Former Second-team All-Pac-10 offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz doesn't believe that Jordan Seaton, a freshman manning the blindside for the Buffs in the offensive trenches, and the Colorado football program's transfer OL haul will deliver on keeping Shedeur Sanders and the running back room protected due to their limited time together as a unit.
“No,” Schwartz told the Denver Post when asked if the strategy was going to work (h/t The Spun). “I know their offensive line wasn’t good last year … five new guys, along with a true freshman at left tackle? It’s a lot of turnover. And it’s a lot of new guys. And you have less practice time now, you have less hitting time now. I think it’s really hard to develop a really stable offensive line."
Schwartz flexed the familiarity of his teammates at Oregon as a true example of an offensive line that can mesh well and get the job done at college football's highest level.
“Part of developing a good offensive line is spending time together," Schwartz prefaced before saying, "I was fortunate at Oregon, we had six guys in my class along the offensive line and we spent just about every second together. When it comes to playing together, we ended up playing really well … our right guard, our center, our backups, were all guys I knew.”
Colorado football using unorthodox methods to win
College football as we know it can be reimagined in live-time if Coach Prime can bring in a new OL coach (Phil Loadholt) and work with him to bring in the No. 1 OT in the class and surround him with underappreciated blockers from around the country -- and it all works to improve CU's record.
The top programs have always aimed to produce wave after wave of blue-chip offensive lines, doing everything possible to have the groups grow together in the way Schwartz described of his time with the Ducks under Mike Bellotti.
Sanders solving the problem overnight may well have schools reconsidering and aiming to bring in more fully developed transfers in their early to mid-twenties in order to have as grown of men as possible protecting the backfield.