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The Greatest Generation?

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NumenLumen	The Greatest Generation?		Lead	[-]
Posts: 10423 April 30, 2012 2:14 PM Shout, shout - let it all out. These are the things I can do without.	Remove this ad Not some Tom Brokaw glurge about the WWII-folks....Has the OL that has been the heart of the last two years' teams been the greatest in UW history? Perhaps the '98-'99 crew has a claim, but let us examine: '98-'99 LT McIntosh- Outland finalist & first round NFL draft pick. NFL career waylayed by injury LG Costa- Tough, workmanlike performer who got a brief NFL training camp look C Rabach- Outstanding college C who followed up with a long and productive NFL career RG Ferrario- Another lunchpail guy who was a mid-round pick by the Packers & bounced around the league for a few years RT Gibson- Another Outland finalist & first round pick who had modest impact in the NFL & RT Tauscher- Called on Derby Day to come back from "getting on with life", blocked for Ron Dayne and parlayed the opportunity into a long and productive NFL career. '10-'11 LT Carimi- Outland winner, first round pick & day 1 NFL starter & LT Wagner- They say he's the next Outland guy...time will tell LG Moffitt- On several All American lists and day 1 NFL starter & C/LG Frederick- Legacy TBD, but it helps to be huge, strong and intelligent C Konz- Highly touted C & 2nd round pick RG Zeitler- On several All American lists and first round draft pick & RG/C Nagy- Day 1 NFL starter after not cracking the full time starting lineup at UW. RT Oglesby- First Team ABT. Enormous man and physical talent dragged to almost-mortal performance by injuries Depth: Groy and Havenstein I loved that "turn of the century" group, but I think the recent vintage wins both on position-by-position talent and depth. Had one of the five guys on the '99 team gone down, Bucky would have been in serious trouble. There was a very good reason why Tauscher had to be brought out of "retirement". The '11 group lost their starting C & had a some time missed by the RT, and simply rolled on with excellent players in depth. Same deal in '10 when Nagy proved to be an outstanding "utility lineman" playing C, G , & TE.
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GVBadger		#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2320 April 30, 2012 2:24 PM	I think the guards tilt the balance. '10-'11. The Gophers, with a few occasional hiccups, were truly dominant basically from their inception all the way through the end of Bierman's first tenure (1941). Other than the 1961 and 1967 seasons, they've been more or less the same every year since 1941 - mediocre-to-poor. Since 1967, the Gophers have finished 3rd in the Big Ten three times. Of course, they've never finished 1st or 2nd in that time frame.
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ryebadger		#2	[url]	[-]
Posts: 5129 April 30, 2012 3:17 PM	I was just talking about this with my brother yesterday after he called to complain about the Detroit Lions passing on Konz. This recent era of UW offensive linemen is not getting the attention it deserves. With Joe Thomas we have two recent Outland Trophy winners at LT, but what I find more impressive, and more illustrative of the staggering depth we have built at UW, is that Nagy was good enough to start game 1 as a rookie for the Dallas Cowboys but not good enough to start for the Badgers the previous Fall. Punctuated by Zeitler being picked in the 1st round, it means UW had two day one NFL starters in the 2-deep at one position, an Outland Trophy tradition at another, a 1st round pick and 2nd round pick at two others and a budding superstar in Wagner set to be the next high profile award winner. It's beyond the point that if you are good enough to start on UW's OLine you are all but guaranteed to sign an NFL contract. Now we can see future stars lined up behind them just waiting to continue the legacy. UW's offensive line has national cache as an elite unit, as close to glamor as an offensive linemen can get. For comparison's sake, the turn of the century line may have been comparable, man for man, as a single unit, but it did not represent an era of depth that rolled over year after year. At last not that I recall. I only hope we can maintain this without Bostad. That's the key now. As always, this post is written with the express proviso that I am not a chicken little. The sky is not falling. My office window does not have a ledge. I'm happy we won. I heard some ranked teams even lost. I'm glad we are not Virginia Tech. I like our coach. I know these are 19 year old kids. The season is young. Mistakes will get cleaned up. Fowler said even Alabama threw an interception once. The other guys are on scholarship, too. After living through the Don morton era, I'm just glad to be here.
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TristansShadow		#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 7740 April 30, 2012 4:01 PM Chef Ameche	The more recent OL has been asked to do things the 98-99 group never would have attempted. The earlier group was a great zone blocking unit. When the 98-99 unit matriculated there was some big drop off. The current OL will have performed strongly from 09-12 and there is the strong prospect for more to come. I'd have to think quite a bit to come up the 2002 starting line.
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litesrn		#4	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6444 April 30, 2012 4:12 PM Ed Nuttycombe	ryebadger wrote: I was just talking about this with my brother yesterday after he called to complain about the Detroit Lions passing on Konz. This recent era of UW offensive linemen is not getting the attention it deserves. With Joe Thomas we have two recent Outland Trophy winners at LT, but what I find more impressive, and more illustrative of the staggering depth we have built at UW, is that Nagy was good enough to start game 1 as a rookie for the Dallas Cowboys but not good enough to start for the Badgers the previous Fall. Punctuated by Zeitler being picked in the 1st round, it means UW had two day one NFL starters in the 2-deep at one position, an Outland Trophy tradition at another, a 1st round pick and 2nd round pick at two others and a budding superstar in Wagner set to be the next high profile award winner. It's beyond the point that if you are good enough to start on UW's OLine you are all but guaranteed to sign an NFL contract. Now we can see future stars lined up behind them just waiting to continue the legacy. UW's offensive line has national cache as an elite unit, as close to glamor as an offensive linemen can get. For comparison's sake, the turn of the century line may have been comparable, man for man, as a single unit, but it did not represent an era of depth that rolled over year after year. At last not that I recall. I only hope we can maintain this without Bostad. That's the key now. Small quibble, rye: if any OL unit anywhere is getting attention, across the board, it's the UW OL!! You couldn't help but notice all weekend on most every outlet anywhere how all the pundits noted that UW O-linemen were NFL ready and tough, so to say that the unit isn't getting attention is mistaken IMO. It's now almost universally known, as far as I can tell, that we are "OL U." Every time he opens his mouth he lowers the sum total of human intelligence.
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NumenLumen		#5	[url]	[-]
Posts: 10423 April 30, 2012 4:14 PM Shout, shout - let it all out. These are the things I can do without.	Remove this ad TristansShadow wrote: The more recent OL has been asked to do things the 98-99 group never would have attempted. The earlier group was a great zone blocking unit. When the 98-99 unit matriculated there was some big drop off. The current OL will have performed strongly from 09-12 and there is the strong prospect for more to come. I'd have to think quite a bit to come up the 2002 starting line. I looked it up.... '02 was Johnson, Buenning, Johnson, Clinkscale, Jowers '03 the Johnsons had departed and it was Davis, Buenning, Raiola, Clinkscale, Lorenz
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TristansShadow		#6	[url]	[-]
Posts: 7740 April 30, 2012 4:17 PM Chef Ameche	NumenLumen wrote: TristansShadow wrote: The more recent OL has been asked to do things the 98-99 group never would have attempted. The earlier group was a great zone blocking unit. When the 98-99 unit matriculated there was some big drop off. The current OL will have performed strongly from 09-12 and there is the strong prospect for more to come. I'd have to think quite a bit to come up the 2002 starting line. I looked it up.... '02 was Johnson, Buenning, Johnson, Clinkscale, Jowers '03 the Johnsons had departed and it was Davis, Buenning, Raiola, Clinkscale, Lorenz How could I forget: "Jowers for Heisman!"
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TristansShadow		#7	[url]	[-]
Posts: 7740 April 30, 2012 4:19 PM Chef Ameche	litesrn wrote: ryebadger wrote: I was just talking about this with my brother yesterday after he called to complain about the Detroit Lions passing on Konz. This recent era of UW offensive linemen is not getting the attention it deserves. With Joe Thomas we have two recent Outland Trophy winners at LT, but what I find more impressive, and more illustrative of the staggering depth we have built at UW, is that Nagy was good enough to start game 1 as a rookie for the Dallas Cowboys but not good enough to start for the Badgers the previous Fall. Punctuated by Zeitler being picked in the 1st round, it means UW had two day one NFL starters in the 2-deep at one position, an Outland Trophy tradition at another, a 1st round pick and 2nd round pick at two others and a budding superstar in Wagner set to be the next high profile award winner. It's beyond the point that if you are good enough to start on UW's OLine you are all but guaranteed to sign an NFL contract. Now we can see future stars lined up behind them just waiting to continue the legacy. UW's offensive line has national cache as an elite unit, as close to glamor as an offensive linemen can get. For comparison's sake, the turn of the century line may have been comparable, man for man, as a single unit, but it did not represent an era of depth that rolled over year after year. At last not that I recall. I only hope we can maintain this without Bostad. That's the key now. Small quibble, rye: if any OL unit anywhere is getting attention, across the board, it's the UW OL!! You couldn't help but notice all weekend on most every outlet anywhere how all the pundits noted that UW O-linemen were NFL ready and tough, so to say that the unit isn't getting attention is mistaken IMO. It's now almost universally known, as far as I can tell, that we are "OL U." I agree with Lites -- it's pretty much common knowledge. Just about every serious OL nation wide gives Bucky a look, and UW is landing some of them. This reflects the reputation.
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ryebadger		#8	[url]	[-]
Posts: 5129 May 1, 2012 9:18 AM	I agree, and tried to acknowledge it with this: "UW's offensive line has national cache as an elite unit, as close to glamor as an offensive linemen can get. " Recruits and football people know. I guess I don't perceive that sentiment among the average college football fan. Broadcasters acknowledge the strength of the line in general terms but I can't recall hearing anyone try to put in perspective just how much talent has rolled through Madison over the past few years or even call us OLine U. Some of it may flow from the positions' inherent lack of flashiness and a failure to appreciate the skill it requires. I've seen more fans and even writers describe UW lines as fat and slow, or just big strong guys. I don't know why that should matter, except that I wish these guys got the same amount of hype as LSU's defense. As always, this post is written with the express proviso that I am not a chicken little. The sky is not falling. My office window does not have a ledge. I'm happy we won. I heard some ranked teams even lost. I'm glad we are not Virginia Tech. I like our coach. I know these are 19 year old kids. The season is young. Mistakes will get cleaned up. Fowler said even Alabama threw an interception once. The other guys are on scholarship, too. After living through the Don morton era, I'm just glad to be here.
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litesrn		#9	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6444 May 1, 2012 11:19 AM Ed Nuttycombe	Remove this ad The difference in our respective takes, rye, is I think they do. How many times over the recent draft did we hear analysts talk about how much the NFL respects Badger O-linemen and that they were as game ready as anyone? Hundreds? Methinks you are over-reacting just a touch. Every time he opens his mouth he lowers the sum total of human intelligence.
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