Olu Oluwatimi

[Mistashoesta]

Nice little breakdown by 'Top Billin' on Olu Oluwatmi.

 

[sutz]

He was highly touted coming out. Hopefully he settles in and becomes our starting center for the next few years.

 

[SPOHAWK]

Would love to partner him with Zinter & Keegan from Michigan!

 

[RiverDog]

I'm not holding my breath. There's a reason why he dropped to the 5th round and 154th overall. Olu didn't have enough snaps to qualify for a PFF ranking, but at a 53.1 overall rating, he had one of the lowest scores for centers in the league.

His big bugaboo is run blocking, and combined with the fact that we don't have any returning starters at guard, we have a heck of a hole to fill in the interior of the offensive line. It's the biggest weakness on our team.

Olu didn't play very much last season, a little over 100 snaps and not enough for us to get a good gauge on his potential. Perhaps Olu will step up in his sophomore season, but at this point, I see very little evidence to be optimistic that he's the answer to a 7-year problem at the center position.

 

[Wolfiegrrl]

I would love to see what Olu can do at the center position. Evan Brown didn't do us any favors last year. This kid is smart, quick, and has a meanness in him that I want in our center. Anthony Bradford and a rookie at guard and we could have a young OL that is around for decades. Let these young men grow together.

 

[sutz]

I would love to see what Olu can do at the center position. Evan Brown didn't do us any favors last year. This kid is smart, quick, and has a meanness in him that I want in our center. Anthony Bradford and a rookie at guard and we could have a young OL that is around for decades. Let these young men grow together.

IDK about "decades" but I'd love to see an O-line that stuck together for half a decade.

 

[nwHawk]

Max Unger played like trash his first season. I was disappointed when they had him start at center going into year two. The rest is history. Young guys need a chance to get better before throwing them out as rookies.

 

[JayhawkMike]

Max Unger played like trash his first season. I was disappointed when they had him start at center going into year two. The rest is history. Young guys need a chance to get better before throwing them out as rookies.

We have a ton of chances for similar success stories this year as so many played like trash last season.

 

[nwHawk]

A lot of square peg / round hole issues.

 

[toffee]

There are two possibilities:

All the coaches, from Pete down to the OL coach collectively make a wrong judgement call by giving a very bad Evan Brown more snaps than Olu.

Or

All the coaches, based on what they saw in practice and game tapes, felt that a very bad Evan Brown still gave Hawks better chance in winning than Olu.

 

[CallMeADawg]

Good video. Clearly showed the difference between Olu and Evan against the same Giants defensive line. Lawrence and Williams together is nasty. Evan looked like a road cone and Olu held up pretty nice for a rookie.

 

[onanygivensunday]

I'm not sold on Bradford at RG. He's too slow to react to a quality DT across from him.

I hope the Hawks trade down in the 1st and draft Graham Barton.

Slide Olu to RG and start Barton at Center.

 

[toffee]

I'm not sold on Bradford at RG. He's too slow to react to a quality DT across from him.

I hope the Hawks trade down in the 1st and draft Graham Barton.

Slide Olu to RG and start Barton at Center.

Why would Olu be better in RG than Bradford?

 

[CallMeADawg]

Why would Olu be better in RG than Bradford?

I highly doubt a rookie is going to come in and play better than Olu in year two.

 

[CallMeADawg]

There are two possibilities:

All the coaches, from Pete down to the OL coach collectively make a wrong judgement call by giving a very bad Evan Brown more snaps than Olu.

Or

All the coaches, based on what they saw in practice and game tapes, felt that a very bad Evan Brown still gave Hawks better chance in winning than Olu.

Or

They wanted to red shirt Olu for the season so he can continue to develop in the system first and only play him if Evan was hurt or needed a break during the season.

 

[onanygivensunday]

Why would Olu be better in RG than Bradford?

If you haven't already, go back and rewatch the video... but this time focus on Bradford instead of Olu.

Bradford's O-lays are almost as egregious as Brown's. JMO

 

[hawkfan68]

Max Unger played like trash his first season. I was disappointed when they had him start at center going into year two. The rest is history. Young guys need a chance to get better before throwing them out as rookies.

IIRC, Unger was moved to guard his first season. Once they moved him back to his natural position, center, his career took off.

 

[nwHawk]

Agreed, but I still didn’t think he’d hold up, but he did much better.

 

[12forlife]

I might be all alone on this, if Olu can man the Center position, I like the idea of drafting Troy Fautanu and let him battle for LT with Cross, loser is LG. I'm not sold on Cross @ LT. I dont think he has enough lead in his shorts, and gets man handled & walked back into the QB against stronger/bigger DE's. With Cross going into year 3 and nearing an extension, im not sure Cross is worth $20+ mil a year @ LT? Bradford is hardly backup worthy, I know he was only a rookie and can improve, but the dude is slow, you can't fix that, any good DT just has to get him to lean one way, and he can't recover quick enough to stay centered up on the DT, a good swim or pull & rip, and Bradford is left blocking air.

 

[toffee]

Or

They wanted to red shirt Olu for the season so he can continue to develop in the system first and only play him if Evan was hurt or needed a break during the season.

May be, but unlikely has Pete's job was on the line. If Olu was better, Pete would or should play Olu.