Humbled

This will probably be a quick post….really not a whole lot going on right now. My choice of title comes from a couple of followers I picked up over time on my Twitter feed (@kmring). There is at least one NCAA D-I OL coach among my followers (Brent Myers from Weber State, who has helped me a lot over the years, whether he knows it or not, and is an extremely nice guy), and now LeCharles Bentley, who runs OL Performance World who I’ve talked about a lot on here just followed me. So *now* I’m nervous! And humbled, and honored……I mean, I’m just a guy plugging away trying to get better and help those around me. I’m no expert and don’t have all the answers. Over time (25 years), I’ve learned plenty of what not to do, and have been around some pretty good coaches who have been free with their time – LeCharles figures to be the next at his coaches’ clinic in May, which I’m extremely excited about.

I know that sometimes I talk about things that others don’t agree with, and that most of the time, when I talk about the women’s game or the semi-pro game, it just doesn’t jive with “best practices” at the high school, collegiate or pro levels, mostly due to practice limitations. Technique is technique (although LeCharles has pointed out some differences in the women’s game which are very valid, and I didn’t realize), and scheme is scheme. But what we can get done in one or two practices a week is the wild card. Now that I’ve garnered another high-powered follower, just that alone will help keep me on my toes. Hopefully I don’t step on my….tongue….too often!

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One thing that did happen last week was the NFL changing the chop block rule. Now, maybe I’m just dense but I always thought that all chop blocks were illegal. I know now that that wasn’t the case and that some were OK. It is just that I never taught any of the legal techniques, being as how I thought they were illegal. Heck, I hardly ever even cut anyway. In the women’s game, it has to be done on first movement, and in the men’s game, well, they just generally don’t do it for a variety of reasons. So I never put that much effort into teaching or drilling it.

However, it is good to know that some techniques are still good to go. There was a SB Nation article that outlined things pretty well. You can see it here. So don’t despair OL of the world – most of what you do is still OK!

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Speaking of the women’s game, some of the teams will open up their seasons this weekend. In the WFA, in the West, I think it’ll come down to Seattle and Central Cal in the Pacific, and Dallas and Kansas City in the Midwest. I think in this case it’ll be a repeat of 2013, with Dallas beating Central Cal. I just don’t see any “surprise” teams improving enough to beat those four.

In the East, no doubt it’ll be Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and DC in some form or fashion. I’m not discounting Chicago at all, but as I’ve done in the past with Boston, I figure that until the champ is knocked off, they’re still the champ, so DC it is until proven otherwise. I’d love to see Cleveland have a “next step” type of season, and who knows, maybe Pittsburgh can ride their IWFL championship and vault into the Top 4 in the East. I like what they do, but they’re going to have to prove that they can beat Boston, DC, et al before I can say they’re one of the elite.

In the IWFL, for me it is Utah. Period. There’s really no one else in the conversation, and it’s sort of sad that anyone can say that at this point of the season.

I’d like to wish all of the former Surge players well this year. As far as I can tell, there are some on the NC Stars, the Carson Bobcats and the Central Cal War Angels. Best of skill to you all, and have fun!