When we think about the offensive line, we think of the position switch and development by Joe Philbin. He turned TE's into OL and developed walkons.
Then we think about how great of a technician and recruiter, developer of talent Reese Morgan was.
Looking at the Brian Ferentz tenure, I think he upheld the high standard we had with the OL
Ferentz OL:
2012 Seniors....Morgan recruits
James Ferentz....NFL
Matt Tobin.....NFL
Casey McMillan...backup
2013 Seniors...Morgan recruits
Drew Clark...backup
Connor Boffeli....solid starter
Brett Van Sloten.....NFL sniff, team captain, All Big
Nolan MacMillan....very good backup, Canadian star
2014 Seniors....Morgan recruits
Tommy Gaul...started SR year, walkon
Brandon Scherff.....All American
Andrew Donnal....NFL
2015 Seniors....Morgan recruits
Austin Blythe....All American/NFL
Eric Simmons....Backed up Blythe
Jordan Walsh....NFL sniff
2016 Seniors...First Brian Ferentz class
Cole Croston...Multi year starter as walkon
Ryan Ward...solid backup
Mitch Keppy...solid interior backup
Reid Sealby....moved to snapper to utilize scholarship
Steve Ferentz...backup C
Jalen Chambers...quit
2017 Seniors....Brian's guys, 1st class coached by Tim Polasek
Boone Myers...Multi year starter...walkon
Colin Goebel....left program to drop down a level
Ike Boettger...TE turned OL...NFL
Sean Welsh....turned down NFL
2018 Seniors
Ross Reynolds...Senior starter...NFL
Keegen Render...Multi year starter....NFL
Lucas LeGrand....quit the team
Dalton Ferguson...Solid 6th man Senior year
2019 Seniors
Jake Newborg...moved from OL/DL and never finished
Levi Paulson...struggled as starter.
Landon Paulson....6th man Senior year.
Brett Waechter...looked promising, then quit the team.
James Daniels.....didn't redshirt due to talent, left a year early.
Simply, Morgan recruited well and developed them. Brian Ferentz took Morgan's talent and developed them into Big 10 caliber starters, some getting NFL looks.
Tim Polasek Recruits
2020 Seniors
Burke Prins...walkon, quit
Cole Banwart...Starter, battled injuries and didn't take 6th year
Spencer Williams...quit team
Alaric Jackson...4 year starter...NFL
Coy Cronk....joined team for Senior year...injured/NFL...didn't take 6th year
Polasek got credit for Brian's recruits and if you look, the upperclassmen that were mostly coached by Brian were the ones that made it. The underclassmen under Polasek never really materialized. He had a few stars that were recruited by him. James Daniels, Alaric Jackson, Tristan Wirfs.
2021 Seniors: George Barnett's first year coaching
Kyler Schott...walkon turned starter. Didn't take 6th year...........Only guy here as a Senior.
Levi Duwa.....DL that moved to OL before quitting team.
Coy Kirkpatrick....never played a down before quitting.
Tristan Wirfs....3 and done player....NFL
Mark Kallenberger....Starter that gave up football with 2 (potentially) years.
2022 Seniors
Matt Fagan....Senior backup
Brian Sadler...transferred
Kyle Sorensen...walkon, quit
Cody Ince....Starter that gave up football
Jeff Jenkins...quit
Trey Winters....transferred
Jack Plumb....Senior backup
Luke Empen....gave up football
Tyler Linderbaum....left for NFL a year early.
Nick DeJong...walkon, current starter
Taylor Fox...walkon backup
Justin Britt....injured
Tyler Endres....hasn't materialized
Ezra Miller....transferred
Noah Fenske...transferred
Clayton Thurm...gave up football
Asher Fahey
Jeremy Chaplin
Josh Volk
Tyler Elsbury
Mason Richman
Logan Jones
Barnett's 1st class.
Connor Colby
David Davidkov
Beau Stephens
Gennings Dunker
Michael Myslinski
Griffin Liddle
Jack Dotzler
Kale Krogh
Current 2 Deep
LT: Richman (Polasek recruit, coached by Barnett for 2 of his 3). Fagan (Polasek guy for 3 of his 5)
LG: DeJong (2 with Polasek, 2 with Barnett). Elsbury (RS under Polasek, 2 years with Barnett)
C: Jones (Position switch under Barnett), Myslinski (Barnett guy)
RG: Stephens (Barnett guy), Dunker (Barnett guy)
RT: Colby (Barnett guy), Plumb (3 years of Polasek, 2 of Barnett)
Polasek was here for 4 years. He inherited some good guys and his tenure was highlighted by some all-timers (Wirfs, Jackson, Daniels). But he missed on a ton. Guys never stuck it out and some don't seem cut out for the big 10.
Some here want to blame Barnett, but in his only 2 years here, he's already got (forced) to put his guys in the 2 deep. 8 of the 10 in the 2 deep have mostly been all him. Plumb, Fagan are only Polasek holdovers. Give him time....David Davidkov is a head scratcher though as he'd help us tremendously.
Then we think about how great of a technician and recruiter, developer of talent Reese Morgan was.
Looking at the Brian Ferentz tenure, I think he upheld the high standard we had with the OL
Ferentz OL:
2012 Seniors....Morgan recruits
James Ferentz....NFL
Matt Tobin.....NFL
Casey McMillan...backup
2013 Seniors...Morgan recruits
Drew Clark...backup
Connor Boffeli....solid starter
Brett Van Sloten.....NFL sniff, team captain, All Big
Nolan MacMillan....very good backup, Canadian star
2014 Seniors....Morgan recruits
Tommy Gaul...started SR year, walkon
Brandon Scherff.....All American
Andrew Donnal....NFL
2015 Seniors....Morgan recruits
Austin Blythe....All American/NFL
Eric Simmons....Backed up Blythe
Jordan Walsh....NFL sniff
2016 Seniors...First Brian Ferentz class
Cole Croston...Multi year starter as walkon
Ryan Ward...solid backup
Mitch Keppy...solid interior backup
Reid Sealby....moved to snapper to utilize scholarship
Steve Ferentz...backup C
Jalen Chambers...quit
2017 Seniors....Brian's guys, 1st class coached by Tim Polasek
Boone Myers...Multi year starter...walkon
Colin Goebel....left program to drop down a level
Ike Boettger...TE turned OL...NFL
Sean Welsh....turned down NFL
2018 Seniors
Ross Reynolds...Senior starter...NFL
Keegen Render...Multi year starter....NFL
Lucas LeGrand....quit the team
Dalton Ferguson...Solid 6th man Senior year
2019 Seniors
Jake Newborg...moved from OL/DL and never finished
Levi Paulson...struggled as starter.
Landon Paulson....6th man Senior year.
Brett Waechter...looked promising, then quit the team.
James Daniels.....didn't redshirt due to talent, left a year early.
Simply, Morgan recruited well and developed them. Brian Ferentz took Morgan's talent and developed them into Big 10 caliber starters, some getting NFL looks.
Tim Polasek Recruits
2020 Seniors
Cole Banwart...Starter, battled injuries and didn't take 6th year
Spencer Williams...quit team
Alaric Jackson...4 year starter...NFL
Coy Cronk....joined team for Senior year...injured/NFL...didn't take 6th year
Polasek got credit for Brian's recruits and if you look, the upperclassmen that were mostly coached by Brian were the ones that made it. The underclassmen under Polasek never really materialized. He had a few stars that were recruited by him. James Daniels, Alaric Jackson, Tristan Wirfs.
2021 Seniors: George Barnett's first year coaching
Kyler Schott...walkon turned starter. Didn't take 6th year...........Only guy here as a Senior.
Coy Kirkpatrick....never played a down before quitting.
Tristan Wirfs....3 and done player....NFL
2022 Seniors
Matt Fagan....Senior backup
Kyle Sorensen...walkon, quit
Cody Ince....Starter that gave up football
Jeff Jenkins...quit
Trey Winters....transferred
Jack Plumb....Senior backup
Tyler Linderbaum....left for NFL a year early.
Nick DeJong...walkon, current starter
Taylor Fox...walkon backup
Justin Britt....injured
Tyler Endres....hasn't materialized
Noah Fenske...transferred
Clayton Thurm...gave up football
Asher Fahey
Jeremy Chaplin
Josh Volk
Tyler Elsbury
Mason Richman
Logan Jones
Barnett's 1st class.
Connor Colby
David Davidkov
Beau Stephens
Gennings Dunker
Michael Myslinski
Griffin Liddle
Jack Dotzler
Kale Krogh
Current 2 Deep
LT: Richman (Polasek recruit, coached by Barnett for 2 of his 3). Fagan (Polasek guy for 3 of his 5)
LG: DeJong (2 with Polasek, 2 with Barnett). Elsbury (RS under Polasek, 2 years with Barnett)
C: Jones (Position switch under Barnett), Myslinski (Barnett guy)
RG: Stephens (Barnett guy), Dunker (Barnett guy)
RT: Colby (Barnett guy), Plumb (3 years of Polasek, 2 of Barnett)
Polasek was here for 4 years. He inherited some good guys and his tenure was highlighted by some all-timers (Wirfs, Jackson, Daniels). But he missed on a ton. Guys never stuck it out and some don't seem cut out for the big 10.
Some here want to blame Barnett, but in his only 2 years here, he's already got (forced) to put his guys in the 2 deep. 8 of the 10 in the 2 deep have mostly been all him. Plumb, Fagan are only Polasek holdovers. Give him time....David Davidkov is a head scratcher though as he'd help us tremendously.
