Offensive Line Making Penn State's Problems Worse

15 offensive line recruits in the past 3 years, and none of them played against Illinois.

So that means that the current offensive line is the best one available. That means that either for 3 years there has been an issue in player development, recruiting , coaching or a mixture of all things mentioned.

I wonder if this means there is a problem with the offensive line coaches? I’d imagine Joe Paterno would never hold friendships and beliefs of loyalty above things like accountability and personal responsibilty.

Because we all know his grand experiment is to turn young boys into men and show things like Success with Honor. Although I don’t see much success with this offensive line or the honor in keeping coaches that have a poor track record over the last several years i.e the scarecrow, stopsign, fire hydrant , etc.

1. The fact that our D line is blowing no one off the ball. These guys seem to lack the athleticism required to play the positions and the technique/football IQ necessary at each position (this is what scares me)

2. The lack of skill/athetlicism at the LB position. Our LBs are very very slow, and frequently in the wrong spot (which exascerbates the problem). Fortt may be the exception here.

3. The absolute empty cupboard that is this years recruiting class.

We’ve gone through the 3 and 4 deep roster at these positions and have yet to find guys that can play. This is what scares me.

and realize we’re really talking about one bad half here. Down 7 at halftime is no big deal, it happens in conference games all the time. With all the injuries on defense, I’m willing to give that side of the ball a bit of a pass on this. The offense has to get better, and the coaches need to adjust to the fact that this isn’t a good running team.

Neither QB is the problem, it’s the offensive line. With a lot of the throws Bolden was making yesterday it was clear that Illinois pressure was getting to him psychologically. Why ese would someone throw to a 5’&" receiver in triple coverage, or throw that swing pass that was obviously covered. But Newsome has the pocket presence of a teenage girls cellphone?

Two fumble recoveries, one at the Illini 23 and another at the Illini 9 yielded 6 points, destroyed any confidence the offense had and jacked up Illinois. This game was lost in the coaching booth determined to run at all costs then asking a freshman QB to bail them out with third down desperation passes. Not hard to defend that kind of play calling. The second half was just a formality.

The 20 point loss is tied for the worst home loss ever in the JoePa era to an unranked team.

Still blew up a number of plays by jumping the snap and for 2-1/2 to 3 quarters they weren’t getting pushed back any. The issue was that the linebackers wouldn’t fill, or when they did fill they got run over by Leshore. Since the Bama game basically every back has gotten 3-4 yards after they meet the LB’s. This defense funnels backs to the LB’s. Our D-line is reined on penetration to give the LB’s the chance to make plays.. When they can’t tackle this defense doesn’t work.. see Dark Years.

I don’t like any of the LB’s now other than Fortt.. Gbadyu(when healthy), Hodges(when healthy), and Fortt would have been our best LB corps. However, Stupar needs to stop getting blown up.. and Mauti/Colasanti simply should be better.

The sad thing is.. for the first time since the Zemaitis era, I actually like our secondary for the most part. But the Cover 3 doesn’t work if the ends don’t get pressure and the LB’s can’t play.

the anecdotes trickling out are plain scary…we’ll be lucky to beat minny if 30% of it is true…

but what positive have we seen that makes us believe that we can win any ballgames….heck, we prognosticate wins with lots of points and we can’t even score TDs. It is the reality that bothers me most.

Bolden is not bad. The WRs need some stickum, but they’re not bad. Royster and Greene and Redd didn’t all of a sudden forget how to run. It really is all the offensive line. Bolden has no time to throw the ball. The RBs have nowhere to go. I don’t know what the answers are, but the problem is the offensive line. Injuries hurt, Eliades, everyone with a “TE” next to their name, for starters, but give this team a competent o-line and we might still lose, but we’d at least put up a fight. I understand the frustration, I do. But to question JoePa, who frankly looks like he’s the only one on the sidelines who gives at damn at times, is ridiculous.

Side note: our defense is fine. Illinois has underachieved every year of the Zook era, save one: 2007. They have the talent to be on our level, but because of coaching ineptitude and a man that goes by Juice, they haven’t been able to make it a reality. Couple that with no less than 10 starters/backups being hurt, and this wasn’t the end of the world.

Did anyone really not expect this year to be a rebuilding year? Everyone needs to calm down. Every team has down years. And frankly, this isn’t about you or me. This is about the kids on the team learning and developing into men. It’s a funny story, there’s this coach out there that I read about that stresses personal development over the Wins and Losses endgame that consumes mercenary coaches like Saban and Meyer. I think he calls it a Great Experiment, or some such. The whole idea sounds ridiculous, I know.

line is why we’ve scored 10 points or less against Michigan and Ohio State I don’t know how many times since Hartings and Rivera graduated.

Kenney and Anderson have wasted more 4 and 5 star offensive line prospects than any other duo in college football.

But especially the last paragraph. I originally thought this team would come together in 2011 and 2012 but that looks like far fetched at this point. The O-line just does not look good enough. But the other creeping thought I’ve had is that while Bolden has looked good so far with a lot of upside, when has Jay shown any ability to coach a QB up and help them progress. That thought has more concerned than anything about this team in the future.

a little read for you from fos today

Disturbing conversation yesterday
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The last two home games we’ve been lucky enough to tailgate with a
member of the coaching staffs family before the games. We asked one of the
coaches wives what was going on with the program and the staff and the
answers were disturbing to say the least. She said………

1. Joe is not at practice more than an hour a day. He also rarely if ever
attends any of the coaching or game prep meetings. She said people don’t
know how sick he was in the offseason implying that he went through a
serious medical issue that has not been publicly reported. He has absolutely
zero input into the gameplanning, and doesn’t even know what it is until
Friday night.

2. The dissention amongst the staff is at an all-time high. When Joe is not
there, it’s a contest to see who can act like they are in charge. There have
been verbal arguments in front of the team in the middle of practice
sessions between assistant coaches yelling at each other that they are in
charge and are going to do what they want at that point of practice.

3. Multiple coaches on the staff have been reaching out to gauge interest
from other programs as they are worried about their future in the program.
One “high profile” coach on the staff actually reached out to the head coach
of another PA school over the summer saying he was worried about his future
at PSU and laying the groundwork for a possible move in the future.

4. There is a process in place amongst the staff to determine if a high
school prospect should get an offer. Some of the coaches will vote against
offering or recruiting certain kids just to spite the coaches who want them
offered or are their primary recruiters. Whether this is actually going on
or not I do not know, but at least one coach on the staff feels that way.
For this reason, the coaches who actually do recruit have basically thrown
their hands in the air and almost stopped recruiting all together.

5. “If Tom Bradley is the next head coach, the real coaches will leave in
about 30 seconds.”

After hearing this stuff, I really feel bad for the kids on the team. This
staff and Joe in paticular should be completely ashamed and embarrassed at
their behavior. The sad part is I don’t think Joe even has a clue what’s
going on because he’s never around.

I don’t know if we’re going to win a game the rest of the year. The team has
quit, the coaches have quit and morale is at an all-time low.

Get used to it…things are not changing….
-—————————————-
bye week or no bye week, this “team” has serious problems. It’s unlike
anything I’ve ever seen or heard.

The conduct of the men in charge of our illustrious program is a complete
embarrassment. I don’t blame the players for essentially quitting, the
coaches quit on them a long time ago, through their half-assed efforts in
preparing them for this season and for each respective game.

Imagine this scenario, a legendary head coach, leaves practice early as is
customary, to do what, is anyone guess, but I digress. So, after legendary
head coach walks away, what is the team to do. Well, they continue to
practice of course. Except…you have 2-4 people who are now trying ‘to
run’ the practice, so the players really don’t know what to do or who to
listen to….their position coach, the other assistant coach barking out
orders and trying to take charge, or the the other assistant coach trying to
take charge. Yes, Cluster**** is an adequate description, yet we expect
something different on game days.

Oh, and it certainly doesn’t help when assistant coaches simply can’t stand
to be on the same staff as other assistant coaches. If a certain ‘likely
successor’ was ever promoted, well, let’s just say their would be a max
exodus. Well, at least the coaches that could get a decent job someplace
else..we all know who they are.

Yep, it’s no wonder our recruiting this year is what it is…it’s the same
coaches responsible for that part of the program as well.

Again, enough is enough.
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take it for what its worth

Bradley is not a very good X’s and O’s guy and we play a very basic 4-3 scheme with zone coverage 85% of the time. Because LJ and Vandy have been so strong developing the front 7, Bradley’s elementary scheme works fairly well. But when we can’t get pressure with the front 4 and have to blitz, or we give the QB time to throw, teams march right down the field on us.

Further, Bradley is the Dbacks position coach. How many of these guys has he sent in to the NFL (I ask because I think the number is very small, but I am not sure)? There is not a terrible amout of skill required to play zone, rather wrote memorization and discipline to play your area. This may be a weak argument, but I think you get where I am going

or you can’t comprehend what you are reading.

I’m not making up anything, that was a copy and paste from an email I received this evening.

Shall I repeat this again so you might get it the third time around?

Does it seem to anyone else like he doesn’t get enough separation on the short routes? Seems like Bolden looks for him a lot on routes in the 5-12 yard range, and he always is blanketed.

Is he a great athlete who is not a great route runner? I find it surprising.

Not PSU struggling, but the awesomeness it tends to bring out of Penn St fans. You guys always raise your game when you’re team is struggling.

I remember a few years ago when I was still in school and Iowa was mired in the Jake Christiansen Debacle. We had snapped. I was drinking with some friends before the game getting ready to boo the holy hell out of Jake the Snake when a friend directed my attention to the TV where the Penn St students booed their quarterback off the field DURING WARMUPS. It was like when Kaiser Soze shows the Hungarian men of will what will really is.

Good luck in the East next year. I’ll miss Iowa mopping the floor with Penn St every year

1. Coaching – not Joe
 a. O-line coaching combo = fail
 b. Strength & Conditioning = fail
 c. Play calling = fail or close to a fail
 d. LJ Maryland recruiting = fail
2. O-line
3. D-line
4. Injuries on defense
Good Things
1. Bolden
2. WR/RB Depth (and they are young)
3. LB Depth – (the underclassmen)
4. Secondary is playing better
5. Special teams are playing better
6. O-line coaches will be gone when Joe retires
-hopefully the S&C coach and LJ will be gone too

50% of his kids seem to have turned out pretty well. Especially his daughter; from what I have heard/seen she is a very nice young lady.
With regards to Larry and Tony – my opinions are based on my interactions with them in college, interactions family and friends had with them in high school and college, and the news. I never followed blogs until this year because I figured it was a bunch of guys – like me – who were just throwing out their opinions with little to back it up with, which seems to be the case for the most part.
I think the way a person raises their own family has a lot to do with how they “raise” the young men on their football team. Look at Joe’s family, or the Ganter’s, all great kids – especially the Ganter’s. Norwoods – all good kids. Johnson’s – 50/50.
So yeah, several of the recruits I mentioned turned out just fine – I think I even mentioned that in my original post – but more of his recruits did not turn out “just fine,” more of his in fact than any other coach on the team.
And to your last line about being in a position to judge: What do you think BSD is? Nearly every article and post is someone judging someone else. Read some of your own posts judging the opinions of different writers or posters.