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| Elliott Mealer |
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 313 lbs.
High school: Wauseon High School in Wauseon, OH
Position: Offensive guard
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #57
Last year: I ranked Mealer #51 and said he'd be a backup left guard and special teamer. He played all 13 games on special teams.
If you're a fan of humanity, you can't help but root for Mealer. It doesn't seem that long ago, but now entering his fourth year in the program, Mealer lost his father and girlfriend to a car accident during the holidays in his senior year of high school. Elliott suffered a shoulder injury and his brother, Brock, was partially paralyzed. On a brighter note, Brock recovered enough to lead the team onto the field for its opener against Connecticut in September 2010.
Elliott has played sparingly in his first three seasons in the program, seeing action at offensive guard in only four games thus far. Brady Hoke's offense might benefit Mealer a little more than Rich Rodriguez's system, which stressed quickness and blocking at the second level. Mealer looked fairly quick coming out of high school and as a redshirt freshman in 2009, but he added some weight prior to 2010 and looked a little too slow to be effective. Now he's the heaviest he's ever been (up from 310 to 313), but the power running game ought to suit him a little better. I don't expect him to push for a starting position here in 2011, but he could be a key backup if there are any injuries along the offensive line.
Prediction: Backup offensive guard
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4537842
ReplyDelete^ a short bit on the accident.
I feel Elliot Mealer should be ranked higher with only 8 scholarship linemen who aren't freshmen. Should be a solid number 2 if nothing else, but I'd like to see him get some playing time.
@ E Funk 3:16 p.m.
ReplyDeleteElliott is probably a better player than some of the guys ahead of him, but he's also the #4 guard on the team. The only way he'll see significant minutes is probably if there are injuries to two other guards.
Mealer is the 8th guy for now as Khoury's likely the top backup on the interior of the line. That said, Molk is undersized and has been hurt for multiple games each of the last 2 seasons. There's a good chance that two of the interior starters do miss time at some point and Mealer will be used. Furthermore, if 2 of the tackles get hurt, it's likely that one of the guards slides over. Mealer will probably get a chance to show what he can do at some point.
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