As I posted in another thread, the quality of our QB play appears to be the big wildcard for 2017. But just how good the OL will be is another big question. There has been some measure of disagreement on this, with some (me) thinking the OL will be quite good and others thinking that aside from the incoming whales we have a modestly-recruited bunch with some guys who showed limitations last year that won't just go away. I thought I'd take a look into what we might be able to expect.
First, I think it's important to get a baseline on how good the OL was last year. The lower level than what we're accustomed to caused many to use adjectives like "bad" and "poor" for our 2016 OL, which I'm not inclined to think is fair if you think of it comparatively with other Pac-12 teams. A few ways to look at this:
* We were 28th in the nation in yards per rush, 53rd in tackles for loss allowed per game, and 100th in sacks allowed per game. If you figure that McCaffrey made the run game look a lot better than a generic back would, I think it's fair to say the run blocking was mediocre and the pass blocking was bad.
* Just one man's opinion (but at least it anchors our discussion comparatively): ESPN's Kyle Bonagura ranked Stanford as having the #6 OL in the conference in 2016.
* Pro Football Focus did an all-conference team each week of the season that identified the two best tackles, two best guards, and best center in the conference each week as rated by the PFF nerds. Counting up the accolades throughout the season might shed some light on the relative quality of OL groups: Washington State (16), Washington (7), USC (7), Stanford (7), Utah (6), Colorado (5), UCLA (3), Cal (3), Arizona State (2), Oregon (2), Oregon State (1), Arizona (1). By this measure Stanford was somewhere between second and fourth in the conference. Note that all seven of our notches on our belt were on the interior: Burkett three times, Bright twice, and Caspers twice. I'd submit that our relative weakness at tackle suggests the OL was worse as a unit than those for Utah and Colorado. But even then you end up with the sixth best OL in the conference: exactly what ESPN's more subjective ranking thought.
So I go into my thought process here with the view that our OL, even in a down year for us, was not "bad." "Middling" is about as damning as you can fairly be IMHO. The question is whether we can expect more than middling in 2017. I think so.
Here's who teams still have from the last OL units to start for them in 2016 and/or other guys singled out for PFF or all-conference recognition (ordered based on my view of what's most impressive with parenthetical notations of the all-conference guys):
Washington State: LT Andre Dillard, LG Cody O'Connell (honorable mention but that's one of the biggest jokes in the history of honors as he was a first team All-American and arguably the best interior lineman in the country), RT Cole Madison (honorable mention) - 10 PFF accolades returning
Washington: LT Trey Adams (first team), C Coleman Shelton (second team), RG Nick Harris, RT Kaleb McGary - 5 PFF accolades returning
Colorado: LT Jeromy Irwin (second team), LG Gerrad Kough (honorable mention), RG Tim Lynott, RT Aaron Haigler - 5 PFF accolades returning (RT Sam Kronshage started seven games and made one PFF team)
Stanford: LT AT Hall, LG Nate Herbig, C Jesse Burkett, RT David Bright - 5 PFF accolades returning
UCLA: LG Josh Wariboko-Alali, C Scott Quessenberry (first team), RG Poasi Moala, RT Andre James - 2 PFF accolades returning
Arizona State: C AJ McCollum, RG Steven Miller, RT Quinn Bailey - 2 PFF accolades returning (LG Sam Jones didn't start the last game and made one PFF team)
Oregon: LT Brady Aiello, LG Shane Lemieux, C Jake Hanson (honorable mention), RT Calvin Throckmorton (honorable mention) - 1 PFF accolade returning
Arizona: LT Layth Friekh, C Nathan Eldridge, RG Jacob Alsadek, RT Cody Creason - 1 PFF accolade returning
USC: C Nico Falah, RG Viane Talamaivao - 1 PFF accolade returning
Cal: C Addison Ooms, RG Dwayne Wallace, RT Patrick Mekari - 1 PFF accolade returning
Utah: RG Salesi Uhatafe - 1 PFF accolade returning (RT Jackson Barton made one PFF team)
Oregon State: LG Gus Lavaka (honorable mention), RT Blake Brandel - 0 PFF accolades returning
So there you have it, a (extremely strong if I don't say so myself) case to be made for Stanford having a top four OL in the conference even without acknowledging the existence of Foster Sarell, Walker Little, or Devery Hamilton. Washington, Washington State, and Colorado look like they will have nationally elite OLs in 2017. The question for us is whether we can get to that level. I think pass blocking by the tackles will be the linchpin in answering that question. But regardless, I sort of struggle with arguments that OL itself is a question or a problem. I think an objective look suggests we are top third of the conference at the position. It is one of our strongest position groups for 2017. TE, DB, and LB are the only positions on our roster that I think can make a case for being better than our OL group, with LB being pretty debatable.
First, I think it's important to get a baseline on how good the OL was last year. The lower level than what we're accustomed to caused many to use adjectives like "bad" and "poor" for our 2016 OL, which I'm not inclined to think is fair if you think of it comparatively with other Pac-12 teams. A few ways to look at this:
* We were 28th in the nation in yards per rush, 53rd in tackles for loss allowed per game, and 100th in sacks allowed per game. If you figure that McCaffrey made the run game look a lot better than a generic back would, I think it's fair to say the run blocking was mediocre and the pass blocking was bad.
* Just one man's opinion (but at least it anchors our discussion comparatively): ESPN's Kyle Bonagura ranked Stanford as having the #6 OL in the conference in 2016.
* Pro Football Focus did an all-conference team each week of the season that identified the two best tackles, two best guards, and best center in the conference each week as rated by the PFF nerds. Counting up the accolades throughout the season might shed some light on the relative quality of OL groups: Washington State (16), Washington (7), USC (7), Stanford (7), Utah (6), Colorado (5), UCLA (3), Cal (3), Arizona State (2), Oregon (2), Oregon State (1), Arizona (1). By this measure Stanford was somewhere between second and fourth in the conference. Note that all seven of our notches on our belt were on the interior: Burkett three times, Bright twice, and Caspers twice. I'd submit that our relative weakness at tackle suggests the OL was worse as a unit than those for Utah and Colorado. But even then you end up with the sixth best OL in the conference: exactly what ESPN's more subjective ranking thought.
So I go into my thought process here with the view that our OL, even in a down year for us, was not "bad." "Middling" is about as damning as you can fairly be IMHO. The question is whether we can expect more than middling in 2017. I think so.
Here's who teams still have from the last OL units to start for them in 2016 and/or other guys singled out for PFF or all-conference recognition (ordered based on my view of what's most impressive with parenthetical notations of the all-conference guys):
Washington State: LT Andre Dillard, LG Cody O'Connell (honorable mention but that's one of the biggest jokes in the history of honors as he was a first team All-American and arguably the best interior lineman in the country), RT Cole Madison (honorable mention) - 10 PFF accolades returning
Washington: LT Trey Adams (first team), C Coleman Shelton (second team), RG Nick Harris, RT Kaleb McGary - 5 PFF accolades returning
Colorado: LT Jeromy Irwin (second team), LG Gerrad Kough (honorable mention), RG Tim Lynott, RT Aaron Haigler - 5 PFF accolades returning (RT Sam Kronshage started seven games and made one PFF team)
Stanford: LT AT Hall, LG Nate Herbig, C Jesse Burkett, RT David Bright - 5 PFF accolades returning
UCLA: LG Josh Wariboko-Alali, C Scott Quessenberry (first team), RG Poasi Moala, RT Andre James - 2 PFF accolades returning
Arizona State: C AJ McCollum, RG Steven Miller, RT Quinn Bailey - 2 PFF accolades returning (LG Sam Jones didn't start the last game and made one PFF team)
Oregon: LT Brady Aiello, LG Shane Lemieux, C Jake Hanson (honorable mention), RT Calvin Throckmorton (honorable mention) - 1 PFF accolade returning
Arizona: LT Layth Friekh, C Nathan Eldridge, RG Jacob Alsadek, RT Cody Creason - 1 PFF accolade returning
USC: C Nico Falah, RG Viane Talamaivao - 1 PFF accolade returning
Cal: C Addison Ooms, RG Dwayne Wallace, RT Patrick Mekari - 1 PFF accolade returning
Utah: RG Salesi Uhatafe - 1 PFF accolade returning (RT Jackson Barton made one PFF team)
Oregon State: LG Gus Lavaka (honorable mention), RT Blake Brandel - 0 PFF accolades returning
So there you have it, a (extremely strong if I don't say so myself) case to be made for Stanford having a top four OL in the conference even without acknowledging the existence of Foster Sarell, Walker Little, or Devery Hamilton. Washington, Washington State, and Colorado look like they will have nationally elite OLs in 2017. The question for us is whether we can get to that level. I think pass blocking by the tackles will be the linchpin in answering that question. But regardless, I sort of struggle with arguments that OL itself is a question or a problem. I think an objective look suggests we are top third of the conference at the position. It is one of our strongest position groups for 2017. TE, DB, and LB are the only positions on our roster that I think can make a case for being better than our OL group, with LB being pretty debatable.
