Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
ASU offensive line continues to struggle
JONESBORO — Throughout Arkansas State’s spring practices, an ugly pattern has emerged during team drills.
Quarterback James Blackman takes a snap, drops back and before the play can even develop, a defender is in his lap.
The Red Wolves’ defensive front is no group of slouches. Between the four linemen and three linebackers, there may be as many as four former power-conference players plus Houston transfer Jordan Carmouche on the field.
Still, far too often, the scene is cringe-worthy.
“The offensive line is a developmental position and there [it] takes a lot to be able to play as a young player,” ASU Coach Butch Jones said last Thursday. “I see growth and development every single day. It’s been fun to watch, and it starts with all five individuals playing together as one.”
ASU’s offensive line wasn’t egregiously bad in pass protection last season, grading 74th among 130 teams per Pro Football Focus. But its run blocking was fifth-worst, and the Red Wolves will be replacing four of five starters from their 2021 finale.
Last week, the five making up the first-team unit were Makilan Thomas at left tackle, Mekhi Butler at left guard, Ethan Miner at center, Ernie Ramirez at right guard and Robert Holmes at right tackle.
Combined, they made just 18 starts last season. Only Miner, who started 11 games between guard and center, logged more than 30% of ASU’s 909 available offensive snaps.
Robert Holmes, who missed the last nine games with a knee injury, was second among that group with 257.
“I’ve got to lead by action,” said Holmes, the veteran of the group who arrived in Jonesboro last summer after two seasons at Connecticut and a spring 2021 campaign at Austin Peay. “From last year, I think we took tremendous strides.”
Under Jones, the commitment to developing the Red Wolves’ group in the offensive trenches is evident.
It’s necessary, however, to emphasize the word, development.
ASU, according to 247Sports, has signed at least five offensive line recruits in each of its past six classes, dating to 2017 — the last year in which a high school prospect would still have eligibility this fall.
Yet of the 13 from the 201719 classes, only three remain on the roster. Two of them, Miner and Ramirez, will be starters, with Christian Hoz a likely reserve guard.
Six linemen came from a junior college — Ramirez among them — with four exhausting their remaining two or three years of eligibility and Jarrett Horst transferring to Michigan State.
Contrast that with Jones’ two classes. Nine of the 12 offensive linemen signed in 2021 and 2022 have come from the high school ranks, with all five of this year’s additions among the Red Wolves’ early enrollees.
Bringing in junior college players solves a short-term problem, yet creates a void down the line as teams are only allowed to add 25 new scholarship players each season.
Consider Louisiana-Lafayette, which had the fourth-highest graded pass-blocking unit among Group of 5 schools. In their Sun Belt Conference Championship Game victory last season, the Cajuns started five former high-school recruits who were in at least their third year of college football and had spent nearly all of the 2021 season playing together.
That’s undoubtedly a luxury, but it exemplifies what Jones and ASU are trying to do: Sign high school offensive linemen that fit their profile and allow them time to physically mature in the Red Wolves’ system.
Ideally, by those players’ third or fourth seasons, that process will produce a unit that can compete with the top of the Sun Belt.
It comes with consequences, though, and ASU may try to rectify some of its immediate woes through a plug-andplay transfer or two.
There’s also hope that time can resolve things and give the Red Wolves’ offense a chance to build on what was the lone bright spot of 2021.
“I do see them getting better,” defensive lineman King Mwikuta said of the offensive line. “Somebody’s got to step up to the plate at some point.”