Since there has been so much discussion of recruiting and who is signing where and not signing where, I tend to ask myself this question, "Are we getting the talent to play on the line, both offense and defense?" I am one of those who believes if you don't get the talent on the line of scrimmage you might as well not have any talent anywhere else because it all starts up front.

My question is how do you feel about your team in this critical area? I will be honest, I don't know but I understand USM has 5 lineman committed out of 20 and as to who is coming back, I really don't know so I will let my fellow Eagle fans enlighten me and the readers.

Marshall has 4 OL commits, but if you don't redshirt Olinemen you are either desperate or have a true blue chip guy. Marshall has 9 out of 10 coming back from the 2-deep on the oline.

On the Dline we have all 4 starters back plus a guy that was suppose to start coming back from injury. We also have all 4 off the second string back. We only have one dline recruit in this class but add two highly rated guys who were props last year. There's also a chance we will add one of the best DE prospects inthe country. A high 4-star guy who looks like he won't make grades. His brother will be a sophomore on the team this year, bodes well for 2014.

I think we are in pretty good shape in the trenches.

For the 81st year in a row, East Carolina University has signed it's best recruiting class to date.

We are bringing in 20+ solid players with great potential. We've added a lot of depth and filled in our positional needs. All of these guys were standouts at the high school level and, with a little blood, sweat and tears, will be standouts at the collegiate level as well.

We got most of our biggest targets, and it's a good thing we missed on the ones we did because those kids didn't really want to be Pirates.

:ecu:

(Did I miss any cliches?)

I think TM and Co are filling needs the best they can considering they started midway through the process. Far from a home-run class, but it may be solid.

(01-29-2013 11:39 PM)banker Wrote:  Marshall has 4 OL commits, but if you don't redshirt Olinemen you are either desperate or have a true blue chip guy. Marshall has 9 out of 10 coming back from the 2-deep on the oline.

On the Dline we have all 4 starters back plus a guy that was suppose to start coming back from injury. We also have all 4 off the second string back. We only have one dline recruit in this class but add two highly rated guys who were props last year. There's also a chance we will add one of the best DE prospects inthe country. A high 4-star guy who looks like he won't make grades. His brother will be a sophomore on the team this year, bodes well for 2014.

I think we are in pretty good shape in the trenches.

While everything you say is 100% true, you didn't actually answer his main question, are we getting the talent to play on the line? I don't really know, I think our d-line is not very good unless our new DC helps with schemes to improve their ability to get pressure on the QB, and our OL while big is questionable at times especially against a team that is average or better. I guess I would say that we do have some talent but is it up to the coaches to coach them up. It's really hard to tell at this point.

(01-30-2013 08:07 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  I think TM and Co are filling needs the best they can considering they started midway through the process. Far from a home-run class, but it may be solid.

Same with Tech. It's hard to recruit when you haven't established relationships with the recruits.

We are hitting jucos really hard since we lost 32 Seniors... understandable.

(01-30-2013 08:13 AM)MU42 Wrote:  I think our d-line is not very good unless our new DC helps with schemes to improve their ability to get pressure on the QB,

Actualy I think we hve better than decent D- players. It's hard to showcase your talent when you have a DC lining you up 10 yards off the ball on a 3rd and 6.

MU42, I would agree that our dline needs to show more, but getting Rouse back and adding a few key pieces seems to be in place. I would disagree on your oline assessment. We were much improved on the line last year and the offensive production reflected that. We were solid despite injury issues so that means we also developed depth last year.

(01-31-2013 01:02 AM)banker Wrote:  I would disagree on your oline assessment. We were much improved on the line last year and the offensive production reflected that.

Once Grooms, Butler and Watson started running the ball the OLine reflected that. They each had avgs of 5.4 to 6.2 YPC.