I just got back from vacation, spent 7 days in Palm Springs and 3 days at Disneyland and I really enjoyed wearing my Husky gear in Southern Cal!! While on the trip I read "The Blind Side", the book that became the movie about Michael Oher. Needless to say, I loved it. It is a must see for football fans, and it has a great story so your wives will like it too!

Now that the blog has quieted down for the LONG winter stretch between signing day and spring practice and I'm back in the office (meaning I have time to kill), I thought it would be a good time to discuss our offensive line. Lucky for Jake we've got a lot of starters returning, only losing Ossai from last season, which IMHO, isn't a big loss. If the line remains the same as last season our starting 5 would be (from LT - RT) Schaefer, Christine, Tolar, Kelemete, and Habben. But, I find it unlikely for it to be that simple. Kirkd mentioned on another post that he had heard rumors on dawgman that our line could look more like:

LT: Kelemete, LG: Tolar, C: Ikehara, but watch out for Porter, RG: Christine, but watch out for Kohler, RT: Schaefer, with Kohler a possibility here too

Here's my take, you've got to start with the most important position on the line, left tackle. Ideally you want a big, athletic, freak of nature to protect Jake's blind side. We have athletic (Kelemete), but I don't see anybody that is big AND athletic. I'm going to agree that Kelemete is probably the best fit, with a lot of time in the weight room he could become a very good LT. 

Next on my list is center, IMO it's the next position that has the least flexibility, in other words not every linemen can snap the ball and block. Tolar did a very good job last year, but you always want the top 5 guys on the field. That being said, I see Ikehara taking over at center. We've heard coaches say great things about him, unfortunately last year was a waste due to an illness that caused him to lose weight and strength. He performed very well filling in for Tolar at the end of 2009 and I expect him to be a rising star in 2010.

IMO, Tolar is the best all around linemen we have returning, lucky for us he is an experienced guard that can fill in at center if need be. I believe he used to be left guard, so I'll plug him back in their, giving us Kelemete and Tolar on the left side with Ikehara at center. 

Right Tackle should belong to Habben, but he's coming off shoulder surgery and could get some stiff competition from Schaefer. Right Guard will be the big question mark, you've got a returning starter in Christine, but a lot of potential with Kohler and Porter.

All of that being said, here's my guess/prediction on what our 2010 offensive line will look like:

LT - Kelemete, backed up by Schaefer

LG - Tolar, backed up by Wood or Porter or Kohler

C - Ikehara, backed up by Tolar 

RG - Christine, backed up by Wood or Porter or Kohler

RT - Habben, backed up by Schaefer

The best part is the flexibility that should be available to the coaches, we have a few experienced backups, a lot of potential from incoming freshmen, and that's not mentioning guys who missed last year due to injury. If one or two guys like Wood, Fancher, Armelin or Shugert have a break out off season, it could add more depth to what looks like a very promising starting lineup. 

I didn't mean for this to get so length, but hopefully it will give us something to chat about for awhile. GO DAWGS!