Schuster offers top-notch protection
Franklin head coach Louis Brown loves having Chad Schuster as his starting left tackle.
Sabers quarterback Myles Burkett loves it even more.
When it comes to blindside protectors, Schuster is as sturdy as they come.
“I just like the physicality of the position, really,” Schuster said. “Going out and hitting someone every play. Protecting the blindside for our quarterback, that's really important for our team, so knowing you're doing a key job makes you appreciate it more.”
Schuster, a senior, plays with the size of a vehicle that should never leave the right lane on the freeway but the feet of a ballerina. He throws opponents around in the running game and has advanced technique in the passing game.
“We're a 50/50 run/pass team,” Brown said. “We feel that we have to be able to do both or you'll struggle as an offense. Chad is the perfect fit. He's really good at run blocking and tremendous at pass protection.”
The Franklin line’s cornerstone
Schuster's stature at 6-foot-6, 285 pounds is, no doubt, daunting for opposing edge rushers. His physical strength, then, is soul-crushing.
Schuster benches nearly 400 pounds and is on the verge of reaching 500 pounds squatting.
“His lower body looks like it belongs to a junior in college,” Brown said. “It's a really nice, strong lower body, but he has also filled out the upper body to where it's all strength up there, too.”
What all great offensive linemen have in addition to their size and strength is flexibility. Schuster is no different. He can get into a below-parallel squat position and walk seamlessly, and that type of bend shows on the field.
“It's the strength to go with the flexibility, really,” Brown said. “He's got both and there just aren't a whole lot of kids that check both of those boxes.”
Schuster can do the splits, which seems like something that shouldn't be possible for someone with his size.
“A lot of the college coaches talk about on my film how they say they can see the flexibility,” Schuster said. “I don't know how they can always see it, but it's really good for playing tackle at 6-6, that's a key factor.”
While Schuster can get by with his physicality in the run game, it's his agility that provides a launching pad for his excellent pass protection.
“You go to a game or two and it won't take you long to see that unless someone dials up a perfect blitz, that Myles (Burkett) won't have any pressure at all from his left side,” Brown said.
Schuster has long been eyed by the Franklin staff as its starting tackle. Not only did Brown notice his natural penchant for the position while working with Schuster when he was in the Sabers youth program, but also his leadership qualities.
One day, as practice was nearing an end, a normally reserved Schuster spoke up and reminded Brown that they hadn't done their core strength exercises yet.
“That impressed me,” Brown said. “From the big guy, you'd think he'd want to skip that. He wasn't afraid to speak up and be a leader. He spoke kind a few words, but the ones he spoke were really powerful.”
Schuster saw the field on varsity as a freshman sporadically as a blocking tight end in heavy packages and then started alongside Burkett, now a Wisconsin recruit, the next year as sophomores at arguably the two most important offensive positions.
Schuster honed his chops during practice against some of the best pass rushers in the state, Division I recruits Gavin Meyer and Noah Jessup, during the next two seasons, which made Friday nights feel easier than practice at times.
“He learned real quick what he had to do to keep those guys in front of him,” Brown said.
College commitment nearing
Brown believes that had there not been three four-star offensive line recruits in the state, that Wisconsin would have been in on Schuster with a scholarship offer long ago.
And when the Badgers show interest in a home-state lineman, their Big Ten and other regional peers tend to follow.
“I think, in almost any other year where you don't have this deep of a class at his position, he's a guy with multiple Power 5 schools already offering him,” Brown said. “You also get hurt by schools trying to figure out which guys are coming back for that extra year of eligibility because of COVID.”
So far, seven Division I Football Bowl Subdivision programs have offered Schuster. Six of them are from the MAC, while Syracuse is the lone Power 5 team currently in the mix. In addition to UW, Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern and Texas Tech have all expressed varying levels of interest.
Schuster plans on announcing his decision in late August, which will allow him to focus on his senior season with a promising Sabers team.
“He could play at any of those schools,” Brown said. “I think that whoever gets him is getting a player who can legitimately be a three-year college starter.”