It is all for one along the O-line
AUSTIN — Texas has opened each of the past three seasons with a different man in charge of the offensive line: Joe Wickline in 2015, Matt Mattox in 2016 and Derek Warehime this year.
So forgive the Longhorns’ linemen if they’re a little wary — they’ve been burned before.
They don’t expect Warehime to disappear, but college football’s capricious coaching carousel taught them to lean on each other more than any professional that might blow through Austin like a tumbleweed.
“It happens,” junior left guard Patrick Vahe said. “It’s something that you’ve got to adjust to. You’ve got to adapt to anything that comes your way. So having another position coach is just another stepping-stone for the team. We’re going to do what the coaches need us to do so it’s nothing different if another coach comes in.”
Three years of coach shuffling led the linemen to coalesce into their own young family.
Vahe has 10 brothers and two sisters back home, so he didn’t need another family. He forged one on the Forty Acres anyway. Brothers in arms
All-American left tackle Connor Williams became Vahe’s 11th “brother.” He welcomed in all the others who dug down beside him, too.
“I’ll play next to anybody on the offensive line unit because that’s how much of a bond we have right now,” Vahe said.
Offensive linemen are wired differently. Their position demands it. All five minds have to operate in perfect synchrony.
A misstep is all it takes to disrupt the unit’s harmony. The stronger the bond, the more in tune all five minds are and the less likely they are to commit a costly error.
A few days into fall practice, Williams already could sense how powerful his unit’s connection had grown.
“I feel like we’re finally get our swagger, our strut,” Williams said. “I like it. I feel like we’re taking control and we’re helping lead the offense and letting the offense feed off of us.”
Coach Tom Herman enlisted Williams and Vahe to lead this group, which he deemed the most “interdependent position in probably all of sport.” Warehime also touted sophomore center Zach Shackelford as the “apex of the offensive line.”
“O-linemen are kind of a different breed,” Herman said. “Nowhere is the unit pride exemplified more than in the offensive line.”
Life in the trenches isn’t glamorous. It doesn’t lead to many highlightreel moments. Only the most obsessive fans rave about linemen creating canyons for the running back to dart through.
How many people outside of Austin can name the men who blocked for Doak Walker winner D’Onta Foreman last season? There are kickers with better name recognition than Shackelford and Vahe. Interchangeable parts
Offensive linemen have to derive their praise from the coaches who understand their intrinsic value. They also look to each other to receive encouragement and criticism.
The love is real, but it has to get tough from time to time. There is a necessary edge to the bond between these massive, rambunctious brothers.
“I love the fact that we do have competition,” Warehime said. “It makes the guys come to work every day and execute at an extremely high level if they want to play.”
What position they want to play often comes secondary to what position the team needs them to play.
Throughout the season, this unit is going to endure injuries. Already, projected starting right tackle Elijah Rodriguez has been lost for an extended period of time following ankle surgery. Luckily, Denzel Okafor and Tristan Nickelson are high-level replacements.
But if last season is any indication, more damage will follow. Warehime has been cross-training his players for whenever the next bone — or piece of equipment — breaks.
“At some point this season, somebody’s helmet is going to come off or somebody’s shoelace is going to break,” Warehime said. “Something’s going to happen to where a guy is going to have to come out. … We’re going to jog the sixth-best guy into the game. That guy has got to be ready to play all five positions and go in there and execute.” Even better in 2017?
Last season, 10 offensive linemen started a UT game. They still averaged over 239 rushing yards per game, seventh among Power Five schools.
If the line remains relatively intact, it could be even better in 2017. Most football fans might not notice what Williams and Vahe and the rest of UT’s family of linemen do, but that won’t matter.
They’ll know, and that’s enough.