of situations don't arise again. If you look at the OL, for example, there is 1 senior in 2015 (Nembot). Behind that, we've got 4 juniors, 4 sophs, 3 RS-Frosh & 4 true frosh. Finally. I expect the DL and LB numbers to balance out in a way that makes sense once the 2015 redshirts and position changes shake out (expect Shaver, Hasselbach and Gilbert to all get looks at LB this spring). I'd expect at least 1 of the 3 JUCO DLs to redshirt this year.
Click to expand...
So are you saying we are still about 2 or three years out? man, that sucks.
 
BuffUp said:
So are you saying we are still about 2 or three years out? man, that sucks.
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I think we are about 1 or 2 years out from making a bowl game.

The depth at OL and DL is getting better. It all depends on how Sefo develops this offseason. if he can correct the decision making mistakes and fix his footwork when throwing to the left. I think we can make a bowl game next year.
 
bigbang2 said:
I think we are about 1 or 2 years out from making a bowl game.

The depth at OL and DL is getting better. It all depends on how Sefo develops this offseason. if he can correct the decision making mistakes and fix his footwork when throwing to the left. I think we can make a bowl game next year.
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The offense was "bowl caliber" this year ranked 37th in the country (18th in passing). The defense was the weak link, so I'm going to say our bowl hopes in 2015 ride more on the improvement of the defense, than Sefo.
 
Buffnik said:
If you look at the OL, for example, there is 1 senior in 2015 (Nembot). Behind that, we've got 4 juniors, 4 sophs, 3 RS-Frosh & 4 true frosh.
Click to expand...

And that, right there, is what you call class balance. I would imagine that we won't take more than one or two OL in 2016, though. There is such a thing as too many OL, although we haven't had that problem here in... well, ever. The trick will be to make sure that whoever we take in 2016 is a stud. We can't be taking depth guys with that class.
 
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