I am a defender of strength coaches. Always will be. I know how hard to it is to work with athletes and general population to yield results that people are satisfied with. It’s not easy. However, I can also look objectively at the facts and come to a few conclusions.
Edit: After listening to @Josh_M talk on the pod about this line being one of the more talented lines from a recruiting standpoint, I’m even more convinced that there is an issue with the performance staff developing their big guys. Raym had a full offseason to pack on more strength than he had. Stacey Wilkins should have turned into a monster with that frame. Training bigger guys is a different beast than training skill players. Anton Harrison should be looking like Jamal Brown in his lower half. I think this is a very very fair, specific critique of the OU performance staff. BB is on record saying some of his guys just “aren’t strong” and that’s telling to me and if I heard coaches say stuff like that about my players I train, I’d take it personally as an attack on my abilities so I know they took it that way too. BB didnt forget how to coach Oline in my opinion. His track record with linemen is stellar and the declines of his lines at OU also seem to coincide with the loss of Schmidt whose strength was working the big guys.
1. Wylie has not had a single Offensive or Defensive Lineman go first round while under his guidance and programming (feel free to fact check me but I think this is correct and the fact I am even saying this is issue enough). This thought has always bugged me but has really been on my mind lately when watching back film.
Having been at both Texas and OU, you are flooded with talented guys with the raw capabilities to be top flight talent on the line.
BB has even said in press conferences that some if his guys aren’t strong enough yet. This is such BS for a program like OU.
Your top guys like Raym and Harrison should be able to throw on strength like nobodies business. Especially in a program where you can control what nutrition your athletes are getting.
Schmidt, say what you will Produced insanely impressive DL/OL bodies
2. Offensive and defensive linemen routinely play too high. For the college game and beyond, I can’t explain to you guys how important it is to be low.
Shin angle wins. You hear it all the time in my videos I post on here. But getting guys to do that is hard.
3. IT should be just as fast and athletic but weigh 20 lbs more.
I’ve held this in but this has just bugged me for so long. He has supreme athleticism and a frame that could be dominant and although he is a great player, I have not seen the development there that one would think they’d see.
Same with Perrion. He consistently plays too high. I know Thibs is coaching guys to stay low. However, playing low is about having the body that gets you there and I don’t see those bodies on guys right now.
4. Rattler has lost a lot of the fluidity he had in high school.
This is such a hard line to toe as I know how difficult it is to not mess up throwing athletes
I’ve gone back and watched tape, slowed things down, looked at what was going on with his feet, looked at some of the elusiveness he had even as recent as last year and it just doesn’t make sense to me.
5. It took KB leaving the program to trim down and get right. Kennedy has such great tools as a back and I feel like he hasn’t progressed. He spent time working in the private world to get where he needed to be.
I’m not all the way there because I like a lot of what this staff does but these are things I’ve just been puzzled by along with the same stuff you guys see in the game. Getting pushed off the ball, out-leveraged at the point of attack , etc.
Edit: After listening to @Josh_M talk on the pod about this line being one of the more talented lines from a recruiting standpoint, I’m even more convinced that there is an issue with the performance staff developing their big guys. Raym had a full offseason to pack on more strength than he had. Stacey Wilkins should have turned into a monster with that frame. Training bigger guys is a different beast than training skill players. Anton Harrison should be looking like Jamal Brown in his lower half. I think this is a very very fair, specific critique of the OU performance staff. BB is on record saying some of his guys just “aren’t strong” and that’s telling to me and if I heard coaches say stuff like that about my players I train, I’d take it personally as an attack on my abilities so I know they took it that way too. BB didnt forget how to coach Oline in my opinion. His track record with linemen is stellar and the declines of his lines at OU also seem to coincide with the loss of Schmidt whose strength was working the big guys.
1. Wylie has not had a single Offensive or Defensive Lineman go first round while under his guidance and programming (feel free to fact check me but I think this is correct and the fact I am even saying this is issue enough). This thought has always bugged me but has really been on my mind lately when watching back film.
Having been at both Texas and OU, you are flooded with talented guys with the raw capabilities to be top flight talent on the line.
BB has even said in press conferences that some if his guys aren’t strong enough yet. This is such BS for a program like OU.
Your top guys like Raym and Harrison should be able to throw on strength like nobodies business. Especially in a program where you can control what nutrition your athletes are getting.
Schmidt, say what you will Produced insanely impressive DL/OL bodies
2. Offensive and defensive linemen routinely play too high. For the college game and beyond, I can’t explain to you guys how important it is to be low.
Shin angle wins. You hear it all the time in my videos I post on here. But getting guys to do that is hard.
3. IT should be just as fast and athletic but weigh 20 lbs more.
I’ve held this in but this has just bugged me for so long. He has supreme athleticism and a frame that could be dominant and although he is a great player, I have not seen the development there that one would think they’d see.
Same with Perrion. He consistently plays too high. I know Thibs is coaching guys to stay low. However, playing low is about having the body that gets you there and I don’t see those bodies on guys right now.
4. Rattler has lost a lot of the fluidity he had in high school.
This is such a hard line to toe as I know how difficult it is to not mess up throwing athletes
I’ve gone back and watched tape, slowed things down, looked at what was going on with his feet, looked at some of the elusiveness he had even as recent as last year and it just doesn’t make sense to me.
5. It took KB leaving the program to trim down and get right. Kennedy has such great tools as a back and I feel like he hasn’t progressed. He spent time working in the private world to get where he needed to be.
I’m not all the way there because I like a lot of what this staff does but these are things I’ve just been puzzled by along with the same stuff you guys see in the game. Getting pushed off the ball, out-leveraged at the point of attack , etc.
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