Buzzword: OL Depth

[Tony (admin)]

After reading the Utes review in the previous post I feel like commenting on something that has been mentioned a lot, OL DEPTH.

We may have some depth becuase of all the returning players, but they were not very good last season.  Will they be that much better this season and why?

[UteThunder]

If for no other reason, they should be better simply because of 4/5 starters returning. Experience is a great teacher and this will be their second season running the same offense. Other than that, I can’t think of any reason the OL should/will be better. I’m sure some will say because Harding is such an amazing OL coach, but I have yet to see anything that proves he is amazing. I’m not saying he is a bad OL coach, because I think he is at least average, but he definitely isn’t amazing.

[EagleMountainUte]

I think Whitt likes him may not think he is amazing or anything stupid. If you tell your boss to “f**king fire me” on National Television I think you are a pretty damn fine coach. I will always have respect for Harding on that. No I don’t blame the false start BS on him either. Those refs were total s**t that first half one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen. 

[UteThunder]

That incident against Arizona shouldn’t endear Harding to anyone. A terrible coach could say the same thing to their boss just as easily as a good coach. What would have signaled to me that Harding might be a great coach is if he had fixed the false start issue on the sideline rather than waiting until they were in the locker room at halftime. 

[EagleMountainUte]

You know why they were false starting right? Whitt promoted him every season so I will trust him more than what you think. 

[UteThunder]

Of course I know why they were false starting. Fixing it should not have required a 15 minute halftime. They could have changed the signal during one defensive possession. The fact they didn’t tells me Harding isn’t a great OL coach.

And sorry, but going from Co-OC back to OL coach is not a promotion. Yeah, he was also given the superficial title of “assistant head coach” but that was simply to allow Harding to save face, similar to Andersen being named the “associate head coach” when he came back. If you disagree, I’d love to hear what new/extra duties Harding took on as the assistant head coach that are above and beyond those he had as the Co-OC or as the OL coach. Hint: There aren’t any.  

[EagleMountainUte]

Didn’t have to fix s**t Arizona should have been flagged. It didn’t matter in the end either. All it did was eat clock lead to further embarrassment on the officials ignoring a hold in the end zone. You can’t fix officials being donks.

Edit: IMO everything you have said is more of an indictment on Whitt. You think he employs average coaches with fragile self images. Harding is an excellent coach second best on the team IMO.

[UteThunder]

When the refs weren’t flagging Arizona, then absolutely yes, we needed to fix it like we eventually did at halftime. You don’t maintain what you are doing if the officials are calling penalties for it, or in this case, not calling penalties on the other team for what they were doing. Ask any D1 coach if they adjust to how officials are calling games and you will get 100% answering in the affirmative. 

I don’t think Whit employs average coaches with fragile self images. I think he knows Harding is a decent, maybe even above average, OL coach and for the sake of trying to maintain some offensive continuity he elected to keep Harding around instead of letting him go like A-Rod. To Whit’s credit, he knew that demoting Harding could hurt his credibility with the players so he “promoted” him back to OL coach.

On what do you base this opinion of Harding being the second best coach on the team? Who is the best?

[EagleMountainUte]

Whitt is the best coach Utah has of course.

[UteThunder]

And Harding is second best because . . . . ?

[EagleMountainUte]

…..IMO

[Chidojuan]

I think we have a few JUCO athletes in their second year. Agasiva at least, and he’s a beast. I suppose that falls under experience. 2nd year in an offense with returning starters and players coming into their own gives me a positive outlook. Hope springs eternal.

[EagleMountainUte]

Huntley really has no excuses this season. We should see marked improvement again this season. Still to win the south we need at least a top five offense in the PAC and at least maintain on defense. 

[Chidojuan]

I just hope he can synchronize better with the OL on RPO’s. If we have to deal with more of those Ineligible Receiver Downfield calls I will lose my mind. (Read that in Al Pacino’s voice.)

[Utah]

I’ve said this 100 times, but when looking at predicting a record for a school, look at schedule, OL experience and head coach. 

Not QB or WR or any other position. 

OL is the most important position and experience trumps all. 

You knew our OL would cost us a game or two last year because they were all new. 

Now, our OL is one of the more experienced OL’s in the country. That’s worth it’s weight in meaty gold. 

 

[89ute]

We are very far from one of the most experienced OLs in the country (90th of 130) and we are 10th in the Pac-12. We have a lot of returning starters but we have relatively few starts.

2018 Career Starts