Protect the QB
Only two players with starting experience returning this season
Great Danes must piece together an offensive line that’s capable of protecting Jeff Undercuffler and clearing the way for Karl Mofor.
The University at Albany football team has one of the best quarterbacks and most productive running backs in the entire Football Championship Subdivision.
Now the Great Danes must piece together an offensive line that’s capable of protecting Jeff Undercuffler and clearing the way for Karl Mofor.
It’s no simple matter with four starters gone from last year’s NCAA playoff team and an offseason interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The Great Danes open their spring season March 5 at New Hampshire.
“That’s the biggest challenge,” Ualbany head coach Greg Gattuso said. “When we first got postponed in the fall, I thought it was going to be an advantage for us because I thought, at least we can work with these guys in the fall and roll it into the spring. But the limited time we had in fall ball (practice) with no pads, we really couldn’t get some work in.”
That leaves offensive line coach Jim Sweeney with limited time to prepare a unit that returns two players with starting experience. Redshirt sophomore Kobe Thomas, who started all 14 games in 2019, is making the move from right guard to center. He is replacing Colonie’s Niko Culnan, who graduated.
Ualbany redshirt senior Kassy Desir appeared in 13 games last season, including three starts at guard.
Besides Culnan, Ualbany lost starting tackles Micah Royster and Sean Kennedy and left guard Griffin Clancy of Saratoga Springs, now with the National Arena League’s Albany Empire.
“They’re coming along,” Gattuso said of his current linemen. “We have talent. We have size. It’s about the biggest
offensive line I’ve had here. We do have some inexperience. Kobe and Kassy are the leaders of the group, and we expect them to play really well for us. The rest of them are fighting for spots right now.”
Graduate student Critt Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 275-pound transfer from Virginia Military Institute, looks “pretty good” at left tackle, according to Gattuso. Johnson started seven games for the Keydets in 2019.
Redshirt freshman Kevin Singer, who didn’t play last season, is working at right tackle. Singer, who is 6-foot-3 and 277 pounds, was an all-state honoree in high school in Colorado.
Gattuso said he hoped Ualbany could settle on its top seven or eight linemen after its scrimmage this weekend.
“If we can get to that point, I’ll feel pretty good about it,” he said. “But it’s a very important group, and it’s a group of guys that, for us to be successful, they have to play well.”
The Great Danes will lean heavily on Thomas, who is capable of playing all five spots on the offensive line, Gattuso said.
He’s coached by Sweeney, who had the same versatility during a long playing career with the University of Pittsburgh and the New York Jets.
“If we have an injury across the front, Kobe is able to go in, know it and execute it at any position,” Gattuso said. “It’s very unique to have an offensive lineman who can literally play all five spots. … He is without a doubt the leader of that unit right now, and he’s doing a great job setting the tone for them.”
Thomas, a 6-foot-1, 284-pound native of Fogelsville, Pa., said he must take a senior role on the offensive
line, even though he’s only a redshirt sophomore.
He pointed out he took snaps at tackle and guard in games last season. The coaching staff also began rotating him at center during practice towards the conclusion of the season to prepare him to succeed Culnan.
“I understand our offense inside and out, and I know what calls to make and how to communicate for all of our offensive line,” he said. “It helped me a lot.”
He said his know-how along the line should make him a more effective leader for a rebuilt unit.
“It’s very valuable,” Thomas said. “The more experience you have, the better it is for the collective whole as an offensive line. It’s important for me to be that leader and that voice for them.”