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Lessons from Jeff Stoutland

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Gotta protect your backyard first. Not sure why we're not offering these local guys that other Power 5 schools are. Doesn't make sense to me.

And Soutland had some monster bodies on our lines; 330 lb animals. Outside of Donaldson our line seems small now.
 
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DMoney said:
Our offensive line is bad. And the class is looking shaky. This got me thinking about Jeff Stoutland. He was our OL coach from 2007 to 2010. While at Miami, Stoutland signed five linemen who went on to start games in the NFL. For comparison, Alabama only signed four during the same time period.

Stoutland is now the OL coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, and is considered one of the best in the NFL. I studied his evaluation patterns and learned a couple important things:

City over country: Canes fans love to say that “we need country kids and Midwestern farm boys on the offensive line.” This is wrong. Those kids don’t usually like the city of Miami. It’s not a cultural fit. Stoutland recognized this and focused on city kids. He signed good players from places like Memphis, Omaha and St. Paul. None of the kids he signed were from rural areas.

Build a wall around South Florida: Another myth is that we should not recruit South Florida OL. If you look at the guys who have started for us and gone on to the NFL in this decade, they are usually from South Florida. The busts (Wells, Milo, Gadbois, Dykstra) came from out of state. It is better to get the cream of the crop locally than out-of-state leftovers who are not as easy to evaluate. Stoutland signed 64% of his OL from South Florida.

Culture matters: Stoutland was known as a good recruiter who connected with players. He was also from New York City, which fits in well with the two points above. Searels is a hard-*** country boy from Trion, Georgia. I’ve heard he’s a good guy, but I’ve also heard he has trouble connecting with players. We need a great teacher first and foremost, but it also makes sense to find someone who can connect with city kids.

Stoutland's signees (2007-2010):

Brandon Linder (Broward)
Orlando Franklin (Palm Beach)
Jon Feliciano (Broward)
Seantrel Henderson (St. Paul, MN)
Harland Gunn (Omaha, NE)
Tyler Horn (Memphis, TN)
Brandon Washington (Miami)
Shane McDermott (Palm Beach)
Ben Jones (Miami)
Jermaine Johnson (Broward)
Jared Wheeler (Broward)
Malcolm Bunche (Newark, DE)
Jermaine Barton (Broward)
Cory White (Jacksonville)
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Good post and I generally agree with it, but I’d add that it’s also about attitude and toughness on OL. It’s not easy to predict how a kid who’s been bigger than everyone his whole life will react when he’s getting pounded by bigger, older guys. Stoutland knew how to assess kids for the most part.

Bottom line is if we kept the best local guys home, we’d be okay. We have evaluated poorly and slow on OL for years, and it shows on our roster.
 
Matthew_Suero said:
OT Mark Fox- South Carolina commit from Northwestern. Other offers include Georgia, Florida, and Auburn. Miami hasn't offered.
OT Wardrick Wilson- Florida commit from Carol City. Other offers include Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Miami hasn't offered.
Guard Maurice Smith- Boston College commit from Miami Central. Other offers include Florida State and Mississippi State. Miami hasn't offered.
OT Kaleb Boateng- Uncommitted prospect from Ft. Lauderdale with a Boston College offer. Miami hasn't offered.
Center Vincent Murphy- South Carolina commit from St. Thomas. Other offers include Texas, Florida, and Michigan State. Miami hasn't offered.
OT Jake Pope- Kentucky commit from St. Thomas. Other offers include Michigan State, N.C. State, and Virginia Tech. Miami hasn't offered.

All of the guys listed above are from South Florida but for some reason we go and offer a guy like CJ Elmonus from North Carolina when it looks like our offensive line commits are wavering.
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I knew we were making some questionable moves this cycle on OL recruiting. Seeing the list in front of my face where we haven't offered any of these guys is just staggering. Give me at least 2 of these guys and I'm good added onto what we have now. I've conceded on Neal coming here.
 
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DMoney said:
Our offensive line is bad. And the class is looking shaky. This got me thinking about Jeff Stoutland. He was our OL coach from 2007 to 2010. While at Miami, Stoutland signed five linemen who went on to start games in the NFL. For comparison, Alabama only signed four during the same time period.

Stoutland is now the OL coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, and is considered one of the best in the NFL. I studied his evaluation patterns and learned a couple important things:

City over country: Canes fans love to say that “we need country kids and Midwestern farm boys on the offensive line.” This is wrong. Those kids don’t usually like the city of Miami. It’s not a cultural fit. Stoutland recognized this and focused on city kids. He signed good players from places like Memphis, Omaha and St. Paul. None of the kids he signed were from rural areas.

Build a wall around South Florida: Another myth is that we should not recruit South Florida OL. If you look at the guys who have started for us and gone on to the NFL in this decade, they are usually from South Florida. The busts (Wells, Milo, Gadbois, Dykstra) came from out of state. It is better to get the cream of the crop locally than out-of-state leftovers who are not as easy to evaluate. Stoutland signed 64% of his OL from South Florida.

Culture matters: Stoutland was known as a good recruiter who connected with players. He was also from New York City, which fits in well with the two points above. Searels is a hard-*** country boy from Trion, Georgia. I’ve heard he’s a good guy, but I’ve also heard he has trouble connecting with players. We need a great teacher first and foremost, but it also makes sense to find someone who can connect with city kids.

Stoutland's signees (2007-2010):

Brandon Linder (Broward)
Orlando Franklin (Palm Beach)
Jon Feliciano (Broward)
Seantrel Henderson (St. Paul, MN)
Harland Gunn (Omaha, NE)
Tyler Horn (Memphis, TN)
Brandon Washington (Miami)
Shane McDermott (Palm Beach)
Ben Jones (Miami)
Jermaine Johnson (Broward)
Jared Wheeler (Broward)
Malcolm Bunche (Newark, DE)
Jermaine Barton (Broward)
Cory White (Jacksonville)[/QUOTE

Searles has always recruited big kids who can't move. I pray that I wake up on xmas day and Searles and Jon Richt are gone.
Click to expand...
 
Recruit well, develop well, period. Get the top guys and make them great. OL is always a crap shoot but you shoot for the stars...
 
Matthew_Suero said:
OT Mark Fox- South Carolina commit from Northwestern. Other offers include Georgia, Florida, and Auburn. Miami hasn't offered.
OT Wardrick Wilson- Florida commit from Carol City. Other offers include Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Miami hasn't offered.
Guard Maurice Smith- Boston College commit from Miami Central. Other offers include Florida State and Mississippi State. Miami hasn't offered.
OT Kaleb Boateng- Uncommitted prospect from Ft. Lauderdale with a Boston College offer. Miami hasn't offered.
Center Vincent Murphy- South Carolina commit from St. Thomas. Other offers include Texas, Florida, and Michigan State. Miami hasn't offered.
OT Jake Pope- Kentucky commit from St. Thomas. Other offers include Michigan State, N.C. State, and Virginia Tech. Miami hasn't offered.

All of the guys listed above are from South Florida but for some reason we go and offer a guy like CJ Elmonus from North Carolina when it looks like our offensive line commits are wavering.
Click to expand...
At this point we need to keep our two current commits and offer everyone on this list. Obviously continue to recruit Neal and other tackles but we need at least a guy or two from this list.
 
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OL recruiting is a hot mess. Richt needs to hit juco hard next cycle. Or else he just wants an excuse for losing.
 
The connection @DMoney is rreferring to can be seen in the Memphis oline coach interaction with his players, the coach is from Jacksonville.

 
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