Hole (noun).
Webster’s offers several definitions. The Oxford English Dictionary, too.
But the offensive lineman’s dictionary provides an entirely different set, spanning from the very good to the very bad.
Open up a hole on the line, sending your running back scampering to a game-winning touchdown, and you may find yourself dining over a juicy Porterhouse, courtesy of a grateful teammate.
Create one through which a rabid defender slips though, and your quarterback may curse your name as he writhes on training-room table in pain.
So when four holes opened along the Northwestern offensive line in the off-season, emotions ran the gamut – from thoughts of a line in full-blown chaos to, in the eyes of offensive line coach James Patton, something very different.
“I really preached to (my new players) about how it’s a great challenge, a great opportunity,” Patton said.
An opportunity for several no-name faces to show their mettle. An opportunity for a bunch of good-natured guys to bond. An opportunity, even, for one familiar mountain of a man to show that his heart’s just as big as his 6-foot-7, 335-pound frame.
So far, opportunity hasn’t been wasted.
While the inexperience still is apparent, the unit that drives the nation’s No. 4 offense is slowly becoming a cohesive, productive group – on and off the field – thanks to the efforts of a bunch of eager youngsters and right tackle Zach Strief, the head of the line.
“They’ve done a great job,” Basanez said. “Zach Strief has done a fantastic job of bringing those young guys along, and they continue to get better.
“I’m excited to see what they do each week.”
The numbers back up the efforts of Strief, junior guards Ryan Keenan and Joe Tripodi, sophomore tackle Dylan Thiry, senior tackle Vince Clarke, and the center rotation of freshman Joel Belding and sophomore Austin Matthews.
The Wildcats’ front has allowed just five sacks of senior quarterback Brett Basanez.
The line also has paved the way for true freshman Sutton, who is second in the Big Ten in rushing, fifth in the nation, and is poised to become NU’s third different 1,000-yard rusher in as many years.
“They do the things they have to do to be effective in that offense,” Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez said.
Some penalties have killed NU drives and poor snaps have caused at least one turnover. But Walker, Patton, Basanez and others often overlook these hitches, as they admire the line’s to-date performance and constantly look toward the future.
“They’re farther ahead than I thought they’d be,” NU coach Randy Walker said. “We’re a long way from great, but we could get there.”
BODYGUARDS
With his teammates celebrating a recent win in the background, Basanez stood in front of ESPN’s rolling camera with a microphone in his face and credited not himself or his receivers, but his offensive line.
Basanez often shouts out to his protectors, and he’s not the only one. While the scorers and producers of touchdowns typically garner the attention, the offensive line is almost universally lauded as being “where it all begins” on offense.
“For any team the offensive line is going to show you how good you’re going to be,” Basanez said. “They’re kind of the heart of any team.”
They must open holes for running backs. It must close them for quarterbacks.
If a member of the line jumps before the snap, the offense loses yards and often momentum. A poorly timed holding penalty also can kill a drive.
And when a lineman allows a big hit on one of his players, the consequences could be costly.
Thus a relationship must be formed, not only among the five linemen but also with their boys in the backfield.
“It’s a special bond, obviously,” former NU running back Noah Herron said of the relationship between linemen and rushers. “It’s not something that can be shared by anybody else.”
Herron, who ran for more than 1,300 yards in 2004, said he used to take his linemen out to dinner.
Two-time 1,000-yard rusher Jason Wright said his mother gave Wright’s linemen candy-filled goodie bags after every game, personally addressed to each lineman “to tell them thank you for protecting her baby.”
Sutton said he’s trying to continue the tradition, already having taken Thiry and backup center Adam Crum to Chili’s.
“You really have to build that relationship with them,” Sutton said. “They’re blocking for you, and if you get on their bad side they can just say, ‘Screw you,’ and let everyone come and get you.”
The same goes for quarterbacks, Basanez said.
“We kind of have a relationship where – when someone hits me, they take it personally,” Basanez said. “And when they do a great job, I’m the first person to give them credit, because they obviously deserve it.”
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS
It’s one thing to have to fight top-flight defensive ends every week, even if you are a senior, reigning second-team all-Big Ten tackle and certain 2006 NFL draft pick.
But also to have to turn a bunch of eager youngsters into a single, solid unit?
“It can be a little exhausting at times,” said Strief, who, as the only returning member of NU’s talented 2004 line, is as close to being a coach as one can without receiving a paycheck.
The 2004 line featured three players now in the NFL, including third-round draft pick Trai Essex. Also on the line was sophomore center Trevor Rees, who was suspended in July for academic reasons.
That left only Strief, who, along with anchoring the line as a running-game-driving right tackle, is responsible for relaying what he sees on the field to Patton.
At practice Strief said he’s in charge of helping his counterparts with both the mental and physical aspects of football. He helps players watch tape and prepare their bodies for games, and he makes sure they understand everything before they leave the field.
“I hope some day he wants to be a college football coach,” Patton said, “because I would hire him.”
For one week, at least, he was.
During the summer Strief served as replacement coach for the young group.
“(He) wasn’t bad,” Walker said. “But that’s because he’s a student of the game. He’s worked at it real hard.”
Wright had a front-row seat to Strief’s schooling, in 2002, when the now-wily veteran was a wide-eyed redshirt freshman.
“I saw him grow up right in front of my eyes,” Wright said. “He went from a kid who wasn’t sure if he was able to play at this level to – being a dominant lineman.”
And, Wright said, he’s a “leader by personality,” which has projected onto his proteges on the 2005 line.
Thiry said Strief has been the biggest influence on him since Thiry arrived at NU. He was the guy to look to, Thiry said, and his every action was mimicked.
But now it’s less about Zach Strief the individual – “He’s come out and said, ‘I can’t do this without you guys,'” Thiry said – than about Zach Strief the leader.
“I’ve challenged him with his legacy,” Patton said. “To have that influence and have the other guys keep that influence going (when he leaves).”
COME TOGETHER, RIGHT NOW
They go out to dinner together. They see movies together. They take several classes together. Some of them even live together.
“Together” is the word for offensive linemen, who must form the holiest of football unions in order to be successful.
Off the field, that bond forms by becoming fast friends.
“We spend a lot of time together,” Strief said. “It’s kind of a fun group. Lots of messing around, lots of goofing around.”
On the field, the bond is more professional and can only be formed through lots and lots of repetitions.
That’s why it was a challenge to take a rotation of inexperienced players and turn them into a singular entity, Patton said. His team needed to learn to play together, see things in the trenches and get in the right position.
They’ve been very successful, Walker said, mostly beca
use they were eager and willing to learn. And they keep learning – from Patton, from Strief and from each and every hole they create, be it good or bad.
“(They) might have some growing pains now,” Strief said, “but in a few years, it’s going to be a pretty darn solid line.”
Reach Patrick Dorsey at
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By patrick dorsey
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BUILDING BLOCKERS
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Photo illustration by peter stephan
Senior Zach Strief, left, has taken on a teacher-like role in helping jell the offensive line. He reads to his pupils, fellow starters, left to right, Joel Belding, Dylan Thiry, Joe Tripodi and Ryan Kennan.
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BUILDING
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BLOCKERS
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In a rebuilding year, the offensive line has worked to piece itself back together
