(05-16-2019, 07:30 AM)HarleyDog Wrote: If the patriots somehow traded up to get Sample, it would’ve been reviewed as an awesome move by BB and crew. But since it was an unproven ZT and a FO traditionally trashed for breathing (and rightfully so on many things), it was a questionable pick. I think Zac is pretty intelligent and does his homework. With an OL in bad shape and a glass TE on the roster, this pick was smart. Sample learning the playbook quickly also speaks highly of his work ethic and desire to do his job.

That's typically how things go even outside of football though. Someone who has an established level of excellence is far more often going to be given the benefit of the doubt over someone who is brand new or has had questionable decisions/production in the past.

(05-16-2019, 10:42 AM)ochocincos Wrote: That's typically how things go even outside of football though. Someone who has an established level of excellence is far more often going to be given the benefit of the doubt over someone who is brand new or has had questionable decisions/production in the past.

Your right. I think my take is I'm going to respect his decisions until he loses my respect for his decisions. I'm on the bandwagon of ZT fans who feel he is much more intelligent than given credit. Although its understandable he wont get the benefit of the doubt from the media and also some fans that have felt the pain of being a fan for so many years, I think he is going to awe people on his coaching skills. Probably wont be immediate, but positive it will surface sooner than later. 

(05-15-2019, 11:33 PM)PAjwPhilly Wrote: I don't think Eifert will be the TE 1. I think he will be used sparingly. Toss Eifert in there to confuse the defense since he is 6'5" and rarely drops the ball.... and use Sample and Uzo as the main TEs. When healthy our redzone offense could be nuts.

Having another blocker out there will help our tackles. And add Jonah Williams to that tackle group and guard/center might be our biggest issue in 2019 as far as the OL is concerned.

I think Eifert will be out there quite a bit.....but I agree with what you're saying.  I don't think they'll have him blocking much, and the other two will be playing more.  I think Eifert will be used to catch passes and as a decoy some.  That should help him keep from getting dinged up.

(05-16-2019, 11:09 AM)Wyche Wrote: I think Eifert will be out there quite a bit.....but I agree with what you're saying.  I don't think they'll have him blocking much, and the other two will be playing more.  I think Eifert will be used to catch passes and as a decoy some.  That should help him keep from getting dinged up.

Drew Sample is deemed to be a solid blocking tight end coming into the NFL.


Drew having Eifert to watch & learn from could enhance the pass catching side of Sample's game.

If Sample can be effective and productive in his rookie year, Uzomah can continue to grow and improve, and Eifert can stay relatively healthy - the TE unit suddenly becomes a big strength, capable of some very nice production.

(05-15-2019, 08:57 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Personally, I think that one sentence speaks loudly.  Being able to learn the play book, and demonstrate what is supposed to happen in those plays is nothing to be taken lightly.  NFL offenses are complex, and require as much cerebral focus as they do physical output.  For a rookie minicamp, I'd say that's about as glowing a review as he could get.  (granted, it would have been nice to hear some specific examples cited)

Exactly, you can be a physical freak like Malik Jefferson but it doesn't matter if you don't have the mental aspect as we saw last season. Sample already having the football acumen is a great start to go along with his already great blocking, he has a strong foundation, more than i can say for some of the vets we had starting last year.

A little off subject of Sample but i love hearing about what Callahan is saying about the O-line and having all kinds of different combinations with Glenn possibly playing LG with Jonah at LT and the Centers playing Guard and the Guards playing Center. Really refreshing instead of just putting players in one spot and not keeping our options open like it always seemed before, have to adjust and i am hearing this from our new coaches.

Finley has a rough showing at mini-camp = I'm not going to judge this guy on how he looks in May. Pre-season is what matters.

Sample looks good in mini-camp = Fantastic! He's going to be a beast.



Seriously though, you always want to hear that players are showing well, even in May. I'm looking forward to seeing what Sample brings to the table. I think he's capable of being a Heath Miller type of guy.

I do not find this shocking at all and anyone who researched him and watched film on him should not find this as a shock. Sample was a victim of an offense that did not place a strong value on the TE position as an offensive weapon. They appear to only look at the TE position as a safety valve. When Sample was a target he caught the ball. He also helped out their QB on numerous occasions when plays broke down.

(05-17-2019, 02:23 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Finley has a rough showing at mini-camp = I'm not going to judge this guy on how he looks in May. Pre-season is what matters.

Sample looks good in mini-camp = Fantastic! He's going to be a beast.



Seriously though, you always want to hear that players are showing well, even in May. I'm looking forward to seeing what Sample brings to the table. I think he's capable of being a Heath Miller type of guy.

Of course, have to give a rookie QB the benefit of the doubt this early. This isn't shocking with Sample just nice to hear. I have said before that Sample reminds me of Heath Miller, great blocker and catches everything. Sample just needs to work on his routes and be a bit crisper and concentrate on being more of a Receiver and not just a safety valve and OSUfan here says.

(05-17-2019, 02:29 PM)OSUfan Wrote: I do not find this shocking at all and anyone who researched him and watched film on him should not find this as a shock. Sample was a victim of an offense that did not place a strong value on the TE position as an offensive weapon. They appear to only look at the TE position as a safety valve. When Sample was a target he caught the ball. He also helped out their QB on numerous occasions when plays broke down.

Spot on brother, it is awesome that our people saw what they saw in Sample and did their homework.

Utilized correctly, Sample could be a very important piece to our team in many aspects.

He is versatile which is what we need all across the board.

(05-17-2019, 02:16 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Exactly, you can be a physical freak like Malik Jefferson but it doesn't matter if you don't have the mental aspect as we saw last season. Sample already having the football acumen is a great start to go along with his already great blocking, he has a strong foundation, more than i can say for some of the vets we had starting last year.

A little off subject of Sample but i love hearing about what Callahan is saying about the O-line and having all kinds of different combinations with Glenn possibly playing LG with Jonah at LT and the Centers playing Guard and the Guards playing Center. Really refreshing instead of just putting players in one spot and not keeping our options open like it always seemed before, have to adjust and i am hearing this from our new coaches.

It's good to have guys ready to shift positions, in the event of an injury.  However there are two schools of thought on the way to cover an OL injury.  One is to work "inside out", meaning that if a Center or Guard goes down, then a Guard or Guard and Tackle slide down to keep the middle strong.  The other philosophy says bring in one player to fill the spot, as moving people around creates possible weaknesses where you once had strengths.  

Being a former lineman (both Offense and Defense) I can see the merits of both philosophies, and one or the other working or failing, depending on the personnel available and the people running the show..(coaching) 

(05-17-2019, 06:44 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It's good to have guys ready to shift positions, in the event of an injury.  However there are two schools of thought on the way to cover an OL injury.  One is to work "inside out", meaning that if a Center or Guard goes down, then a Guard or Guard and Tackle slide down to keep the middle strong.  The other philosophy says bring in one player to fill the spot, as moving people around creates possible weaknesses where you once had strengths.  

Being a former lineman (both Offense and Defense) I can see the merits of both philosophies, and one or the other working or failing, depending on the personnel available and the people running the show..(coaching) 

Yes, you know your O-line play about as good as anyone no doubt Sunset. I agree, there can be times you are moving players around the Line too much for sure. I just find it refreshing that we are doing it early and trying to get the 5 best Lineman on the field that way we can gain that chemistry before the season starts. Starting to think that they might be thinking of moving Boling over to RT where he has played before, doubt we bench him for Glenn or Hart who simply are not as good as Boling. Might look something like this with Sample helping one side if Eifert goes down again....

LT - Jonah
LG - Cordy Glenn
C - Billy Price
RG - Miller
RT - Boling

(05-17-2019, 02:16 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Exactly, you can be a physical freak like Malik Jefferson but it doesn't matter if you don't have the mental aspect as we saw last season. Sample already having the football acumen is a great start to go along with his already great blocking, he has a strong foundation, more than i can say for some of the vets we had starting last year.

A little off subject of Sample but i love hearing about what Callahan is saying about the O-line and having all kinds of different combinations with Glenn possibly playing LG with Jonah at LT and the Centers playing Guard and the Guards playing Center. Really refreshing instead of just putting players in one spot and not keeping our options open like it always seemed before, have to adjust and i am hearing this from our new coaches.

where would Boling play?

(05-17-2019, 07:16 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Yes, you know your O-line play about as good as anyone no doubt Sunset. I agree, there can be times you are moving players around the Line too much for sure. I just find it refreshing that we are doing it early and trying to get the 5 best Lineman on the field that way we can gain that chemistry before the season starts. Starting to think that they might be thinking of moving Boling over to RT where he has played before, doubt we bench him for Glenn or Hart who simply are not as good as Boling. Might look something like this with Sample helping one side if Eifert goes down again....

LT - Jonah
LG - Cordy Glenn
C - Billy Price
RG - Miller
RT - Boling

I would think Glenn better at RT but anything better than Hart

(05-17-2019, 08:43 PM)psychdoctor Wrote: where would Boling play?

RT Psych, Callahan is talking something about Glenn at LG so Boling would have to move as he is a starter regardless with his great versatility and that he IS our best Lineman to this point until Mister Jonah takes the reigns soon enough as we all are expecting.

(05-17-2019, 08:44 PM)psychdoctor Wrote: I would think Glenn better at RT but anything better than Hart

It would be great if Glenn could play RT but he never has and it hasn't been spoken of so far from what i have seen. Just going off of history and how versatile Boling is and he HAS played RT before and even if it was not as good as LT like you said it is better than Hart.

(05-17-2019, 07:16 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Yes, you know your O-line play about as good as anyone no doubt Sunset. I agree, there can be times you are moving players around the Line too much for sure. I just find it refreshing that we are doing it early and trying to get the 5 best Lineman on the field that way we can gain that chemistry before the season starts. Starting to think that they might be thinking of moving Boling over to RT where he has played before, doubt we bench him for Glenn or Hart who simply are not as good as Boling. Might look something like this with Sample helping one side if Eifert goes down again....

LT - Jonah
LG - Cordy Glenn
C - Billy Price
RG - Miller
RT - Boling

LG is not broke and does not need fixed. Creating issues where you do not need to. Simple just slide Glenn to RT with Jordan working super hard behind him to be the RT of the future.

(05-15-2019, 09:58 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I think that you just might be right.  On night two of the draft, when his name was called;  I was like who??  I really hadn't paid a lot of attention to Pac 12 games lately.  And then I saw all the people saying things like "We wasted our 2nd round pick on a guy with only X number of catches, for Y number of yards, with only Z number of TDs".  So, I decided to watch a little bit of him in game videos.  It didn't take me long to discover what this Super Hero's special powers are.  Let me say this, "Man, can that guy block!".  Not only can he block, he knows who to block in order to make the play go farther.  

That in itself shows a special quality not found in most athletes of his caliber, selflessness.  He has the ability to love playing the game and enjoy helping his team, without having to make a big impact on the stat sheets to achieve that satisfaction.  And, it's not like he can't catch or run routes, because he can, very well at that.  In fact, on many CFB teams, he might have been their 2nd options on all pass plays called. (Iowa??)

I was shocked on draft night also. I looked at wife, she looked at me and said is he good. I had never heard of him, so after a few choice words, I went to the internet to check him out. I went for WTF to happy we addressed another blocking issue. We always equate OL blocking with just OL, but I have seen Eifert and our other TE's miss so badly it almost got AD killed.

I think he becomes a huge part of us trying to run the ball and develops into a great safety net on 3rd down. I hope he is our version of Heath Miller, a lot to ask but if close it becomes an awesome 2nd round pick (Miller was a 1st round pick).

Feels awfully desperate way to try and justify taking this guy 2 rounds to early.

My mega, super, ultra excitement will have to wait till the season unfolds. I don't get all mega, super, ultra excited by whatever some pundit writes.. 
Of course at 60 I very seldom get mega, super ultra excited by much at all.. For that to happen he'll have to take the snap himself, throw the ball 80 yards, run downfield, catch it then run over the entire defense to score in one fell swoop.. Then I'll get mega, super, ultra excited...maybe.

Random thoughts on things brought up in this thread:

Sample - I think he will prove worth the second round pick and I’ll take a Sample all day long over a John Ross.

Eifert - I say his health and effectiveness will dictate how much he plays. I don’t think they will pull him from undecided games if he is healthy just to try to hide him from injury.

Finley - Don’t hate the pick as long as he is viewed as strictly a backup. If he is the heir apparent.....I hate it.

(05-18-2019, 09:23 AM)OSUfan Wrote: LG is not broke and does not need fixed. Creating issues where you do not need to. Simple just slide Glenn to RT with Jordan working super hard behind him to be the RT of the future.

I would be fine with this as well, the coaches haven't mentioned moving Glenn to a position he has never played though.

They were talking about Glenn at LG...