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Keenan Stevens Named Starting Center

Buffnik

Real name isn't Nik
Club Member
Junta Member
Buried at the end of the BDC article this morning about the Tyler-Cody flip flop:

"Dan Hawkins said center Keenan Stevens will continue to start this week despite Mike Iltis being medically cleared from a concussion. Iltis was the starter out of fall camp, but he has missed time because of a sprained ankle and concussion. Stevens has started the past two games."

I know there's been some frustration with Iltis, but it's pretty clear he's a better player than Stevens. How do you make this call on a Tuesday?
 
Right now - there is no 'right' decision this staff can make. They need to win some games and show they have a clue
 
Can anyone say player grouping......TH and center A, CH and center B.

That way everyone is happy, we all share, now hurry and eat your snack and drink your juice. It's almost nap time.
 
I'm not sure I'm concerned about this. Continuity on the line is more important than individual ability. I don't think Itlis is THAT MUCH better than Stevens to mess with continuity right now.
 
Honestly, do we really know how good Iltis really is, considering his injury issues?
 
Someone has to say it...




Too bad Kai Maiava was too short to play OL at CU.

and yes I know..:deadhorse:
 
when iltis went down, there was a pretty giant drop off in performance. it was immediate and noticeable. while play has improved on the interior line (to a degree), i believe it is still a huge question mark. in terms of "getting your best athletes on the field," well, you guys reach your own conclusions at this and many other positions based upon your own observations.
 
I'm not sure I'm concerned about this. Continuity on the line is more important than individual ability. I don't think Itlis is THAT MUCH better than Stevens to mess with continuity right now.

Maybe so. He looked THAT MUCH better against CSU, fwiw. But, I'm sure Stevens has improved since then. However, we still have no interior running game and our YPC have absolutely sucked every week. I hope it's not continuity for the sake of continuity (bolstered by Juicebox's mancrush on walkons).
 
when iltis went down, there was a pretty giant drop off in performance. it was immediate and noticeable. while play has improved on the interior line (to a degree), i believe it is still a huge question mark. in terms of "getting your best athletes on the field," well, you guys reach your own conclusions at this and many other positions based upon your own observations.

I have not watched closely enough, but are the guards or the center the bigger issue right now? Seemed to me over the last couple games, that the guards are the issue. Am I wrong?
 
He didn't look good against CSU. He's missed some serious time so at this point, I don't see how we can expect him to step in and be the better player given all the time he's missed. This is a non issue.

Maivia is sucking at UCLA also btw. Yippee.
 
I have not watched closely enough, but are the guards or the center the bigger issue right now? Seemed to me over the last couple games, that the guards are the issue. Am I wrong?

i think it mostly centers around the center... while i am sure that the line calls have improved (getting lots of reps has helped that), i think that, physically, we are struggling at the point of attack. to be blunt, i think the guy is getting handled on a regular basis. but, i am no coach or anything.
 
i think it mostly centers around the center... while i am sure that the line calls have improved (getting lots of reps has helped that), i think that, physically, we are struggling at the point of attack. to be blunt, i think the guy is getting handled on a regular basis. but, i am no coach or anything.

Interesting. I will be watching closely on Saturday.
 
I have seen two UCLA games and Kai was Kai in both of them, good run blocker, major liability as a pass blocker, got dominated by larger DL players.

I have not been overly impressed with the line play of any of the Buffs this year, looks like they are tentative and confused (sounds kind of like everything Hawkins touches, doesn't it) Stevens has gotten a lot better as the season has progressed and for continuity sake I can understand the move. Hope Iltis gets fully recovered, ankle injuries are very difficult for centers since they tend to get them rolled on a lot and they have to be able to move laterally against resistance.
 
Buried at the end of the BDC article this morning about the Tyler-Cody flip flop:

"Dan Hawkins said center Keenan Stevens will continue to start this week despite Mike Iltis being medically cleared from a concussion. Iltis was the starter out of fall camp, but he has missed time because of a sprained ankle and concussion. Stevens has started the past two games."

I know there's been some frustration with Iltis, but it's pretty clear he's a better player than Stevens. How do you make this call on a Tuesday?

Not attempt to argue, but help me understand why we feel its pretty clear Iltis is better than Stevens.

The line has play has improved the last 2 weeks, and continuity can be a big deal on the O-line. I have not seen enough of either player to say one is better than the other.
 
He looked THAT MUCH better against CSU, fwiw.

Didn't Itlis get hurt on the 6th play? How many snaps has he had this season? At this point, continuity is key, and I'd rather go with the guy who just went up against Texas' D Line (not sure how Stevens graded, but he wasn't awful).
 
I'm a believer that you don't lose a job to injury. My surprise at the announcement is that it came at the start of the week and that Iltis wouldn't have a chance to compete and win his starting job back. Especially since we've had no interior running game and our running game went like 3.3 ypc against WVU and 1.7 ypc against UT. It's not like we've been tearing it up.
 
If Stevens was the #2 C going into the year and TH was the #2 QB, they practiced a lot more together and maybe TH has a better "feel" (no pun intended) for Stevens because he has practiced with him more.
 
I don't care who starts, it seems to me that if 2 of the 5 interior linemen can be dominant with the other three holding their own then rushing yds ought to at least double....If 3 of the 5 can become dominant then rushing probs should be solved....as a sidebar...better QB play should result in better rushing as well...just my 2 cents
 
If Stevens was the #2 C going into the year and TH was the #2 QB, they practiced a lot more together and maybe TH has a better "feel" (no pun intended) for Stevens because he has practiced with him more.


As long as TH doesn't give him the thumb, everything should be OK...
 
I don't know how to judge OL play really so I'll leave that up to others, but it didn't look good when Iltis went out in the CSU game and Stevens came in only to get pushed 4 yards into the backfield on his first play. Hopefully that isn't why we can't manage to push the DL anywhere this season.
 
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