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Burning redshirts - Addison Ostrenga

Something I haven't seen discussed in here is injuries. If Ostrenga suffered a season-ending injury in any of the next three years, he would have that redshirt year available. They should absolutely play every player who is capable of playing anytime the opportunity presents itself. It is pretty impressive how many guys the defense rotates in and out every game. Graves gets at least two series most games at one of the deepest positions on the team. The game experience he is getting will make him much better next year.
 
According to the true freshman tracker, he’s played in 5 games for a grand total of 18 snaps. Does he play on the FG blocking unit or something and nothing else? I have no idea why the staff would burn a redshirt for a whopping 3 plays a game that are almost certainly not meaningfully preparing him for next year. No way is that in the kid’s best interest - that’s a year he could need for injury down the road or whatever life circumstance comes his way.

There have been really curious examples of this in the past too. I wish the staff would manage even small things like this better.

This post aged well. TE2 on Friday.
 
This post aged well. TE2 on Friday.

I actually think it did. My entire point is if you are going to need a player to make a significant contribution, they should find ways to prepare him beyond a couple ST snaps per game before he’s all of a sudden needed. I believe they have been giving him more offensive snaps now (before LaPorta got hurt) and as such, it’s become a much more effective use of his redshirt year.
 
Here's another redshirt comment from KF about Graves; maybe provides some insite to his thinking:

Redshirting freshman DL Aaron Graves would be 'stupid'
https://247sports.com › college › iowa › Article › Iowa-...



Aug 14, 2022 — Just the way he's practicing, I think we would be crazy to say we're going to redshirt him,” Ferentz said. “That would be stupid on our ...

Another KF quote regarding redshirting for insight: "Right now, it would be smart to try and protect him if we can,' Ferentz said. 'But we're also trying to win this year. So we'll try and stay flexible on that. But, yeah, we'd sure like to not waste a year of his eligibility if we can."
 
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This post aged well. TE2 on Friday.

I actually think it did. My entire point is if you are going to need a player to make a significant contribution, they should find ways to prepare him beyond a couple ST snaps per game before he’s all of a sudden needed. I believe they have been giving him more offensive snaps now (before LaPorta got hurt) and as such, it’s become a much more effective use of his redshirt year.


was not looking to turn this into a "I told you so" thread. :) I just knew there were some Addison threads out there and this was the most recent one.

we all have opinions and hindsight is 20/20. It's also interesting how things work out during the course of a season and when someone goes down, it's the next man in
 
I think you all have to keep in mind that it is not just the plays that these players play on Saturdays, it has more to do with their practice time. If a player is redshirting, they don't typically (if ever) appear on 2-deeps and thus don't get real meaningful reps. They can appear on the scout team, but that is different because they are not learning the Iowa offense/defense/ST schemes as well as developing chemistry with those players.

With respect to Ostrenga, I bet this was a mutual decision to try to balance the classes as well as develop another TE for next year. LaPorta will be gone, Lachey will be TE1, then you have Stilianos who will be a SR and Pascuzzi who will be a SO and Vanderbush who will be a RS FR. Going out on a limb here, I would say by just looking at their body types/stats/film that Vanderbush is quite a ways away due to weight and strength and Stilianos and Pascuzzi are more along the lines of blockers, leaving Ostrenga who would have the most potential at this stage to turn into a dual threat TE. So I am bet Ostrenga is getting some snaps at TE in practice which will greatly accelerate his growth.

Again, just guessing here, I venture to say that as long as LaPorta and Lachey stay healthy, you will see Stilianos in as a third TE in specialty situations or in running situations, but, if either of the first two get hurt I bet you see Ostrenga in for one of them.
I don't know, maybe I was right?
 
was not looking to turn this into a "I told you so" thread. :) I just knew there were some Addison threads out there and this was the most recent one.

we all have opinions and hindsight is 20/20. It's also interesting how things work out during the course of a season and when someone goes down, it's the next man in

What we really need to prepare ourselves for is the fact that he has a really good game, and we have a 500 message thread about why in the hell he hadn’t been paying more lol!
 
According to the true freshman tracker, he’s played in 5 games for a grand total of 18 snaps. Does he play on the FG blocking unit or something and nothing else? I have no idea why the staff would burn a redshirt for a whopping 3 plays a game that are almost certainly not meaningfully preparing him for next year. No way is that in the kid’s best interest - that’s a year he could need for injury down the road or whatever life circumstance comes his way.

There have been really curious examples of this in the past too. I wish the staff would manage even small things like this better.
LaPorta got hurt. If Lachey or Stilianos gets injured, Ostrenga is in by default. As it is, he's #2 behind Lachey so either Stilianos is injured or Ostrenga is ahead of him already. And Iowa uses TEs all.the.time. Absolutely essential to the offense, and Ostrenga appears to be another good one. Lastly, I would trust the staff to know who should redshirt and who shouldn't. Not that curious of a thing to me.
 
I actually think it did. My entire point is if you are going to need a player to make a significant contribution, they should find ways to prepare him beyond a couple ST snaps per game before he’s all of a sudden needed. I believe they have been giving him more offensive snaps now (before LaPorta got hurt) and as such, it’s become a much more effective use of his redshirt year.
LOL. Pat Sajak would be impressed with that spin.
 
According to the true freshman tracker, he’s played in 5 games for a grand total of 18 snaps. Does he play on the FG blocking unit or something and nothing else? I have no idea why the staff would burn a redshirt for a whopping 3 plays a game that are almost certainly not meaningfully preparing him for next year. No way is that in the kid’s best interest - that’s a year he could need for injury down the road or whatever life circumstance comes his way.

There have been really curious examples of this in the past too. I wish the staff would manage even small things like this better.
Played when LaPorta got hurt Saturday. Caught a pass.
 
LaPorta got hurt. If Lachey or Stilianos gets injured, Ostrenga is in by default. As it is, he's #2 behind Lachey so either Stilianos is injured or Ostrenga is ahead of him already. And Iowa uses TEs all.the.time. Absolutely essential to the offense, and Ostrenga appears to be another good one. Lastly, I would trust the staff to know who should redshirt and who shouldn't. Not that curious of a thing to me.
AO is already T3. Stillanos has been used specifically as an inline blocker only.....
 
From my vantage point, and what I’ve witnessed over the last five or six years, I think almost anybody can get a sixth/year if need be… I also agree with the person that said earlier, if you can contribute in anyway, you should play as a freshman…

If you turn out to be average, sure, I could see why you would wish that player would get an extra year, but if you turn out above average, you have a legitimate shot of being drafted after your redshirt sophomore year so in that spirit, I don’t understand this why did we play him scenario

I think it’s been pretty well documented by many teams, and coaches, that if you are capable of contributing you gain much more experience being on the two deeps, even if you don’t play, than you do being redshirted!
 
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