Connect with us

Football

The Offensive Line Is Still a Work in Progress

Published

on

The offensive line has been much maligned the past few seasons. With good reason.  In 2015, the running game produced 126.8 rushing yards per game, which qualified for ninth (out of 10) in the conference. That number was down from a brutal 2014 season in which they finished No. 7 in the conference with 136.6 yards per game.

Looking at the overall trajectory of the rushing game, the regression is staggering. They’ve gone from 215 rush yards per game in 2012, which was good for second behind Baylor, to one of the most struggling ground attacks in the conference.

Capture

There’s no doubt the rushing game is an area of emphasis to improve on this offseason. They’ve brought in junior college All-American Larry Williams, who is competing for the starting guard position as an early enrollee. And they’ll also welcome in junior college transfer Shane Richards later this summer, who will at the least provide quality depth.

Beyond that, the Cowboys also have redshirt freshman tackle Marcus Keyes, redshirt freshman center Johnny Wilson, and redshirt sophomore Matt Mucha who all appear to be serviceable backups, proving as much last Saturday.

But are they any better as a unit than last year? If you look at the results from Saturday, the answer is a resounding no. But there’s still optimism among the coaching staff.

“The offensive line is much improved,” Mike Gundy said Saturday after a lackluster statistical performance. “We’ve got a long ways to go.”

The spring game, for what it’s worth, showed no real progress up to this point, other than a definite development of depth behind the first unit. They rushed for 90 total yards on 30 carries Saturday – an average of 3.0 yards per carry. For reference, that would have tied for 127th (out of 128 teams) in the FBS last season.  That doesn’t exactly scream Big 12 title contender status.

On one hand, this offense has seen this same defense the entire spring. So you would expect some sort of familiarity may help in their attack.

But on the other hand, the defense has seen the exact same stuff from the offense all spring, and they have the upper hand in this matchup. After all, it’s not the defensive line who has struggled the past few years.

We’re still more than five months away before real football games will be played. But Saturday’s exhibition proved that despite the focus of improving a struggling area with the run game, there is still plenty of work to be done this offseason.

Most Read

Copyright © 2011- 2023 White Maple Media