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Offensive Line Depth Chart Primer: Experience Abounds Among Starters

Published

7 years ago

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After a week of looking at the skill positions, we finally take a look at the big daddies up front for Oklahoma State this year. The group that cleared the way for Justice Hill in the second half of last year and provided Oklahoma State with one of the more prolific rushing offenses in the nation down the stretch.

Offensive Line
  • LT – Aaron Cochran – RS-Sr.
  • LG – Marcus Keyes – RS-So.
  • C – Brad Lundblade – Sr.
  • RG – Larry Williams – RS-Sr.
  • RT – Zach Crabtree – RS-Sr.

I’m not going to list backups here, because there will be some shakeups. But it does sound like Shane Richards has made the move to RT to backup Crabtree. Richards has massive size but didn’t have the foot speed for LT, so RT should be a good move for him. Unfortunately he has fallen into the trap of having tackle size and a guard skill set, which isn’t a great place to be. That opens up the door for Dylan Galloway to be backup at LT. He’s an intriguing prospect and more than likely the favorite to be LT starter next season (Although he better watch out for Bryce Bray,  best tackle prospect OSU has seen in a while).

When you look this group 1-5, it’s a pretty strong group.  I haven’t seen tape on Cochran but I’ve heard good things, and he certainly looks the part. My hope is we see an improvement on pass blocking from the LT spot, as Salako was serviceable here but not a strength in pass protection. Cochran has the right frame and skill set to get it done.

Marcus Keyes wins my award for favorite offensive player.  He was dominant at times.

On the tape that I watched last year (5 games or so) he was the most physical at the point of attack and was only beat a handful of times. Although PFF doesn’t agree.

I respect PFF a lot, love their content, but we will have to agree to disagree here.

Brad Lundblade is steady, smart player who doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. He isn’t as physical so OSU has to plan around him in the run game, but it will pay dividends having a center with that much experience working on protection calls. OSU has had great centers in the past who have set the protections for the line, Lundblade is no different. When reviewing his 2016 performances, there are certainly areas where he can improve on. I think his consistency and knowledge of the protection schemes are his best attributes.

Larry Williams is a player with a lot of talent, he was beat up pretty good in the Baylor game last year.

He didn’t play much after due to an injury. His development is key to the success of the OL, having ability to confidently run off both guards is a huge asset. Moving to more four WR sets, the guard play becomes even more important in the run game. He is certainly a guy to keep an eye on this year. If he is able to make the jump here to consistent player it will have a big impact on the offensive success.

Crabtree is a really solid college OL, well rounded and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.

I would like to see him gain a mean streak this year, he has a lot of qualities that  you see in NFL tackles. But if he plans on making it to the next level (especially on the right side) he needs to become more physical. Right tackles are going to be gauged more on ability to run block on outside than left tackles traditionally. He needs to show that he can move but also can be physical in run blocking situations.

This is a good OL group, but not overwhelming. Heavy on experience and OSU has solid, experienced players at all five positions, which is rare. There aren’t any dominating OL in this group however, Keyes is close but not there yet. Ideally they would like to bring that sack number from 2016 down from 32 to closer to the 20-22 range, that would put the Cowboys somewhere in the top 50 in the country in sacks allowed. I feel like that is a reasonable goal, and one that will ultimately decide a lot of the OL’s success in 2017.

The biggest concern with this group is depth. There is a pretty big dropoff in experience after the starters, so staying healthy will be critical.  Hopefully a year together will help continuity and trends like this team pass protection while managing a DL stunt continue.

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