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Stallion - in the old days - an off lineman's height was secondary to quickness. Coaches looked for pass blockers that could stay in front of a pass rusher. Also pick up a blitzing lb, etc. On running game they looked for players that could stay with their blocks and get down field to get secondary blocks. Also, pulling guards and (sometimes) tackles had to be quick enough to stay ahead of a fast running back and agile enough to turn into a moving target. Those guys were worth their weight in...oh well, I guess you are right. Quick offensive linemen is backwards. I guess slow tall linemen are the best. Now I got it!

No you need 6-5+ OLM who are good athletes too. One variable that you don't hear enough about these days is kids with long arms-they seriously measure arm span these days. Because of changes in allowable blocking techniques that allow you to extend your arms you get an 6-6 OT with long arms and make the DE try to run around the kid as he extends his arms and pushes to the outside. Hey I remember the olden days too when you had to keep your arms against your chest and were flagged for extending your arms away from your chest. If you have to run around one of these behemoths then in the modern quick release passing game the DE never reaches the QB if performed correctly. That's also the reason behind the larger splits which you especially see in for example a Leach Air Raid Offense. As long as they have these rules for OLM, you are going to see most Passing Offenses in top College Conferences and the NFL go for that protype. Not so much at Center-seems like there are plenty of Top College Centers who are as small as 6-2 probably because its not as easy to extend their man outside the pocket

BTW 10 out of 12 SMU offers to OTs are 6-5+ and at least one Jake Raulerson is listed on SMU's site as 6-4 but by Texas Rivals and Scout and other sites as 6-5. Raulerson might end up at OG anyway as he is just 250 or so. I don't know about the other out of stater. That's pretty good evidence of the prototype SMU prefers

Kelvin Beachum and Josh LeRibeus are both 6-3, according to the NFL, and both just got drafted. Give me two more just like them.

Fresh wrote:Kelvin Beachum and Josh LeRibeus are both 6-3, according to the NFL, and both just got drafted. Give me two more just like them.

6'3 is fine for a guard, especially as athletic and quick as Josh. Interior lineman don't have to be 6'6. Kelvin was playing out of position at tackle, why do you think he is going to have to play on the interior of the line in NFL? Our tackles should be a MINIMUM of 6 4, preferably 6'5-6'7 with long arms and athletic.

Fresh wrote:Kelvin Beachum and Josh LeRibeus are both 6-3, according to the NFL, and both just got drafted. Give me two more just like them.

Those 2 players were Bennett recruits I believe. Also coach Palcic as he stated in his video likes all lineman to be at least 6'4. I think Johnson may end up at nose tackle IMO. We are starting to offer some taller OL recruits.

Another thing to think about is that we are currently looking at kids who have just finished their junior year and may still add additional height during their senior year. You may have to look at their parents to get an idea of their potential mature height. Just a thought.

Rebel10 wrote:Houston's 2 O Lines commits are 6'6 and 6'7. SMU's 2 O Lines recruits are 6'2 and 6'3 (BT's ht was verified by his coach). Are we going back to our old philosophy of undersized lineman? Just curious if that was the case.

That's too tall. you don't get leverage for blocking.

GRGB wrote:That's too tall. you don't get leverage for blocking.

hahaha. This is a joke right?

The OL 4* recruits for Texas and Alabama this year are 6'4 - 6'6, 300+. That is probably the best range since you can't make use of long arms and height on Offense like you can on Defense.

of course long arms are beneficial especially at OT as I pointed out above:

"Long arms are very beneficial in pass protection, especially at the tackle position, as is the ability to use them properly. Like I mentioned earlier, teams like to attack the edge on a quarterback’s blind side, and an offensive tackle must be able to use his arms to ride those speed rushers out of the play. Long arms can also can come in useful in getting that first "punch" when making initial contact with the defender."


http://football.about.com/od/nfldraft/a ... valua6.htm

AusTxPony wrote:The OL 4* recruits for Texas and Alabama this year are 6'4 - 6'6, 300+. That is probably the best range since you can't make use of long arms and height on Offense like you can on Defense.

What? Of course you can. That's ridiculous. Look at all the best tackles in the NFL. I would be willing to bet that every Pro Bowl tackle in the past few years is over 6'5 with long arms.

Maybe the best offensive tackle ever, Jonathan Ogden, was 6'9! Length helps a lot on the offensive line. Let's not pretend that we'll be "just fine" with 6'2-6'3 guys. To compete with the best we need more size

GRGB wrote:

Rebel10 wrote:Houston's 2 O Lines commits are 6'6 and 6'7. SMU's 2 O Lines recruits are 6'2 and 6'3 (BT's ht was verified by his coach). Are we going back to our old philosophy of undersized lineman? Just curious if that was the case.

That's too tall. you don't get leverage for blocking.

Good thing you're not the coach...

SMUfiji43 wrote:

GRGB wrote:

Rebel10 wrote:Houston's 2 O Lines commits are 6'6 and 6'7. SMU's 2 O Lines recruits are 6'2 and 6'3 (BT's ht was verified by his coach). Are we going back to our old philosophy of undersized lineman? Just curious if that was the case.

That's too tall. you don't get leverage for blocking.

Good thing you're not the coach...

True that SMUfiji43 as Coach Palcic said that is about the height range(6'4 to around 6'6) that he likes.

SMU 86 wrote:
True that SMUfiji43 as Coach Palcic said that is about the height range(6'4 to around 6'6) that he likes.

Since we recruited several tall kids in the 2012 class (a couple of 6'6" footers and one 6'7" one I believe), I'm thinking the staff might be more concerned about interior lineman depth and that's why we're seeing slightly shorter guys being recruited in 2013 (also add that Reich at 6'8" might be taking a red shirt year this year). Also, as someone else pointed out, these guys are 16-17 and may grow another inch before seeing the field.