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2022 O Line, What Should We Expect?

nems

He Who Shall Not Be Named
20 Year Member
There's no doubt we aren't getting W's without a strong line, and we haven't had steady line play for awhile. I'm not sure what has been the underlying cause of our unsteady line play. Too many injuries? Poor player development?

It seems like we have some depth, but do we who are going to be the high caliber guys? Candidly I don't know what to expect from this group. Plenty of game experience with alot of guys. A couple of transfers bring even more depth.

At some level I'm very nervous about what level of play these guys will achieve. At the same time they have the potential to be a very strong group and help us get on the right track.

What are your guys thoughts on this group?
 



There's no doubt we aren't getting W's without a strong line, and we haven't had steady line play for awhile. I'm not sure what has been the underlying cause of our unsteady line play. Too many injuries? Poor player development?

It seems like we have some depth, but do we who are going to be the high caliber guys? Candidly I don't know what to expect from this group. Plenty of game experience with alot of guys. A couple of transfers bring even more depth.

At some level I'm very nervous about what level of play these guys will achieve. At the same time they have the potential to be a very strong group and help us get on the right track.

What are your guys thoughts on this group?
I’ve got to hope that the coaching was terrible and holding us back rather than the talent. Our line was borderline rotten last year but we still lost our best lineman to the draft, one to a suspension, and two are coming off injury. Mix in a quarterback that doesn’t appear to be as elusive and that could be the recipe for a very difficult season. If it was not a coaching issue but a talent issue, we are in big trouble.
 
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There's no doubt we aren't getting W's without a strong line, and we haven't had steady line play for awhile. I'm not sure what has been the underlying cause of our unsteady line play. Too many injuries? Poor player development?

It seems like we have some depth, but do we who are going to be the high caliber guys? Candidly I don't know what to expect from this group. Plenty of game experience with alot of guys. A couple of transfers bring even more depth.

At some level I'm very nervous about what level of play these guys will achieve. At the same time they have the potential to be a very strong group and help us get on the right track.

What are your guys thoughts on this group?


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I’ve got to hope that the coaching was terrible and holding us back rather than the talent. Our line was borderline rotten last year but we still lost our best lineman to the draft, one to a suspension, and two are coming off injury. Mix in a quarterback that doesn’t appear to be as elusive and that could be the recipe for a very difficult season. If it was not a coaching issue but a talent issue, we are in big trouble.
You are being kind. They were downright turrible.

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Best OL Coach since Barney Cotton. Reasonably good depth. If they can stay healthy the offense is going to be very good.
The oline coach is a massive unknown. Virtually no experience as an actual assistant. Though he was the assistant to the assistant on a bad oline for the bears, sort of a Dwight Schrute situation. I hope you are right but that coaching hire was a bet on perceived potential, not demonstrated results.
 
The oline coach is a massive unknown. Virtually no experience as an actual assistant. Though he was the assistant to the assistant on a bad oline for the bears, sort of a Dwight Schrute situation. I hope you are right but that coaching hire was a bet on perceived potential, not demonstrated results.

DONOVAN
RAIOLA
TITLE Assistant Coach - Offensive Line

DonovanRaiola
ALMA MATER Wisconsin
Donovan Raiola is in his first season as Nebraska’s offensive line coach. Raiola owns 11 years of coaching experience, including four years as an offensive line coach in the National Football League.

Raiola joined Nebraska after spending four seasons as an assistant offensive line coach with the Chicago Bears. Raiola also coached offensive linemen at Aurora (Ill.) University, in addition to collegiate coaching stops at Notre Dame and Hawaii.

In addition to being in his sixth season as an offensive line coach, Raiola was an outstanding lineman himself. A three-time All-Big Ten selection at Wisconsin, Raiola went on to play six seasons in the NFL.
Before Nebraska
CHICAGO BEARS: Raiola helped the Bears to two playoff appearances in his four seasons on staff from 2018 to 2021. In his first season in Chicago assisting offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, the Bears posted a 12-4 record and captured the NFC North Division title. The Bears offensive line allowed just 33 sacks, tied for the third fewest in the NFC, while Chicago averaged 26.3 points per game, the fourth-best average in the NFC.

In the 2020 season, Raiola helped tutor an offensive line that featured six different starting combinations. Raiola assisted in helping develop a pair of rookie undrafted free agents (Sam Mustipher and Alex Bars) into starters late in the season, as the Bears reached the NFC playoffs. The Bears rushed for more than 2,000 yards in 2021, ranking seventh in the NFC in rushing.
 



I expect this position group to eliminate mistakes, like false starts and other stupid penalties.
I suspect what you expect will likely be what the O line reflects

Seriously, this has to be cleaned up.
STs likely will be, and it wont go well if they're always the last cow in the barn.
 
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This will probably be my most negative post, because I am always a glass half full kind of guy. But we have been down right bad for several years. Last year our feet were slow, we didn't get a push, our response time was bad, and we still had the mental lapses and fault starts. I am concerned about this year, but even though Riaola was an assistant to the assistant, he was still good enough to be in the NFL. There have been a lot of college coaches that have sucked in the NFL but usually not the other way around.

I am all about former Huskers, but Austin was in over his head. Talked the talk, but couldn't walk the walk.

I will be on the cautiously optimistic side, but very cautious. I need to see it before I believe it.
 

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