2018 Preview - OL

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ST_Lawson
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To save myself a bit of time, I'm listing the O-Line guys in numerical order, like it is on the athletics website.
Here's who's currently listed on the roster for the offensive line:

#57 - Fawaz Ayoola, 6-4 300 R-Freshman
#61 - Caden Buettner, 6-3 285 Freshman
#62 - Brandon Malkow, 6-4 300 Freshman
#63 - Chris Zobrist, 6-3 280 Junior
#64 - Thomas Kirsch, 6-6 310 Senior
#65 - Matt Ricketts, 6-2 265 R-Freshman
#66 - Michael Ross, 6-2 320 R-Freshman
#67 - Kelton Edwards, 6-3 290 Sophomore (listed as Fr. but played last season at Northeast Mississippi CC)
#68 - TJ Kennedy, 6-5 315 Freshman
#69 - Jack Whyte, Freshman
#72 - Reno Rosene, Junior (transfer from Duke)
#73 - Kyle Sanft, 6-4 286 R-Sophomore
#74 - Jared Ross, Freshman
#75 - Austin Hopp, 6-5 280 R-Freshman
#76 - Drew Wagner, 6-6 312 Senior
#77 - Elijah Elkerton, 6-8 290 Freshman

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Gone from last year
O-Line guys don't have a lot in the way of in-game stats (I know there's a rating system that coaches use to "grade" them, but I'm not sure how they calculate that). So, I'll just go through who we're losing from last year and what their on-field contributions were.

Josh Baldus - played in 12 games in 2017, 46 in his 4 seasons.
Jacob Judd - played in 12 games in 2017, 40 in his 4 seasons. Judd was a first-team All-MVFC player last season and received numerous conference and national academic awards as well.
Lucas Holder - played in 9 games last season after transferring from Liberty University.
Jordan Detweiler - played in 1 game last season, 21 games in 4 seasons.
James Torgerson - played in 12 games in 2017 and 47 total games over the last 4 years.
Matthew Kielbasa - a redshirt freshman who had to retire from football after shoulder surgery.
Myron Cunningham - did not play last season, transferred to a JUCO school

Likely to get playing time this year
Seniors Thomas Kirsch and Drew Wagner, as well as Junior Chris Zobrist should see the field quite a bit. Sophomore Kyle Sanft played in two games last year, so should also find playing time. JUCO transfer Kelton Edwards played the entire season last year for Northeast Mississippi CC. Beyond those guys, I seem to remember some promising praise of Fawaz Ayoola when he was recruited. The thing about the O-Line though is that the guys are having contact in practically every play, so it's likely that nearly everyone who's available to play will at least get some opportunity to be out there at some point, to help relieve a starter due to injury or fatigue. Because we lost quite a bit of experience from the O-Line after last season and due to the new rule where players can participate in up to 4 games and still keep their redshirt, I'd imagine we'll also see a decent number of the new freshman also getting a chance to prove themselves. I guess what I'm saying is that I would not be surprised if we ended up seeing just about every O-Lineman listed on our roster on the field at some point during the season.
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WIU2DC
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I didn’t realize how many OL we had on the roster. So that in itself for me is promising. If we can find 5 or 6 guys that are good enough to play in MVFC and stay health I see us shocking the conference again.

Also, on a side note I just wanna stand next to the freshman that is 6’8. He’s 13 years younger than I am and just a monster. Haha.


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letsgonecks
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Rosene should be a JR after spending 3 years at Duke. Should have redshirted, then played in 2 games and 11 last year. Probably has a good chance to start.
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ST_Lawson
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letsgonecks wrote: Thu Jul 26, 2018 2:22 pm Rosene should be a JR after spending 3 years at Duke. Should have redshirted, then played in 2 games and 11 last year. Probably has a good chance to start.
Thank you. I fixed it in the first post. The roster isn't quite as well updated as it has been in previous years, so I'm kinda relying on what's written in their bios plus anything I can find in other posts around here. I knew about Rosene coming here, but just forgot when I was putting the list together.
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Leatherneck57
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letsgonecks wrote: Thu Jul 26, 2018 2:22 pm Rosene should be a JR after spending 3 years at Duke. Should have redshirted, then played in 2 games and 11 last year. Probably has a good chance to start.
And he’s 6’7 330 lbs.!!!
Tmelker
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Here is a picture of him from last weekend. His brother on the left is 6’2”. He is still growing in height. If family history is anything his Grandpa, Dad, which is me, and his brother grew 2” after HS graduation.
WIU2DC wrote: Thu Jul 26, 2018 2:05 pm I didn’t realize how many OL we had on the roster. So that in itself for me is promising. If we can find 5 or 6 guys that are good enough to play in MVFC and stay health I see us shocking the conference again.

Also, on a side note I just wanna stand next to the freshman that is 6’8. He’s 13 years younger than I am and just a monster. Haha.


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Tmelker
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I think despite all the hand wringing the O-Line is going to be alright. The key will be staying healthy. I heard an interview from Coach Elliot after the first day and he recognized three of them who he thought have looked good this summer and camp. Austin Hopp, Kyle Sanft, and Jared Ross. With an experienced Quarterback and quality skilled players this offense will score points. Excited to see how the Coaches implement the new red shirt rule and how it impacts the growth of the Freshman.
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