You hear that a lot and specifically was reading this article from a couple of years ago that mentioned that, but I don't think that is quite correct. I guess it probably depends on what it means for it to be the hardest position to recruit. I would understand hardest in terms of not knowing what you are getting, but they make it sound more like hardest in that there isn't a lot of big guys that are light on their feet so not a lot to choose from.
If we assume OL is the hardest position to recruit because there isn't a lot of big guys with good feet, I would argue then that this needs to be split up into OTs and inside guys. I would agree then that quality OTs are hard to find and probably the hardest position to recruit...but would disagree about inside OL. Now not necessarily ready made guys on the inside, but think you can develop solid interior OL. You have seen this at KU with them getting inside OL from all over - have recruited some quality inside guys (like Trevor Marrongelli and Jeremiah Hatch, who played some outside), have recruited solid JUCO guys that could play right away (like Chet Hartley, Joe Vaughn, and Ngalu Fusimalohi), have recruited walk ons that played the spots (like Adrian Mayes and Joe Gibson), and have even converted DL and LBs to these interior OL spots (like Duane Zlatnik and Sal Capra). I think inside OL is one spot you can really manufacture depth when you have a system in place and some stability on a team.
Because of that, and have talked about this some before, I really really like the approach the staff has taken with OL recruiting early on. They knew they had roster and OL problems, so instead of spreading the scholarships around and hoping to hit on all of their OL recruits, they essentially focused on finding HS OTs with scholarships and tried finding inside OL guys through walk on spots. Now some of the OT guys could move inside, and I don't think every single walk on OL they have targeted will be counted on to play, but when we are out of this numbers problems we are having, I think this is one spot we really look back at them making smart decisions on that helped us get back to these numbers sooner than expected.
JK mentioned in a thread a few weeks ago he thinks the two deep on the OL could look something like:
RG - Jayson Rhodes, Will Smith
C - Joe Gibson, Mesa Ribordy
LG - Jacob Bragg, Hunter Saulsbury
If that's true, it does lend support to the idea of being able to find interior guys. We have three walk-ons (Gibson being a former walk on), 2 JUCOs, and 1 guy originally recruited as an inside OL guy. Now what I am interested in is what happens in a couple of years. Do we see them go to a more traditional OL recruiting approach mixed with inside an outside guys? Probably - seeing Joey Gilbertson in this class could be proof of that. But one thing I would like to see every single year is to get at least one quality walk on OL, because you just never know with those inside guys and we have a pretty solid track record there...
If we assume OL is the hardest position to recruit because there isn't a lot of big guys with good feet, I would argue then that this needs to be split up into OTs and inside guys. I would agree then that quality OTs are hard to find and probably the hardest position to recruit...but would disagree about inside OL. Now not necessarily ready made guys on the inside, but think you can develop solid interior OL. You have seen this at KU with them getting inside OL from all over - have recruited some quality inside guys (like Trevor Marrongelli and Jeremiah Hatch, who played some outside), have recruited solid JUCO guys that could play right away (like Chet Hartley, Joe Vaughn, and Ngalu Fusimalohi), have recruited walk ons that played the spots (like Adrian Mayes and Joe Gibson), and have even converted DL and LBs to these interior OL spots (like Duane Zlatnik and Sal Capra). I think inside OL is one spot you can really manufacture depth when you have a system in place and some stability on a team.
Because of that, and have talked about this some before, I really really like the approach the staff has taken with OL recruiting early on. They knew they had roster and OL problems, so instead of spreading the scholarships around and hoping to hit on all of their OL recruits, they essentially focused on finding HS OTs with scholarships and tried finding inside OL guys through walk on spots. Now some of the OT guys could move inside, and I don't think every single walk on OL they have targeted will be counted on to play, but when we are out of this numbers problems we are having, I think this is one spot we really look back at them making smart decisions on that helped us get back to these numbers sooner than expected.
JK mentioned in a thread a few weeks ago he thinks the two deep on the OL could look something like:
RG - Jayson Rhodes, Will Smith
C - Joe Gibson, Mesa Ribordy
LG - Jacob Bragg, Hunter Saulsbury
If that's true, it does lend support to the idea of being able to find interior guys. We have three walk-ons (Gibson being a former walk on), 2 JUCOs, and 1 guy originally recruited as an inside OL guy. Now what I am interested in is what happens in a couple of years. Do we see them go to a more traditional OL recruiting approach mixed with inside an outside guys? Probably - seeing Joey Gilbertson in this class could be proof of that. But one thing I would like to see every single year is to get at least one quality walk on OL, because you just never know with those inside guys and we have a pretty solid track record there...
Last edited:
