What is up? Welcome to your daily Buckeye Blitz for a Sunday! Sunday Fun Day, you know how we do it in my house. January 29th, 2023, nothing but fun on Sundays. Sunday freaking Fun Day, a woogie boogie. Anyways, what are we talking about?
Oh, tonight, 8 PM Eastern, YouTube live. Me, Jeff, and Sean breaking it down. The latest Buckeye football info, news, notes. We’re going to talk about all kinds of stuff. We’re going to give you our two deeps. I’m sure Shawn will disagree with everything I say as is his calling card. Jeff will try and play referee between us. But anyway, don’t forget 8 PM Eastern. Hop in there, hop in the chat. I want to hear what you guys want to talk about. I love getting feedback and comments from you guys. Stephen, Cassie, Tyrone, we got some new guys that just popped in, so hope to see all of you there. Can’t talk, got a cold or something creeping up on me. I don’t even live in snow country.
Anyways, today we’re talking about offensive line blocking. This must improve. We lost a ton of quality. I’m going to run through some numbers, some rankings, and stats. And so, we are losing a ton with losing Wypler, Paris Johnson Jr., and Dawand Jones. Quality, quality offensive line blocking, both run and pass. So let’s talk about it. As a team, the Buckeyes in past blocking last year were set a PFF grade of 73.8. It’s 26th. That was 26th in the country. Not great, Bob. Running the ball, actually, were better. We were better. We were ranked fourth at 84.8. Remember, PFF rankings. 60 is average, like doing your the bare minimum.
Okay, so let’s get in here and look at these guys. Let’s see who I want to talk to you about, who we’re losing. So pass blocking, we’ll start with that. Luke Wypler was the best pass blocker on the O-line. He had a pass block grade of 84.1. He only allowed one sack on the season, seven hurries, eight pressures. Dwan right behind him, though, at a 79.5. He had allowed five hurries, five pressures. So you could argue that he was actually better than Luke Wypler because of his lower hurry and pressure numbers. Paris Johnson Jr., 77.9, just below Dawand, but he did allow two sacks, 12 hurries, and 14 pressures. So that’s what we’re losing, all right? That’s three dudes out of five, and those are really good grades nationally. So when you compare them to others, let’s look at who we’re replacing them with potentially. Well, you got Matt Jones coming back, all right? He was a 66.5 in pass blocking, now just above average. Just above doing your job. Did only allow one sack, one hit, but he allowed nine hurries and 11 pressures from the guard position. That’s usually not a heavily pressured area because you’ve got your partner to the left and to the right of you. You know, so like I said, 66.5.
Who else? Donovan Jackson, not great either. Again, another guard that is not very good at pass blocking. 60.7, so he barely was average. He allowed two sacks, two hits, nine hurries, 13 pressures. Again, at the guard position, you can’t have that.
It’s got to be much much better. [Music] So, we’re replacing them with… We know Josh Fryar is going to be a starter, all right? His grade was a 55.8 in pass blocking, and he had 98 snaps. So, not a lot, I get that, compared to like Luke Wypler, who has 450 snaps, so, you know, about 25, a little less. So, Fryar allowed one hit, two hurries, three pressures. Again, the grade is not good, and we really don’t have enough data, in my opinion, to grade guys like Zen Michalski, Thayer Munford, and these guys had like less than 20 snaps. Bennett Christian only had two, he’s a tight end anyways, but Ben Chrisman, yeah, he only had two. George Fitzpatrick only had two. So, we really have a lack of quality depth there. And look at what they have to replace, you know, these three studs in pass blocking have to be replaced.
Now, let’s look at run blocking. Dawand was best on the team at an 85 in run blocking. Paris Johnson Jr. was an 80.9, Luke Wypler 80.8. Now, this is where Donovan Jackson shines, 80.1, so just right behind those guys. 80 is a great grade. Further down the list, Matt Jones, not bad at a 78.2, that’s good. But then again, we don’t have a lot of data like Zen Michalski. We had 60 snaps for him last year. He graded a 72, so good for a younger guy, but still, it’s got to get better, you know? And who’s to say he’s even going to be a starter this year? I’m not comfortable saying that. George Fitzpatrick only had seven snaps in the running game. Ben Chrisman, seven. Yeah, that’s about it. I mean, nobody else had enough snaps. Josh Fryar, he did have 133 snaps in the run game, but he graded at a 58.3, so that’s concerning to me when Fryer was like our sixth man in typically, and his grade is below 60. Not good. Enokk, another guy that gets a lot of snaps or got a lot of snaps last year. Comparatively, just 82 snaps in the running game, he graded a 50. So, yikes is my point.
That’s my concern right there. How are we going to create this depth? Justin Frye, I’m talking to you. How are we going to create this depth with guys that have minimal experience? We only have two returning starters in Matt Jones and Donovan Jackson. And if you slide Donovan Jackson out to tackle, does that diminish his abilities? Not saying we should, but it’s possible, you know? And as we know, the passing game does not work if we don’t keep the quarterback clean. So, now, it’s the offensive linemen’s job to keep the quarterback upright, give him time to make a play, and keep him clean. And then that will open up opportunities in the run game. Run blocking is about creating space for running backs. You’ve got to be able to open huge holes they can drive a truck through. You’ve got to work together. And again, that’s my concern. We’ve got three new guys coming in, and you’ve got to get them all. Five guys, two returning starters, three new guys, and you’ve got to get them working together as a cohesive unit, all five on the same page all the time. That’s my main concern.
This has this is like Priority One For Me. This offensive line play has to get better you know and this spring will be the starting point. We’ll see how it goes. But anyways I don’t forget YouTube live tonight 8pm Eastern. I’ll send out reminders if you subscribe to the channel you’ll get notified. So you might want to do that. I would highly recommend it. I would really appreciate it too. Anyways I’ll talk to you guys tonight. If I don’t see you I will talk to you later. Go Bucks!
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