Aggies’ interior offensive line as unseasoned as it is beefy
COLLEGESTATION— Scoot over, linebackers. A unit heavy on 300-pounders but quite light on experience has assumed the role of biggest unknown for Texas A&M.
With kickoff days away, the Aggies own a ton of questions along their interior offensive line, literally considering the sextet comprising the two-deep weighs more than 1,800 pounds.
A&M coach Kevin Sumlin released the first depth chart of this season late last week, and the guts of the offensive line are stark in their rawness. All six of the Aggies’ top players on the interior are underclassmen, with four freshmen and two sophomores making up the guards and center.
Senior left tackle Avery Gennesy insisted no worries, with A&M set to kickoff its fifth season under Sumlin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against UCLA at Kyle Field. The Aggies also have a senior starter at right tackle in Jermaine Eluemunor.
“Even though we’re young up front, we’re going to be fine, because we communicate pretty well,” Gennesy said of the starting trio sandwiched between the seasoned bookends.
Man in the middle
Freshman Erik McCoy, who redshirted last season, is set to take over for the departed Mike Matthews at center. Matthews, son of former Oilers great and NFL Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews, was a three-year starter whom McCoy learned behind last season.
“Erik made every road trip last year,” Sumlin said of his new center gaining experience of a different kind on the college level. “We didn’t play him, but he traveled so he had to prepare to play. (Although) he hasn’t been in a game yet, he’s a little bit further ahead of the other guys who haven’t played yet.”
McCoy, whose backup is freshman Austin Anderson, is weathered compared to the youngster lining up on his immediate left. Colton Prater is set to earn his first college start after graduating early from high school in Bossier City, La., and enrolling at A&M in January.
“He’s a tough guy, and he’s smart,” Sumlin said of Prater, a Rivals’ three-star recruit. “He’s 295 (pounds). He’ll hold his own in there. He’s been here in the spring. He was supposed to be going to the prom, (instead) he’s in there going against (defensive tackles) Kingsley Keke and Daylon Mack and those guys.
“That helped him, and he’s going to play a lot for us this year.”
Sumlin likes depth
Prater’s primary backup at left guard is fellow freshman Ryan McCollum. On the other side of McCoy, sophomores Connor Lanfear and Keaton Sutherland are listed first and second, respectively, at right guard, although Sutherland is expected to keep contending for the starting slot. He started seven games last season at left guard, along what was a veteran line featuring then-seniors Matthews, tackle Germain Ifedi and guard Joseph Cheek.
Ifedi, now with the Seattle Seahawks, was the final pick of the first round of this year’s NFL draft. Lanfear primarily served as a backup left guard last season, but he came on strong in camp.
“We’ve got a whole mix of guys at guard who can help us,” Sumlin said, in pledging the Aggies have plenty of depth along the offensive line, no matter the classifications in that mix.
The youth on the interior wasn’t so glaring early in camp, when Eluemunor played right guard and sophomore Koda Martin was at right tackle. Martin is now listed as Gennesy’s primary backup at left tackle, while sophomore Tank Davis is behind Eluemunor at right tackle.
“We’ve been able to move some guys around,” Sumlin said. “Eluemunor has been flexible to do a lot of things. He was one of the top tackles in the country (as a junior-college transfer), and has shown the ability to excel at tackle. That’s nothing against Koda Martin. Koda’s been really, really good, too.
“But … moving Jermaine to right tackle gives us two older guys who are very athletic, with him and Avery protecting the passer on both sides.”
As it typically is, the Southeastern Conference, winner of eight of the last 10 national titles, is loaded with veteran defensive lines, ones eager to try and devour green offensive lines. A&M also has a new offensive line boss in Jim Turner, who had coached with the Aggies previously under Sumlin’s predecessor, Mike Sherman. Turner wasn’t available to the media during camp following a two-week suspension by Sumlin in early August for inappropriate comments during a late-July women’s football clinic at Kyle Field.
New men on campus
The Aggies also have a new offensive coordinator in Noel Mazzone and a new quarterback in transfer Trevor Knight, so not only are most of the starters new along the line — so is everything else. There’s no question, however, the offensive line has the most to prove early this season, on either side of the ball.
“This is a totally different offense than last year,” Gennesy said. “Different words, different schemes, different talk.”