Urban Meyer is an offensive guy a spread guy. Miles was an offensive lineman. This seems to shape their strategy’s in recruiting.

I was reading that Urban Meyer wants to have “the fastest team in america”, and was talking up how 12 players on his team can run the 40 in 4.4 or less.

I think that Miles is quietly going after the biggest and deepest lines in america.

Look at this!

2006 
Matt Allen OL 6-3 285
Phil Loadholt OL 6-9 345
Jacob O’Hair OL 6-1 250
Steven Singleton OL 6-3 285
Mark Snyder OL 6-7 270 
Zhamal Thomas OL 6-4 335
Lazarius Levingston DE 6-4 265
Charles Deas DT 6-4 315
Al Woods DT 6-4 329

2007
Josh Dworaczyk OL 6-5 263
T-Bob Hebert OL 6-3 256
Jarvis Jones OL 6-7 250 (kicked off team) 
Ernest McCoy OL 6-5 330
Kentravis Aubrey DE 6-3 285
Sidell Corley DE 6-4 250 
Joseph Barksdale DT 6-6 323 (now an OT) 
Will Blackwell DT 6-4 296
Drake Nevis DT 6-1 281

2008 
Cordian Hagans OL 6-5 300
Alex Hurst OL 6-6 312
P.J. Lonergan OL 6-4 288
Thomas Parsons OL 6-6 270
Greg Shaw OL 6-5 267
Clay Spencer OL 6-5 285
Chase Clement DE 6-5 241
Lavar Edwards DE 6-4 300
Chancey Aghayere DT 6-4 244

2009 (and counting) 
Carneal Ainsworth OL 6-4 296
Chris Faulk OL 6-6 310
Stavion Lowe OL 6-5 294
Josh Williford OL 6-7 345
Michael Brockers DE 6-6 255
Chris Davenport DT 6-4 318
 Josh Downs DT 6-1 275

In the past three years he has taken somewhere from 4 to 6 offensive lineman per class. Granted some of these guys (especially from 2006) never made it to lsu, were a bust, or transferred, 4-6 a year is a lot. Especially considering he got Herman Johnson, Brett Helms, and Ryan Miller in 2004 and Ciron Black and Lyle Hitt (converted from DT) in 2005. The number of dline recruits are high as well considering Dorsey, Favorite, and Wroten were all recruited in 2004. (I concede in hindsight it is easier to say this because, when a Dorsey or Ciron were recruited, the coaches didnt know exactly what they were going to get out them.)

Some of them dont seem that big, but this is their weight coming out of high school. LSU and Moffitt mutate this good sized lineman into monsters in about 18 months of signing.

LSU and Florida will always have plenty of speed at the skill positions and good size on their lines whether it is sought out out or not. If you are being intentional in designing your teams identity I think building big dominating lines is a better bet to go with than building ultra high speed at the skill positions.

Why?

A dominant oline with a strong runner will control the clock and wont allow the speedsters time to do their damage. It will also open things up for your passing game. A dominant dline (most important in my opinion) will stop their running game and will disrupt their passing game.

Obviously, this is a “both and” situation not an “either or”. You’d rather have the biggest lines AND the fastest players. Miles and Meyer are both trying to achieve that. There are the “no crap” recruits, the tall fast recievers, or the big strong lineman that every coach goes after regardless of what they have already, but then there are the “discretionary” recruits. A discretionary recruit is one where you dont have a need per say but would like to build strength in an area. Lets say you have one remaining scholarship and you are pretty good at lets say oline and reciever. There are two good but not great recruits and one is a lineman and one is a fast little reciever. It looks like Miles would use his discretinary recruit for the lineman while Meyer might aim for the reciever.

We’ll see who bet correctly come saturday.