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...The wrestling connection for other recruits on both sides of the ball translates into big guys with quick feet who understand leverage and who have explosive power. If I had my dream team, every O-lineman and D-lineman would be a top-notch wrestler.
When we've talked about who will play where this year, Matt Farniok has been one of the most intriguing people because he clearly fits the bill as being one of "the five best linemen" that both Austin and Frost have said that they want to have on the field, but he's gotten some criticism because he's not the best pure OT when it comes to pass protection in the pocket,... but what about his run-blocking? What about the fact that he could probably play all 5 O-lineman positions, if needed? If the Farniok brothers just had slightly quicker feet, I think that they are good examples of what the coaches want to have. Even without the top-level quickness, both Farnioks will probably see some time in the NFL after college, though I doubt that Matt will be playing OT at that level. Maybe I'm forgetting something or overlooking something, but does he have any other obvious weakness besides getting outside on a top-notch edge rushing defender? I can't think of anything off of the top of my head. What I did see, and what coaches love to see, is that he moves well in space, he's very good at getting his hands on defenders, and he tends to finish his blocks well. If he has the leverage, or if it's a double-team, that defender is going to be looking up at him from the ground before the play is over. Long arms do a lot to help get a good strike on a defender out in space, especially when he's likely to be smaller and quicker than you. I predict that all of our main rotation of O-linemen will have that this year. Aaron Taylor was great at blocking straight ahead, but Aaron Taylor wasn't going to be able to pull and block a Nickel defender on a Tunnel Screen. Farniok does that very well.
As Frost adds in some of the bells & whistles of his offense, that's going to come more and more into play as he likes to call a lot of Wrap Blocks (I honestly don't know what others call them) where all 5 O-linemen take their initial steps backwards and outwards to set up a pocket like a normal pass protection scheme, but then one O-lineman drops farther and wraps around to become a lead blocker on the QB Dart running play. We ran this a lot last year out of an empty backfield because an empty backfield forced the defense to strip away as many LBs and Safeties as possible out of the box, and it forces the defense to run more basic D-line techniques versus lots of stunts. I don't know if the pulling lineman is always a pre-determined call, or if there is flexibility to make that O-line call at the line, but we're going to see a lot more of that from a lot more formations and with lots of different guys doing the pulling to lead the QB or RB (or Duck-R) through that hole.
Same goes for more pulling and crossing linemen on Frost's version of Buck Sweeps. Again, I don't know if the pulling linemen are always pre-determined, or if they have the capability and flexibility of making those calls at the Line of Scrimmage, but there is going to be a lot more of those, and they're going to be run at a lot more angles. If you've read this far, you may be asking why that matters as far as offensive scheme.... It matters because when a defense (especially the secondary) is reading backfield keys to determine where to go and what gap to fill, you can show a look that they recognize with the backs in the backfield, yet still have the numbers as far as blockers in the box by pulling O-linemen and going opposite of what the defense (secondary) reads. If all of the D-linemen are accounted for, those plays tend to go for long TDs. The addition of those plays is what took UCF from a good offense to a great offense in year 2 under Frost, and it's going to happen at Nebraska this year.
I've said all of the above, but I still haven't said much about any numbers or statistics that the coaches should use,... and that's because I very clearly recognize that they know a heck of a lot more about that sort of thing than I do. I am able to recognize when things aren't working, which I could see last year when Conrad was at Center, and Farmer was at RG. It's hard to know just by film, but my instincts tell me that not only was Farmer better at making the line calls at Center, but Wilson was clearly quicker than either when he stepped into that RG spot. I loved almost everything about Foster, but he was NOT a strength at LG. He missed a lot of blocks on key 3rd-and-short or 4th-and-short plays, and often it was because the defender across from him had better leverage with longer arms (watch Michigan and Ohio State games to see this), or it was because he wasn't quick enough to pick up shooting LBs or D-linemen coming on stunts.
I expect our O-line to be better by the Ohio State game this year than they were at any point last year.
