Article: Video: OL commit Dykstra shows off athleticism

[MedleyCane]

Ding, ding ding !! You beat me to it. That's the 64K question.
Show me some videos of him blocking some speedy d linemen coming off the edge and I'll really be impressed.

Exactly I don't care about his cross fit Ability.

Very short sighted post. A lot of the offensive lineman that are worth a **** come out of the Midwest. You heard Chise say it, it's a culture to workout over there. You need your linemen strong more than anything. For linemen, your power comes through your legs which is why you see such a large emphasis on squats and power cleans . Also, they're not tested regularly against speed that exists in South Florida; it's something you have to adapt to. I remember our offensive linemen with Swasey just being big and fat - those weight room numbers that were posted was troubling.

Spot on.
One could argue how effective those exercises are towards becoming a stud college OLman, but this would be missing
the point, the bigger picture, which is this kid is putting in a considerable amount of work to be the best he
can be, which is a huge factor in being an excellent OLman.
And this sort of thing is contagious....you want kids on team who spend more time in the gym and classroom then
in their dorm or car smoking marijuana.

I swear some of you mofos and your orange and green shades kill me. Lookahere, I can care less about an Oline man doing a cartwheel or backflip or any other Olympic style form you wanna throw out. All I care about is can that **** block. He can bench press 500 and squat 600 20x, and throw a javelin 100 yards...who gives a F! Can he block?

Where's the tapes of him blocking, b/c all I see right now is a vivid memory of this dude getting raped like a jailhouse ***** at Paradise camp. I saw very little hip fluidity or leverage...which is y I liked an unknown prospect in Hillery, b/c even though he got beat a couple times DUE TO HIM BEING NEW TO THE POSITION, he got angry, listened to coaching, and made more blocks than not; that's all I'm saying. Don't care if he's from the Midwest, So Fla, No Fla, or Cali...can he block at a collegiate level? If the answer is yes, send all the back flipping, cart wheeling videos you want.

Nice rant.
Try reading my take that you replied to next time.
If you're going to base all of your evaluations on some dopey Paradise camp in shorts, then I've got nothing
further to discuss.

 

[Rellyrell]

There are different levels of athleticism. There is speed and there is balance.

This dude probably isn't all that fast, but neither is Slaton or Herbert or any of the OL on our roster. But he's got tremendous balance and core strength which can go a long way in helping him at that position. He's also strong as an ox, which helps. Gonna be interesting to see what we can get out of him.

I generally don't buy into hype with OL unless they combine that hype with grit and nastiness. That OL we just grabbed from CoralSprings is slow with no hype, but he's a villain on the field. I like that dude.

Gaynor is nasty and old school. I think we got a steal with him.

He very well may suck ***, but he won't be a ****ing ****

See, Gaynor is a beast, imo. He pancakes everyone, handled speed rushers, and looked to finish every time. That's what I want to see in the trenches.

 

[gogeta4]

Does all that..and was getting blown by at paradise camp. You got to be blessed to play ball I could care less bout this crossfire sh-t.

Got one better.
When I was playing ball at HML back in the late 1970s, we played against Carol City HS and one of their stud lineman was William Roberts,
who was playing both ways for the Chiefs.
My teammates beat the living daylights out of him on both sides of the ball.
Roberts eventually decided to leave the area for Ohio State which resulted in many of my HS teammates
laughing at him and OSU, opining often that he would have been a waste of scholie at UM (which had
recruited him hard).
My teammates never made it past their senior year of college football whereas Roberts played many years
in the NFL, under Parcells no less as his LT.
Similarly, many years later, my brother had his way against Bruce Armstrong, who was playing TE for
Central at the time.
Armstrong couldn't block a blade of grass, yet he managed to do well in college and NFL.
My point is that many OLmen are late-developers, one can't just judge them based on some appearance at
a summer camp where everyone is running around in shorts.

Bingo. And like I said, those drills that we see at these camps always favor the defensive linemen.

No they dont straight up favor them. And dude looked uncoordinated...despite doing a spider man work out. he didnt look good. I took it as he never saw that type of comp before. Im not guessing about ol..ive played it in hs and college and have a love for line work. None of that work out sh(9the did impresses me or will help him onm the field.

 

[gogeta4]

I have complete respect for your judgment, Gogeta. But I have to agree with Medley on this one. I LOL'd at Odogwu's blocking his first two years on the team. It was horrific. But he finally took enough snaps to learn to control that body of his, and now he looks like he can be something special (if he can come back strong from his injury). Dykstra has the athleticism to develop well, and a great mauler attitude. Which is why I was fine with guys like Feliciano, Gadbois (though that didn't turn out so well, lol) and more recently Gauthier.

Didn't Leatherwood get beat a bunch of times at Paradise, too?

Leatherwood got beat as well.

On Odogwu...his first year starting..i was the one saying he didnt look that bad..he showed me flashes. I dont hate Dykstra as a prospect..im just not hung up on this training sh*t shown and im not expecting much from him for two years. Which im cool with..he will be a solid guard here...but Paradise camp still left a bad taste as he looked a bit out of place at times for a kid from Iowa where i was expecting better technique and stuff.

 

[orange&green84]

Does all that..and was getting blown by at paradise camp. You got to be blessed to play ball I could care less bout this crossfire sh-t.

Got one better.
When I was playing ball at HML back in the late 1970s, we played against Carol City HS and one of their stud lineman was William Roberts,
who was playing both ways for the Chiefs.
My teammates beat the living daylights out of him on both sides of the ball.
Roberts eventually decided to leave the area for Ohio State which resulted in many of my HS teammates
laughing at him and OSU, opining often that he would have been a waste of scholie at UM (which had
recruited him hard).
My teammates never made it past their senior year of college football whereas Roberts played many years
in the NFL, under Parcells no less as his LT.
Similarly, many years later, my brother had his way against Bruce Armstrong, who was playing TE for
Central at the time.
Armstrong couldn't block a blade of grass, yet he managed to do well in college and NFL.
My point is that many OLmen are late-developers, one can't just judge them based on some appearance at
a summer camp where everyone is running around in shorts.

Bingo. And like I said, those drills that we see at these camps always favor the defensive linemen.

No they dont straight up favor them. And dude looked uncoordinated...despite doing a spider man work out. he didnt look good. I took it as he never saw that type of comp before. Im not guessing about ol..ive played it in hs and college and have a love for line work. None of that work out sh(9the did impresses me or will help him onm the field.

I don't know how you could say these drills don't favor defensive lineman. As has been mentioned before, defensive ends on the other end can just pin their ears back it's treated as an obvious passing situation. Having a strong core is key for any type of athlete. Sure, Dykstra likely needs to adjust to the speed at the next level which is why he's being brought in with the idea of adding depth on the o-line and a contributor down the road. In no way am I comparing him to a guy like Donaldson who looks like he could be a day 1 starter.

I also have a friend of mine who played South Florida high school ball on o-line after coming from another state. The speed got to him at first and he eventually adjusted.

 

[AUcane]

Also looks like he's been hitting the conventional lifts quite a bit. Goes deep in his squats which breaking parallel can mean quite a bit more that just above parallel.


https://www.instagram.com/p/BISR_SOgGyC/?taken-by=zachdykstra67

Not perfect form there, but pretty surprising hip flexibility for a big dude. What's his actual (not listed) weight?

It was a bit painful to watch imo. Kid was letting his neck bear the brunt more than needed.

 

[LustNCanes]

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No clue how this translates to the field, but this is impressive nonetheless.

core strength. It's involved in everything.

Good lord that's impressive. I'm officially high on this kid. Get this kid a red-shirt and have him live in the weight room. I'm good.

I agree, but with that strength and balance, he might get some burn next year... jmo Orange

 

[grover]

I have complete respect for your judgment, Gogeta. But I have to agree with Medley on this one. I LOL'd at Odogwu's blocking his first two years on the team. It was horrific. But he finally took enough snaps to learn to control that body of his, and now he looks like he can be something special (if he can come back strong from his injury). Dykstra has the athleticism to develop well, and a great mauler attitude. Which is why I was fine with guys like Feliciano, Gadbois (though that didn't turn out so well, lol) and more recently Gauthier.

Didn't Leatherwood get beat a bunch of times at Paradise, too?

I dont hate Dykstra as a prospect..im just not hung up on this training sh*t shown and im not expecting much from him for two years. Which im cool with..he will be a solid guard here...but Paradise camp still left a bad taste as he looked a bit out of place at times for a kid from Iowa where i was expecting better technique and stuff.

Very true. Lifting weights upside down in a 1-handed handstand has zero to do with being a good OL. It was showmanship by Dykstra to prove he's not an uncoordinated stiff. On the other hand, his senior highlights show him beating the crap out defenders, and getting to the second level quickly. He's a mean SOB.

 

[orange&green84]

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No clue how this translates to the field, but this is impressive nonetheless.

core strength. It's involved in everything.

Good lord that's impressive. I'm officially high on this kid. Get this kid a red-shirt and have him live in the weight room. I'm good.

I agree, but with that strength and balance, he might get some burn next year... jmo Orange

I'll have to respectfully disagree. He and Hillery should be red-shirts with the intention that they won't see the field until their red-shirt sophmore year. I like Dykstra's athleticism for the simple fact he has a nice base to build off of. He's not like a lot of kids that come from high schools that have little to no S&C programs and they have to get the baby fat off of him. Dude just needs to build up his strength as well as improve his technique. I will agree with @gogeta, I see Dykstra as a guard as well as lateral quickness shouldn't be as relied on there as tackle.

 

[CarolCityHigh]

Brandon Schreff the super OL-mean playing for Jacksonville and from Iowa had a 247 ratting of only ..8579 and was a 3 star guy and was listed as the 41st best OT in the US.
Brandon Scherff, Washington, Offensive Guard

"Brandon Scherff (born December 26, 1991) is an American footballoffensive guard for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Iowa, and was drafted by the Redskins in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft."

"He chose his home-state Iowa Hawkeyes over offers from Kansas State, Missouri, and Nebraska."

"After redshirting his initial year at Iowa, Scherff saw action at left guard in eleven games on the season, starting three."

"In his sophomore year, he replaced Riley Reiff as starting left tackle. He started first seven games of season at left tackle before suffering a broken fibula and a dislocated ankle in game seven,[5] and missed remainder of season due to injury"

 

[LustNCanes]

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No clue how this translates to the field, but this is impressive nonetheless.

core strength. It's involved in everything.

Good lord that's impressive. I'm officially high on this kid. Get this kid a red-shirt and have him live in the weight room. I'm good.

I agree, but with that strength and balance, he might get some burn next year... jmo Orange

I'll have to respectfully disagree. He and Hillery should be red-shirts with the intention that they won't see the field until their red-shirt sophmore year. I like Dykstra's athleticism for the simple fact he has a nice base to build off of. He's not like a lot of kids that come from high schools that have little to no S&C programs and they have to get the baby fat off of him. Dude just needs to build up his strength as well as improve his technique. I will agree with @gogeta, I see Dykstra as a guard as well as lateral quickness shouldn't be as relied on there as tackle.

No problem brother, I totally agree with the assessment, i can definitely see him in 3 years battling for a spot.