Our O-line is getting some good press Big Uglies Award

Submitted by TraumaRN on

On Andy Staples weekly roundup of college football our O-line and Drevno get some love for the improvement they've shown, teaser quote included, he highlights Cole and Braden especially. 

There is also the Mendenhall quote about us being the best team they've played so far a little further into the article. 

 

http://www.campusrush.com/tennessee-butch-jones-florida-week-4-punt-pas…

 

"Big Ugl(ies) of the Week

I typically choose just one lineman, but one group deserves special commendation for its improvement since last season. Heck, it deserves commendation for its improvement since earlier this month. Watching the Michigan offensive line in Saturday's 31–0 shutout of BYU, it was shocking to remember that four of those guys started on an offense that could barely move the ball last season."

 

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Pit2047

September 28th, 2015 at 9:01 AM ^

All we lose is Graham next year. If Kugler is good we'll be fine if not outstanding (personally I'm hoping for 2012 Alabama HAIL DREVNO). 2017 OTOH will have true SR Cole, RS SR Kugler and ?. Dawson will be a RS SR, JBB a RS JR and Uluzio, Newsome and Runyan will be 3rd year guys plus any recruits from 2016 and 2017 so we'll have options. As long as Tim Drevno is coaching here I will never worry about the OL barring major injuries. To me personally he was the biggest addition of the offseason and that includes Harbaugh and Rudock.

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Gentleman Squirrels

September 28th, 2015 at 9:37 AM ^

I'm pretty confident that Drevno will make sure our OL is fine to great the next two years. What I'm really hoping is that the 2nd string and 3rd string are also getting a ton of reps. I don't want to see another drop off of play a la 2011 to 2012 (or even 2012 to 2013) once this current line graduates. I'd like michigan to reload rather than rebuild



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1464

September 28th, 2015 at 10:47 AM ^

I don't usually like to neg valid opinions, but you just said our OC was a bigger pickup than Harbaugh.  Ferverously frothing feverous fanbase aside, Harbaugh is the only answer to the question "What was Michigan's biggest improvement during the offseason?"

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ijohnb

September 28th, 2015 at 9:44 AM ^

was good.  Far from a September heisman award performance, but Rudock was good enough in that game to beat most teams on our schedule comfortably.  I have not understood a lot of the Navarre comparisions before this, but he reminded me a lot of Navarre in the pocket, not a picture of composure, but just accurate enough with some good reads to be very effective.  The ability to run for a couple of scores is a bonus.  I liked Rudock's performance on Saturday.

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Dawkins

September 28th, 2015 at 8:52 AM ^

Should be even better once Kalis is gone. Every year he's our biggest liability on the OL. I'm excited to see what this line will look like with competent RG play.

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Bambi

September 28th, 2015 at 9:07 AM ^

What makes you say Kalis is our biggest liability? He struggled against Utah, which every OL did, but he's graded out well UFR wise these past two games. I'm not sure about BYU but it looked like he played fine to me. Also Harbaugh called him out best OL. Maybe you don't believe that, but he's so much better than competent. You're assessment is so far off base.

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Albatross

September 28th, 2015 at 9:55 AM ^

Not sure what the other poster is watching. The only starting lineman we have had that has looked bad at any point in this season so far has been Braden against Utah. And Jimmy, rightly pointed out he had to play better. And since then he has been a beast. The unit has been playing amazingly well, and to call out any of the linemen, espcially Kalis, at this point is simply ignorant.

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CorkyCole

September 28th, 2015 at 9:50 AM ^

Apparently Harbaugh doesn't know how to grade o-line performance then since he gave Kalis the top grade the previous game. I'm sure that won't be his last game he grades out the best either.

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jocular_jock

September 28th, 2015 at 9:03 AM ^

Photo on the article looks great! Everybody has thier footwork coordinated with kinda a "which one of these people do I want to hit" shifty eye look to them.

Aaron Ontiveroz/Getty Images

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LSAClassOf2000

September 28th, 2015 at 9:27 AM ^

It seems like the offensive line was really one of the major points of worry for us as we muddled our way through August and all the speculation about who would be starting there, but as others have said in numerous threads, the progress that they seem to have made - statistically as well as technically - is way beyond what I would have thought at the beginning of the year, and better, they keep making improvements each week. Very, very pleased.

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alum96

September 28th, 2015 at 9:35 AM ^

I am excited about our lines next year.   We lose 1 friggin starter on the DL + OL combined.  You win in the trenches!

Don't ask me about 2017 though as we lose almost every starter and most of the DL 2 deep!  But #Harbaugh #development etc by then.

I only wish there were another 3-4 Glasgows in the pipeline, esp. ryan type Glasgows!

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BlueRy

September 28th, 2015 at 10:22 AM ^

for these guys.  Especially the line, "...take a bow, Cole, Braden, Glasgow, Kalis and Magnuson.  You've helped your team get much better."  Some folks were beginning to write these guys off as recruiting misses and busts.  I'm glad to see the hunch that most of us on this blog had was true: they just needed coaching.  

Positive reinforcement on a national level has to feel great for these young men.  I couldn't be happier for them.  The best is yet to come...  Go Blue!

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