Age doesn't matter on offensive line
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Matt Slauson has noticed something about the young guys. They’re paying his seniority little attention, going toe-to-toe, unafraid.
Nothing given. Everything earned.
It had the Husker senior offensive lineman smiling after Wednesday’s practice.
“You really see a fight in them,” Slauson said. “Our starting group, we’re old and we’re experienced, but they’re not showing any signs of backing down. They want to play real bad.”
Go down the list. Sophomores like Jaivorio Burkes, D.J. Jones, Keith Williams and Mike Smith. Freshmen like Marcel Jones and Mike Caputo.
There’s a youth movement afoot, a spring charge being made by guys who also know their youth can’t be an excuse.
“Really, from our 1s all the way to our 3s, we have solid players,” said Slauson, currently the No. 1 right guard. “We’re already tight. It doesn’t separate into seniors and juniors and freshmen and whoever else.”
Burkes has already made a name for himself as the No. 1 right tackle. D.J. Jones is trying to push Slauson after recently moving from tackle to guard. Williams has gotten some snaps with the top unit. And Marcel Jones? Slauson said he may have improved as much as any of the young guys.
“A lot of people say our line is the backbone of our team right now, but we’re not looking at that as much,” D.J. Jones said. “We’re just trying to focus on getting better each day and trying to push the defensive line to get better.”
He’s isn’t about to get a big head about it, but said he will keep that head buried in the playbook, watching as much film as he can, learning what he can from Slauson.
The 305-pound D.J. Jones just moved to guard early on this spring. The switch means learning a whole new technique, but still he’s optimistic about his progress.
Slauson may be the guy Jones is trying to catch, but he’s also in Jones’ corner.
“I was a little skeptical at first just because he’s been at tackle his whole career,” Slauson said. “But man, he has some pop in him, he unloads on some guys.”
Husker offensive line coach Barney Cotton will grant you that the potential is there in this group. But potential doesn’t win you anything.
“I think they’re a pretty confident group, but I also think they’re also smart enough to realize they’re by no means a finished product,” Cotton said.
At 310 pounds, Williams has about as much upside as anybody.
“Hopefully that will translate into a guy who can play a lot of football for us, but that’s kind of up to him,” Cotton said. “But he’s shown signs that he’s a very physical guy that’s ready to make a challenge.”
Williams did suffer a setback Wednesday, tweaking his shoulder. Husker coach Bo Pelini said “we’ll see how that comes out. Right now, he’s playing good football.”
Smith, meanwhile, has already seen action at guard, center and tackle this spring. Right now, Cotton said Smith is working at tackle and is serving as the third center behind Jacob Hickman and Caputo.
“He’s probably one of the best athletes we have, if not the best athlete,” Cotton said of Smith. “He’s good enough he could be a short-yardage tight end for us. He’s probably good enough to be a goal-line defensive lineman for us, too.”
Caputo may be the biggest surprise of them all. The redshirt freshman from Millard North is just 6-foot-1 and 270 pounds. Cotton says that LSU’s center last year only weighed 260-something pounds.
“Right now if we played a game, he’d be our second center probably,” Cotton says. “I’ve really been pleased with Caputo. He’s a hard-working, blue-collar coachable guy.”
Slauson said Caputo is a big ball of muscle. “He’s like a bowling ball.”
Yes, it’s spring — time for optimism. But if nothing else, the younger guys are pushing the veterans.
D.J. Jones admitted that it’s easy to get excited looking around at his fellow sophomores, thinking about what the future could bring.
Him. Burkes. Williams. Smith.
“We got a lot of depth and a lot of people who know know what they’re doing,” Jones said. “It’s good for the competition we’ve got going right now.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at bchristopherson@journalstar.com or 473-7439.
Most Commented news