D Line v O Line

[crusader_of_90]

Do you pick your biggest nastiest bucket butts for D or O line.

Froah and soph they play both- if you can split platoon, how do you decide?

Demeanor, motor, size?

 

[godfthr53]

Offense first

 

[Bowie50]

D

 

[Kevin JCHS 81]

Offense first

Agreed, if you must 2 platoon, OL first. Opening holes and protecting your QB has to be more important. Either you can find a tough enough linemen to then fill in your gap(s) on defense (or) you should NOT be trying to 2 platoon.

You can always mold good linemen and good athletes to fill in on a sound defense. But really good Offensive Linemen are kinda born with a certain protective mentality and toughness.

 

[linetogain]

O-lineman 1st. This is where the game is won. Prefer strong, quick feet and brains.

 

[corey90]

Agreed, if you must 2 platoon, OL first. Opening holes and protecting your QB has to be more important. Either you can find a tough enough linemen to then fill in your gap(s) on defense (or) you should NOT be trying to 2 platoon.

You can always mold good linemen and good athletes to fill in on a sound defense. But really good Offensive Linemen are kinda born with a certain protective mentality and toughness.

D-Line are better overall athletes. They have to be strong, fast, smart and built to attack. O-Line need to have quick feet, built to protect and be smart. It’s a toss up as to who is more important. I will say Defense usually wins championships.

 

[Kevin JCHS 81]

Agreed, if you must 2 platoon, OL first. Opening holes and protecting your QB has to be more important. Either you can find a tough enough linemen to then fill in your gap(s) on defense (or) you should NOT be trying to 2 platoon.

You can always mold good linemen and good athletes to fill in on a sound defense. But really good Offensive Linemen are kinda born with a certain protective mentality and toughness.

D-Line are better overall athletes. They have to be strong, fast, smart and built to attack. O-Line need to have quick feet, built to protect and be smart. It’s a toss up as to who is more important. I will say Defense usually wins championships.

Yeah, I don't think we actually disagree, I believe the decision to choose OL vs DL is a much more complicated decision. A good portion of that decision must be based on the mentality and strengths of each individual linemen and the needs of the team.

And are you trying to do what is best for a High School football team (or) are you best trying to prepare each individual player for success at the next level and beyond.

I believe what we are trying to do here in this thread is complete guess work based on about 20-30% of the information that would really be needed to make a good decision.

 

[crusader_of_90]

I played with a few D1 linemen - two I'll use as examples. Both went to Nebraska when Tom Osbourne was King.

The meaner, nastier guy - played O-Line. The other guy, sweet fella - had to really piss him off to get him going - he played DE then later at linebacker.

(The other D1 linemen - a guard for us, played tight end at ND - he was 6/6. The other played TE/Split for us - played TE and Slot at Mizzou.)

So they are not really linemen. - I meant the interior guys.

 

[anon_4vszfu35bv677]

You build form the inside out. O-line then d-line

 

[Lockport Dad]

O-Line by far, they have to work cohesively as group and are the hardest workers on the field with little recognition. Takes a certain breed to be good one.

 

[pjjp]

O-Line by far, they have to work cohesively as group and are the hardest workers on the field with little recognition. Takes a certain breed to be good one.

Numerous O-linemen have also claimed you need to be, shall we say, more cerebral to play the O-line versus the D-line.

 

[BornNRazed]

D linemen can become O lineman in college
Almost never the other way around.
In high school, the coaches arm wrestle for which side of the ball gets the talent because in most cases that kid could play on either side.

 

[Hinterland]

I always believed that an O-Line was the most important aspect of building a team from the bottom up. A good O-Line will allow a team to control a game by maintaining ball control and providing protection for the QB, often more than not the key player on the field or at least the player in charge of piloting the offense. Not sure whether or not the nastiest need to be on the O-Line, but I'm sure Conrad Dobler would have an opinion on that.

 

[corey90]

I always believed that an O-Line was the most important aspect of building a team from the bottom up. A good O-Line will allow a team to control a game by maintaining ball control and providing protection for the QB, often more than not the key player on the field or at least the player in charge of piloting the offense. Not sure whether or not the nastiest need to be on the O-Line, but I'm sure Conrad Dobler would have an opinion on that.

We could go on and on about who means more to a team. I think Kevin 81 said it best. It depends on the team need and the individual player. I am sure Joe Green, Warren Sapp, Howey Long, Reggie White, The Fridge and many many others would disagree who Is most valuable or has the biggest impact on a team. Plenty of OL that deserve just as much credit too.

 

[stl705]

As a former HS Olineman, of course I prefer to build with the big uglies on O. Get a physical 5 up front on the OLINE and I think you can find guys to play Dline with the rest... maybe rely on your linebackers a bit more to help stabilize the LOS on D.

 

[Wilmatucky]

O-Line

If you have a bad D-line you can scheme around that easier. If you O-line is bad it's harder to work around.

 

[crusader_of_90]

My personal experience was that I was a dominant FRESHMAN O lineman at 185 but was not good on D line - played linebacker.

Had never played organized ball before. Is it the hand fighting of dlinemen and “standing their guy up,” that’s needed to be taught? Or is that something natural I did not have?

 

[RockSoup]

My personal experience was that I was a dominant FRESHMAN O lineman at 185 but was not good on D line - played linebacker.

Had never played organized ball before. Is it the hand fighting of dlinemen and “standing their guy up,” that’s needed to be taught? Or is that something natural I did not have?

Did you ever wrestle? Wrestlers make excellent Dlineman due to their pad level, balance and leg strength.

Was your 185lbs mainly upper body or lower body? Of course it’d be best if it was both, but you can get away with more upper body strength on Oline and seal block and pass block with good feet. But upper body dominant and lower body mediocre as a Dlineman will expose you rather quickly

 

[eagles2k3]

OL need to be much more cerebral. They are technicians and have to adjust their technique based on the defensive alignments. They also have to have balance in their pass sets and run blocking steps. Not easy to do both.

Defensive players in general seem to have a screw loose and play with more emotion. I knew a coach who said you have to have 3 crazy guys on defense, usually a couple of DL and your weak side LB.

Overall both are very important but I always felt that you could coach up a DL. True great OL are tougher to find.

 

[missingwalter]

I've found a lot of quality D Lineman, from youth up to High School, really had no interest in blocking or playing the O-line.

 

[corey90]

OL need to be much more cerebral. They are technicians and have to adjust their technique based on the defensive alignments. They also have to have balance in their pass sets and run blocking steps. Not easy to do both.

Defensive players in general seem to have a screw loose and play with more emotion. I knew a coach who said you have to have 3 crazy guys on defense, usually a couple of DL and your weak side LB.

Overall both are very important but I always felt that you could coach up a DL. True great OL are tougher to find.

We had a D-Tackle in college that was huge 6’4 320. He was not good. He never filled the right hole and had a hard time understanding the offensive schemes coming at him. Coaches moved him to the O-Line and he was much better and seemed more at home. I would call D-lineman crazy but you do have to play with and edge.

 

[PowerI66]

I've found a lot of quality D Lineman, from youth up to High School, really had no interest in blocking or playing the O-line.

Usually because it's a thankless job

 

[crusader_of_90]

Did you ever wrestle? Wrestlers make excellent Dlineman due to their pad level, balance and leg strength.

Was your 185lbs mainly upper body or lower body? Of course it’d be best if it was both, but you can get away with more upper body strength on Oline and seal block and pass block with good feet. But upper body dominant and lower body mediocre as a Dlineman will expose you rather quickly

Did you ever wrestle? Wrestlers make excellent Dlineman due to their pad level, balance and leg strength.

Was your 185lbs mainly upper body or lower body? Of course it’d be best if it was both, but you can get away with more upper body strength on Oline and seal block and pass block with good feet. But upper body dominant and lower body mediocre as a Dlineman will expose you rather quickly

Very proportionate - was in great shape. Just never grew after I was 14. Started wrestling in high school - after starting football.

We primarily run blocked - drive blocks and pulling - most plays out of a Power I or Schott's off-balanced line, which was two guards on one side of the ball.

 

[missingwalter]

Usually because it's a thankless job

I get that, but even kids that had an aggressive motor to play Defense, lost that passion on the offensive side. Even when they played both sides of the ball.