Well, not exactly. When dad was still coaching, that is what he did - get the five best OL on the field. He would take his best OL and put him at center and find the best spot for the other four. He wasn't as concerned with weight. He wanted his linemen to move their feet and be quick off the ball. Too often, we are concerned with a line where everyone is around 300 lbs. That's fine, but they have to He able to move. If a guy is 270 but can move his feet while blocking, I am good with that.

Do you think Alt and Fisher will eventually switch ends, or do you think they will stay in these spots?

blocker, and ND tends to run right, so they will probably keep him there.

Unless Correll is even better than Patterson, it strikes me as taking away a lock at center and moving him to guard where he will be ok, but not as good as he was at center. You go from A at center to B+ and then your A center is a B or B+ guard.

To me, leave Patterson alone. Get the best 2 of kristoff, Rocco, and Lugg onto the field at guard. Correll then is a backup.

Patterson is listed by some as the top returning center in NCAA. Now if 2 of those other 3 are at best B- guards, then maybe the average is higher with this move. I think they stand a good chance of being B or higher.

if you play against a lot of 4 man/over fronts, it's better to have your best players in the interior at guard. If you play against a lot of 3 man fronts with the center covered by a nose guard, it's better to have the stout center who can block that nose.

My theory is you are right - but then teams that have the ability do it will put a large NG on Zeke and drive him straight back off the ball a lot. This is similar to what happened to the Steelers last year with green at center. Except in the NFL they all can find a way to do it v in college only the elite teams can play either way if they see a hole to exploit.

Zeke might be able to handle whatever is thrown at him. We
Know Patterson can was my basic theory.

It remains true that if Rocco isn’t really ready to play at a high level that perhaps Patterson and Zeke plus Lugg/Kristoff are better than Patterson/Lugg/Kristoff. My sense is Rocco will get there and overall Zeke is the weakest link of the group at this instant - and that’s more because Patterson is a better center and we know the others already proved they are better guards than zeke.

fronts. Sure, you can move a guy over to nose to play a 0 technique on the center, but then you have to change the LB responsibilities, etc. It's not as simple as just "hey, line up here."

Sure, some teams (like ND) can jump in and out of fronts, but that's the exception.

So do you need to be equally good against both? Even if only a Bama type team perhaps can be both to some extent - and for a bowl even more
So if they think we are weaker for one v other.

In any event - i guess I’m rooted in Holtz saying never move a star from
One spot to fill a different hole. You take one great and one weak spot and often create two weaker spots. But - OL does seem to be far more common for a player to shift spots across years. Bama had a center in 2012 that I think was AA at
More than one spot over his final two years, for example. We’ve also had LT that started at RT earlier, etc.

but maybe it is.

I don't know enough about the players to comment one way or the other. This is one of those areas where I trust the OL coach, at least until I see some game evidence one way or the other.

FFS, just trust me on this.

Or don't. I don't give a shit.

I just didn't know if I missed Freeman or someone else talking about this. You announced it like breaking news and not an inside scoop.

Mike Frank is typically ahead of the curve.

I thought Correll played well at center 2 years ago

I'm not saying that he won't be ready to start the season. However, I don't see the move(s) as being indicative of Patterson being ready. To me it would seem to indicate the opposite if anything. Hiestand wants a guy that he knows will anchor the line and he'll have Patterson to plug into guard when he's ready.

All that being said, I do think that it does reflect ultimately getting the best 5 onto the field.

He'll get it in August. If he weren't ready to play until September or later, it would not be fair to plug him in at guard with only a couple days of practice. The line also needs to function well as a unit, which takes time to optimize.

So left to right would be Alt, Spindler, Correll, Patterson, Fisher?

Two guys who are almost surefire 1st rounders, another two with a decent shot to be first rounders, and a third who should be drafted... time for Hiestand/Rees to put up or shut up with that kind of talent.

Kristofic but still has footwork issues. If those can be worked out, he and Patterson will make up a formidable interior line.

A perfect name for an O Lineman.

Almost as good as "Michael Stonebreaker" for a linebacker.

Spindler? I hardly know her.

our common friend's mom passed away last Thursday...funeral is set for Thursday. I believe you mentioned that one time at the Cotton Bowl, Coach Holtz stopped practice as he saw someone taping the practice from the stands. And it was his mom doing the taping.

I thought you'd want to know...she was an absolute gem of a lady.

She did a great job as a mom, that was evident. Yes, Lou dispatched me to stop that unknown person high up in the stands from filming practice at SMU’s on campus Stadium. When I got up there she told me who she was. Lou was watching and I yelled it back down to the field. He instantly laughed and just yelled back hello to her and practice went on. She took it in stride and kept on filming and it was a funny moment. May she rest in peace.

Spindler has his share of doubters and detractors but I'm not one of them. Lugg is fine as a multi-positional backup but does not hold up well physically as a starter.

However I wasn't aware he had his share of doubters. He just needs to play. The more time he gets with Alt, Fisher, and especially a year with Patterson the better.

The spring starting lineup (with Patterson’s injury) I think was Alt, Kristofic, Correll, Lugg, Fisher. This move I believe would make the lineup Alt, Patterson, Correll, Lugg, Fisher.

Spindler was the third guard this spring. It’s possible he passed Kristofic, but I doubt he passed both Lugg and Kristofic. He has the most potential but is not one of the best five yet.