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Miller Poached by Illinois

Big blow in my opinion. Line play improved dramatically when he came in. But with the experience on the line (hopefully all coming back), OL is probably not a big concern.
 
BTW - a small sample size but Dickert didn’t impress too much in his first year at Wazzu as Wazzu went 1-3 giving up nearly 40 pts per game and 5.0 yards per carry.
 
This is not good. Miller had changed the culture of the line and was a great OL coach. Between the OL and RBs, those were the only positions that had seen any real progress as operating units.

Between Bohl's stubbornness, Vigen's predictable and ineffective play calling, Grant's blatant incompetence and the loss of Miller, our offense is going to be a raging dumpster fire...no offense to dumpster fires. Or I should say that it will continue to be a dumpster fire...with the flames only intensifying.
 
Pass blocking was atrocious this year. Levi got blasted time after time after time after time after time.
 
LanderPoke said:
Pass blocking was atrocious this year. Levi got blasted time after time after time after time after time.

That is not all on the line. There were a myriad of reasons for that.

1) Play Calling - many pass plays had just two players running routes (sometimes too deep) causing there to be no open receivers that could be delivered the ball in a timely fashion. This was actually the most befuddling to me that rarely was there a 'check down' option on the play call.
2) At times, Levi (being a young QB) struggled getting the ball out on time or made decisions to step up in the pocket when it was not advisable or made poor decisions to scramble when the protection was there.

I believe the line played relatively well but certainly there is room for improvement.
 
Poached? Are we certain that's the case? I'm wondering if we'll see a few more positional coaches poached? Except QB coach, of course.
 
ragtimejoe1 said:
Poached? Are we certain that's the case? I'm wondering if we'll see a few more positional coaches poached? Except QB coach, of course.

Yes we are sure he was poached to reunite with Bielema. https://www.si.com/college/illinois/football/bart-miller-hired-as-illini-offensive-line-coach

As much as we don't want to admit it, going from OL coach at Wyoming to OL coach at Illinois is likely both an upgrade in terms of image and pay.
 
OrediggerPoke said:
ragtimejoe1 said:
Poached? Are we certain that's the case? I'm wondering if we'll see a few more positional coaches poached? Except QB coach, of course.

Yes we are sure he was poached to reunite with Bielema. https://www.si.com/college/illinois/football/bart-miller-hired-as-illini-offensive-line-coach

As much as we don't want to admit it, going from OL coach at Wyoming to OL coach at Illinois is likely both an upgrade in terms of image and pay.

WYO was about 200k and Illinois had been about 300K but that was with previous staff. It'll be interesting to see if they keep that level with a new staff.

Always a shock that Vigen never seems to get poached but several other position coaches/coordinators do.
 
ragtimejoe1 said:
OrediggerPoke said:
ragtimejoe1 said:
Poached? Are we certain that's the case? I'm wondering if we'll see a few more positional coaches poached? Except QB coach, of course.

Yes we are sure he was poached to reunite with Bielema. https://www.si.com/college/illinois/football/bart-miller-hired-as-illini-offensive-line-coach

As much as we don't want to admit it, going from OL coach at Wyoming to OL coach at Illinois is likely both an upgrade in terms of image and pay.

WYO was about 200k and Illinois had been about 300K but that was with previous staff. It'll be interesting to see if they keep that level with a new staff.

Always a shock that Vigen never seems to get poached but several other position coaches/coordinators do.
Read somewhere that when Bielema was offered, illinois promised him an increased salary pool for assistants. So it will certainly be 300K minimum.
 
LanderPoke said:
Pass blocking was atrocious this year. Levi got blasted time after time after time after time after time.

Pass blocking has been downright awful since we had Chase Roullier. Has to be improved on by whoever we get next.
 
Yeah. Run blocking has been good (mainly when the defense isn't loading 10 into the box). But pass blocking has been scary at best.
Hopefully, whomever steps in can make them more balanced.
 
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