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Talked a couple of days ago with center Taylor Lasecki. I mentioned the story of him bench pressing 450 pounds a couple of weeks ago ... a mark that no longer stands, after he benched 465 this week. In addition, he said that transfer Thomas Ashcraft cracked the 450-pound mark, putting up 455, and Ben Gottschalk put up 425.

For us to reach our goals this year the O-Line is going to have to gel early and play well all season. Seems like we got the beef up-front, just need the cohesiveness now.

For some reason, I am not worried about our offensive line.

PP, any chance you can ask them about their squats and power clings? Yeah bench press is a sexy number we all care about, but those two lifts are much more important from a football perspective.

Gottschalk set the power clean record for OLs at 341.

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He also said he and Lasecki have been squatting sets of 615 all summer, not wanting to push excessive weight and risk injury before the season.

I think this could be an area of real strength for us. Give Gilbert some time and I think he'll put up sick numbers this year.

blackoutpony wrote:PP, any chance you can ask them about their squats and power clings? Yeah bench press is a sexy number we all care about, but those two lifts are much more important from a football perspective.

Bench press is actually an important number for Offensive Lineman. Help generate strength in their punch. Other positions not so much.

PonyPlayer4 wrote:

blackoutpony wrote:PP, any chance you can ask them about their squats and power clings? Yeah bench press is a sexy number we all care about, but those two lifts are much more important from a football perspective.

Bench press is actually an important number for Offensive Lineman. Help generate strength in their punch. Other positions not so much.

Obviously all are important, but as.a former O and D lineman, I can tell you I drove with my legs, and while arm strength helps, you still get the push with your lower body first.

That's a ridiculous clean though. Wow

I have never been an offensive lineman, and I'm not gonna pretend I really know anything about it. I understand driving with your legs with run blocking... but to me the punch is very important setting and dropping to pass block.

If our OL can hold their own vs Tech and TCU ill feel pretty good about our regular season. A&M is goign to be a track meet for Gilbert if have a feeling - hope he has a nice spot inthe fourth row picked out for every down. Maybe he can bean a few fake military guys and have some fun with it. Goal vs A&M - get our with minimal injuries.

Best thing we can for against A&M is that they will be totally gassed from the war against Bama the previous week. They will still beat us but it might not be the bloodbath it could've otherwise been.

THEY WILL *NOT* BEAT US

Wonder how these numbers compare to Tech or TCU?

ALEX LIFESON wrote:Wonder how these numbers compare to Tech or TCU?

Sand Aggies
LT Le'Raven Clark (6'5 303) So.
LG Beau Carpenter (6'6 284) Jr.
C Jared Kaster (6'3 271) So.
RG James Polk (6'6 332) Jr.
RT Rashad Fortenberry (6'5 275) Sr.

Your SMU Mustangs
LT Thomas Ashcraft (6'5, 315, 450 bench) Sr.
LG Ben Gottschalk (6'5, 293, 425 bench, power clean 341*) Sr.
C Talyor Lasecki (6'3, 296, 465 bench*) So.
RG Sam Rice (6'4, 287) So.
RT Kris Weeks (6'5 310) So. or Seaver Myers (6'6 290) Fr.
*new Post Death Penalty lifting record

Clearly TTech doesn't have the monsters they used to have under the Pirate. Presumably they also won't be using those giant splits between their OLs either.

I actually feel pretty good about the way we stack up. At least on the left side of the OL and at center, we're big, strong and experienced. The wild card is at RT, where we're very young. But we have several big kids we can rotate in there, so maybe we'll be OK. Overall, we're slightly bigger across the OL than TTech. This is the first time in a long time we could make that claim.

How do you clean 341 and not 340 or 345? Seems like an odd weight, unless someone had already cleaned 340 even and you just wanted the record.