At the Plattsmouth lineman camp on Saturday, former Nebraska offensive line coaches Dan Young and Milt Tenopir talked about how changing offensive schemes have altered the face of the collegiate offensive lineman.
According to Young, teams are putting too much importance on players' size and not enough on quickness and agility. Young pointed to the 32 linemen on the rosters of the 1994 national championship team, which weighed an average of less than 260 pounds.
In comparison, all of Nebraska's 14 offensive linemen heading into this season are tipping the scales at an average of more than 305 pounds.
"I don't get to watch film of high school linemen like I used to watch, but just watching some film, the players are a little overweight and it seems like the goal is just to see how many pounds you can put on," Young said. "We always wanted kids that were athletic and that could run, and weight didn't matter as much. Explosiveness comes from quickness, and things like quick feet and quick hands were more important than being just a fat blob that can't move anybody off the ball."
