Wake Forest Athletics
Oh, What A Line
9/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 7, 2006
By Sam Walker Courtesy of Gold Rush
Offensive Coordinator and line coach Steed Lobotzke smiled wryly when asked about how good Wake Forest's offensive line might be in 2006.
Lobotzke said in the improved ACC, redshirt freshmen don't represent true depth, just numbers. It is a fact that a number of redshirt freshmen will be counted upon this season, but also a fact that the Deacons are as deep on the offensive line as they have been in quite some time.
Lobotzke neatly divides his group into two tiers -- the salty veterans and the redshirt freshmen -- and much will depend on how fast the latter develops. Yet Lobotzke has done more with less experienced players in the past, and this group has the potential to be quite good.
Within the offensive line ranks the ability to run the ball effectively is a matter of pride.
Over the past five seasons, Wake Forest has led the ACC in rushing four times and rolled up 12,452 yards -- an average of almost 215 yards per game. That average total is an Atlantic Coast Conference best and ranks sixth all-time among NCAA Bowl Championship Series conference schools. Only Minnesota, West Virginia, Nebraska, Texas and Kansas State rank better.
Last season, running back Chris Barclay became Wake Forest's all-time leading rusher and the ACC Offensive Player of the Year with most of this year's returning linemen paving the way.
Lobotzke said that running the ball is not really a topic of conversation, but more of an understood expectation or tradition. Grobe teams have always morphed into squads that best utilizes personnel, and no matter who is carrying the ball, large rushing game totals have been consistent.
Although Barclay amassed 1,127 rushing yards, he didn't start every game. Micah Andrews, who will carry much of the load this season, ran for a career-best 254 yards on 34 carries in the season opener against Vanderbilt. He finished the season as the team's second-leading rusher with 621 yards on just 110 attempts and holds school records for both freshman and sophomore average yards per carry.
"It's (running the ball) our bread and butter and we don't stray away from it too often," senior tackle Steve Vallos said. "We have to be good at it, but we've had great running backs here with Chris (Barclay), and although he has graduated, Micah (Andrews) is going to be just as good, as was Tarrence (Williams) before Chris.
"We have an older offensive line than we've had here in the past three years. That is going to help us improve, so we should be even better running the ball this year."
The returning experienced linemen combine for 84 career starts and 5,488 career snaps. There isn't a head coach in the country that wouldn't like to put that kind of experience on offensive line.
Vallos has started the last 34 games dating back to Aug. 30, 2003 when the Deacons won at Boston College and, over his career, has played over 2,300 snaps. His sophomore season he played every position on the offensive line except center. Junior center Steve Justice played all 689 snaps of the 2005 season.
"It helped knowing each position and how it blocks and how those blocks affects each other," Vallos said of his sophomore season. "It helps to know exactly where the ball is supposed to go, where to block your guy. It really helped knowing the whole offense (on each play)."
"Having experience helps because you know when your guy goes to a different technique and you have to replace for the guard you know how to block him and where to block him, so you don't mess up the play," Justice said. "When guys go in different gaps you know how to replace or switch effectively."
Senior Arby Jones has 20 starts and more than 1,000 career snaps to his credit, and junior Matthew Brim has 19 starts and is fast approaching 1,000 career snaps. The least experienced of the group is Chris DeGeare, who is just a sophomore this season. He started just one game last season, but played almost 400 snaps as a true freshman.
"I think it's just understood that we're going to go out and run the ball," Vallos said. "Our pride runs on being able to run the ball through the game and we're going to run it up their throat until we punch it in the end zone eventually.
"I think that starts with Lobo (Lobotzke), and then Coach Grobe kind of pushes the issue if we're not getting it done. We can run the ball well enough to go out there on Saturday and play with anybody, so I think it starts with Lobo."
Lobotzke's second tier of redshirt freshmen includes Joe Birdsong, Gage Crews, Trey Bailey, Barrett McMillin, and Jeff Griffin. It's a talented bunch that must learn on the fly.
Birdsong was ranked the 16th-best player in Tennessee coming out of high school, and Crews was a first team all-state selection out of Georgia. Bailey was a South Carolina all-state selection in both his junior and senior seasons, and McMillin was a Georgia first team selection as well. Griffin was an All-Florida selection out of Jacksonville. They all come with credible credentials, but must transform from being just a number into a player that adds true depth.
Justice said this is a critical year for the redshirt freshmen. They've had a year to learn the offense, but probably forgot much of what they learned last fall because they played on the scout team running the oppositions systems and playbook. Although it began back in spring practices, much of what was lost must not only be re-learned, but also implemented at full speed.
"It's hard, but everybody's gone through it," Justice said. "When you come back that spring you have to learn everything again and that's just how it goes."
"There's a few who are ready to play, and a few who are still making mistakes you can't make on game day," Vallos said. "Coach Lobo is really trying to get them to stop making those mistakes because this is probably the most important year as redshirt freshmen.
"They're learning the system and there are older guys in front of them, plus Arby and I are going to graduate and they're going to have to fill in. They're a good group, they just have to eliminate those mistakes and I think they'll be alright."
If history is any indication, the redshirt freshmen will develop at the right time under Lobotzke's direction. Wake Forest has ranked among the top 20 nationally in rushing in each of the last five seasons. And should those redshirt freshmen contribute consistently, it will give Wake Forest the ability to roll in fresh linemen, keep the rushing attack as strong as ever, and preserve the tradition that, for Wake Forest linemen past and present, is a matter of pride.
