I don't know, Roadie. Our primary back-ups at tackle that Strausser's recruited are Hilbers & Burleson. If that doesn't scare the shit out of you, it should.
James will be a redshirt junior this year... so if he's planning on being serviceable, he should probably get going with that pretty soon.
There's so much dead weight on this OL roster, and there have been so many misses on highly recruited guys. The top end talent (outside of our two starting tackles) is pretty fucking terrible. And our depth is alarmingly bad. When a 6"1 270lb true freshman beats out every other guard you've recruited/coached for the last three years... then you haven't done a good enough job recruiting or developing the position. At some point Strausser can't always get a free pass.
Decent OL class this year despite the misses. There are still a lot of younger guys that haven't really played yet.
I'm anxious to see how Wattenberg, Hillbers, and Roberts look. I expect Harris to be much better. Maybe Burleson comes around. My early guess is Wattenberg wins the LG job based on Strausser's comments.
The line will be very good next year. The arguments both ways are valid. We "may" have some depth issues and we didn't pull in the elite guys, but there should also be a realization that the
much maligned OL will probably be the best in the conference next year.
I agree that Strausser doesn't get a never ending pass, but he gets one until the OL sucks. We got mauled against Alabama. Hopefully this OL gets another shot to be tested in a game like that again.
I'm not sure the line will be 'very good' next year. Our tackles, provided there are no injuries, look fantastic. Strausser deserves credit for the way he's developed those two dudes. He also deserves some credit for the jump that Eldrenkamp made this season.
But on the interior next year, you have Coleman, who IMO is the very definition of passably average, at center. Then you have Harris, who was a 270lb true freshman this year at one guard spot, and Twattenberg, who has never played a single down of college football at the other guard. Combine that with the fact that everything behind them (Turner, Sossebee, Kirkland, James) has done positively fuck-all the last four years under Strausser.... and you have a lot of reason for concern.
We should both agree that if you're recruiting and developing your OL roster properly you shouldn't, four years in, be starting a guy who's never played in a game before (Twattenberg), on a team that's expected to compete for a playoff spot. Just like you never should've had to play/start a 270lb true freshman last year.
Strausser put together a solid OL this season... they got exposed by Bama, but Bama exposed a lot of people. But his OL's the previous 2 seasons certainly weren't anything special. That basically means you have a coach who has produced a good unit one out of his three seasons so far, while also proving to be a collossal liability on the recruiting trail.
Yet guys like Bananas & Waffle, who are really good poasters, have Straussers testes crammed so far down their collective esophagus (shout out to @EsophagealTestes!!1!)... that they literally believe the man can do no wrong. It's weird.