Eric Hansen: "I have heard there is a thirst from (the) offensive linemen to (learn) more technique"

[Bumpdaddy]

I know many of us have concerns about Jeff Quinn and his ability to coach the OL. Eric Hansen kind of threw fuel on that fire during yesterday's Weekday Sportsbeat when the topic of John McNulty came up and the fact his hiring means ND won't be getting another coach with strong OL coaching experience as many had hoped. Based on what he's hearing from insiders, Hansen then went on to contrast Quinn's coaching style to Heistand's. He made the following points:

• Quinn emphasizes scheme over technique. He talks a lot more about what defenses are going to do against them and what they need to do in response than he does talking and teaching technique.
• Quinn's message as a coach seems to be similar to what he did when he was an analyst. Hansen concluded that Quinn's scheme-oriented message is probably good when talking to other coaches but not as good when talking to players
• By contrast, Harry's whole mantra was "technique trump's scheme." Harry taught both but emphasized technique much more than scheme so that the players were ready no matter what the defenses threw at them.
• Hansen said he's heard from multiple people that "there is a thirst from these offensive linemen to want to know more technique," so the players themselves believe the OL coaching approach needs to change.
• Early on, Hansen wanted to make clear that Quinn is teaching technique but it isn't emphasized nearly as much as it was under Harry and that's especially showing up in run blocking.

After saying all of this, Hansen actually concluded that he thinks the problem is very fixable especially now that Lance Taylor has been named run game coordinator. He believes if the staff uses their roles correctly, Taylor will be the one to go over scheme which will then free up Quinn to spend most of his time teaching technique. That's sounds good in theory. We'll have to wait to see if that actually happens.

I have to admit this all doesn't come as a surprise to me considering the problems we've seen in run blocking. What is surprising is that a coach, any coach, doesn't know that, when you are coaching young players, teaching and emphasizing the fundamentals of technique has to be the number one priority. Hopefully, this issue is being addressed and we'll see a much-improved product in September.

You can listen to the discussion here (the conversation starts around the 21:00 mark):

https://podbay.fm/podcast/998706920/e/1581121278

 

[Toby Smart]

That was a very good discussion with Eric. He sources Braxton Cave and Golic Jr a lot for his material. I wish Eric had his own thing going because the other guy has a tendency to get in the way. Not interested in who the Cubs Single A affiliate signed for the upcoming season. Seems like Harry's return to the college game is slim.

 

[REMND]

Hansen is a good source. I usually give him a lot of credibility. I also heard from another site that a huge problem with run blocking was TE. Again and again they saw in reviewing game film a poor block by the TE blowing up a play.

 

[chitown sot]

Hansen is a good source. I usually give him a lot of credibility. I also heard from another site that a huge problem with run blocking was TE. Again and again they saw in reviewing game film a poor block by the TE blowing up a play.

The TE was the least of the OL problems this year. Maybe echoboy the self proclaimed genius (aka gym teacher) can shed some light on this since he was a big time Div 1 OL or so he says

 

[Golson5]

The TE was the least of the OL problems this year. Maybe echoboy the self proclaimed genius (aka gym teacher) can shed some light on this since he was a big time Div 1 OL or so he says

Who are you more obsessed with, BK or echo. 2 dude obsessions. Im sensing a pattern here...

 

[mirer03]

This seems like a case of feeding the trolls for subscribers... Just saying

 

[Bumpdaddy]

This seems like a case of feeding the trolls for subscribers... Just saying

Did you listen to the segment?

 

[chitown sot]

This seems like a case of feeding the trolls for subscribers... Just saying

Its no secret that Quinn sucks. Anyone who watched the OL this year should know this, although the bk apologists will never admit it. Afterall BK knows best

 

[NotreDame du Lac]

Coaches that are loyal to ineffective coordinators don’t win championships. You bring in the best or you aren’t the best. Pretty simple.

 

[Leahylads]

Doesn't ND have some ex NFL oline guys that they could bring in as grad asst or consultants to teach technique along side the Oline coach?

 

[BGI User 1596]

Doesn't ND have some ex NFL oline guys that they could bring in as grad asst or consultants to teach technique along side the Oline coach?

No

 

[irish4life888]

How dare anyone question coaching choices by Kelly! Waiting for the template retorts now.

 

[irish4life888]

This seems like a case of feeding the trolls for subscribers... Just saying

Really? I guess you don't follow ND very closely. Eric is probably the most respected writer on ND football.

 

[Toby Smart]

It's more than Eric's reporting. He comes across as a genuinely honest and fair guy. Not some pompous narcissistic self important reporters/writers that permeate the Chicago and national market. As much as I like Eric, I still like to get other sources to try and get the total picture.

 

[irish4life888]

It's more than Eric's reporting. He comes across as a genuinely honest and fair guy. Not some pompous narcissistic self important reporters/writers that permeate the Chicago and national market. As much as I like Eric, I still like to get other sources to try and get the total picture.

I admit I didn't listen to the discussion linked, but for Eric to come out and question anything about the coaching is no his MO. But I have seen recently Eric questioning Kelly's decisions the last couple of months surrounding Phil's departure, and Rees' hiring.

 

[mirer03]

Really? I guess you don't follow ND very closely. Eric is probably the most respected writer on ND football.

Lol. I know who Eric is... I dont give a rats corpse either. This is a fluff piece with little backing.

 

[Bumpdaddy]

Lol. I know who Eric is... I dont give a rats corpse either. This is a fluff piece with little backing.

You don't know what a fluff piece is. This was not that.

 

[Leahylads]

This is the great coach Kelly's job to listen to his players and get them the position coaching they need. Where was ND's running game ranked last year?

 

[irish4life888]

Lol. I know who Eric is... I dont give a rats corpse either. This is a fluff piece with little backing.

Whuuut? Ya you obviously don't follow him or know his reputation, which is beyond reproach. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it not true.

 

[SDIRISH#1]

Didn't PFF rate ND's OL pass blocking as one of the best in the country? In addition, are we all forgetting that outside of Nelson and Mcglinchey's senior years; ND routinely struggled running the football under Hiestand too?

 

[NDCap]

Quinn seems to be well liked by some important potential 2021 recruits. I cannot see a top D1 OL coach not have the ability or even worse desire to teach technique . That is the number one factor in success upfront. It is a unit. With that being said, IMO the run game sucked because the scheme sucked and the backs were average at best. This OL needs to attack and attack more . Not sure if they have back to complement this teams experienced OL so the passing game might be the way ND puts up big numbers . Who cares ? as long as they win that's all that matters . The passing blocking is very good as well. Book has weapons in Lenzy, Tremble, Austin and now Tyree.Just be fast and decisive and spread it around.

 

[Bumpdaddy]

Didn't PFF rate ND's OL pass blocking as one of the best in the country? In addition, are we all forgetting that outside of Nelson and Mcglinchey's senior years; ND routinely struggled running the football under Hiestand too?

The first point is definitely true. The second point is a bit of a problem - ND had the 25th best rushing O in 2012 and 26th best in 2015. Saying the rushing O was inconsistent under HH would be more accurate than saying "ND routinely struggled running the football under HH."

Hansen would agree with both points too and has commented on each at various times. However, saying "ND's OL was very good at pass pro in 2019" and "ND's OL performance overall was disappointing in 2019, especially run blocking" are not mutually exclusive statements. Both can be true and I believe both were true in 2019. We had a very talented veteran OL in 2019 and yet they struggled in the running game. Now, that doesn't mean the entire problem comes down to teaching technique. I've stated in a different thread that part of the problem is due to the likelihood that BK tends to emphasize pass pro in practice above run blocking. I believe there can be a better balance in practice without pass pro suffering.

But regardless of what is actually being emphasized in practice right now and regardless of how many disappointing rushing seasons we had while HH was here, what can't be denied is HH was a master at teaching overall technique. He has 5 elite O-linemen in the NFL as proof and they have all sung his praises at various times. Hansen is saying that the current players themselves are wanting to learn more technique. His comments were an inside look at what is actually being said behind the scenes.

 

[deadprez3]

I've stated in a different thread that part of the problem is due to the likelihood that BK tends to emphasize pass pro in practice above run blocking. I believe there can be a better balance in practice without pass pro suffering.

what can't be denied is HH was a master at teaching overall technique. He has 5 elite O-linemen in the NFL as proof and they have all sung his praises at various times. Hansen is saying that the current players themselves are wanting to learn more technique. His comments were an inside look at what is actually being said behind the scenes.

Both very spot on observations.

And to follow the observations to their logical conclusion.....

ND can possess an extreme amount of talent along the offensive line and have that talent extremely well coached, yet ND will always struggle to consistently run the ball under Kelly because of his inherent philosophical thoughts on how the offense should be operated within his program; to wit, he operates a pass first offense and uses the pass to set up the run.

ND has never ran the ball consistently and effectively in any of Kelly's seasons despite several different offensive line coaches, offensive coordinators, and obviously players.

ND may have strung together some games (2011, 2012, 2015, 2017) in which they possessed running attacks ranging from effective to downright potent; however, this success was not consistently maintained throughout the season and there were numerous outlier games where the rushing attack was down right terrible.

Also, while the 2015 and 2017 teams put up some gaudy rushing figures, they were primarily propped up by long runs and those teams also had a high amount of "stuffs" in those seasons. Mike Frank did a good job highlighting this in one of his recent podcasts.

ND simply does not ever have a consistent and reliable running attack under Kelly. A characteristic which is very important for any team to possess that is not quarterbacked by a generational quarterback such as a Cam Newton or a Joe Burrow or a Deshaun Watson if they hope to win a national championship.

Chris Watt, Zach Martin, Nick Martin, Ronnie Stanley, Mike McGlinchey, Q Nelson.....the amount of oline talent that has been squandered under Kelly's watch is dumbfounding.

At this point there is no other logical conclusion that can be had except for ND will never have a national championship caliber running attack that consistently run the ball and be reliable throughout the course of an entire season and perform regardless of opponent, and they can most certainly at times be down right terrible at running the ball and they are also going to have a higher than acceptable amount of run stuffs.

Quinn certainly is a terrible coach, Rees obviously is a woefully unqualified offensive coordinator, this current crop of offensive linemen pale in comparison to the historical talent level and that is all certainly alarming but at the end of the day the primary issues are going to stem from Kelly's philosophical views on offensive football and how that impacts his selection of coordinators, practice structure, allocation of resources, etc.

ND is probably always going to be pretty effective at running a two minute offense (2019 UGA not withstanding) but damn if they won't at times struggle to pick up that 3rd and 1 against the MAC-level opponents or get totally shut down in some games like 2012 Bama, 2015 Clemson, 2017 UGA, 2018 Clemson, 2019 UGA, and pretty much every game against Michigan (2011 had its bright spots but there were also a ton of stuffs in the second half when trying to ice the game).

It simply comes down to what gets emphasized and its likely somewhere along the lines of a 80/20 or 70/30 split in practice. All of the ND "insider" media types have noted it at one point or another and its certainly apparent on the field of play.