At least three High School All Star games this past weekend,

[Cougar1]

I would guess close to 300 seniors , most recruited pretty high. It helped to show how moving up one little step in talent, can be a huge step for some. I thought it was especially true with the line. Obviously there were some who will have very little trouble, but there were far more that when faced with stronger faster DT's and DE's were far, far outclassed, talented, big, but not up to big minutes at college level. Great games to watch, some great skill players.........

 

[fx400]

For this age group, athletics will always favor the early developing kid. Typically, they are the fast twitch skill position kids, they seem to hit puberty earlier and develop quicker. For the front 7/OL type kids they seem to develop slower and it takes a little while for the coordination to catch up. So I am not surprised that alot of the linemen had more trouble than the skill position kids. In the good old days if you played in the Front 7 you were red-shirted. Used to be very rare to see a linemen play as a true Fresh, times have changed...

 

[Cougar1]

Re:It still is very rare to see an freshman Lineman play as true frosh

You better check you rosters fx, now I know you will throw out a couple of examples, but I can assure you the vast majority of college coaches would rather redshirt a freshman than play them. Not sure what good ole days you're talking about.

 

[Mark Milton]

Playing OL or DT as a true freshman is the exception

The physicality is completely different than high school. Very tough positions to play regardless, then throw in the more complex blocking schemes, pass protection, footwork, etc, and it is not a recipe for success. The LT for Alabama for sure played great. He was also 6'7, benched over 400 lbs and is a freak of nature.

I recall Russ Richardson starting for us as a true freshman and felt sorry for him. Same with the Mangiero kid who started at center. Smart player, coaches kid, but was overwhelmed.

 

[IU Scott]

if the players are elite

and the coaches know they will leave early for the NFL the coaches won't want to redshirt kids because they will only get two years of playing time out of them

 

[IU Scott]

Not the great players

coaches won't want to redshirt the great players because if you redshirt them you will probably only get two years of playing time out of them

 

[fx400]

Re:It still is very rare to see an freshman Lineman play as true frosh

We are on the same page, I agree it is rare to play true Fresh on OL.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Bligedy]

Russ was also only about 240.....

but man did he have gonads.

 

[Wood Thrush Holler]

QB and OL are the most difficult positions for freshmen to learn

and it is rare to see freshmen starters at either unless you're absolutely bereft of upper-class talent.