Stanford tough
The Cardinal’s offensive line has been consistently strong through the years
The Stanford offensive line toils in obscurity. No one signs up for work in the trenches in hopes of gaining individual glory, says starting center Jesse Burkett, and that’s just fine with him and his teammates.
In a nod to the plethora of majors its players are studying — from Japanese to mechanical engineering to science, technology and society — Stanford likes to claim it has “the most interesting offensive line in the world.” It’s also arguably the most under-appreciated position group in college football.
For eight seasons, the linemen have opened holes for a variety of top-tier running backs, not to mention the protection they gave a quarterback who went No. 1 in the 2012 NFL draft. And they typically do it well past midnight ET while the East Coast snoozes. That will be the case again this week when the No. 20 Cardinal — who have not given up a sack in four games — kick off at 6 p.m. PT Thursday at Oregon State.
Toby Gerhart (2009), Andrew Luck (2010 and ’11) and Christian McCaffrey (2015) had had the honor as finishing as Heisman Trophy runners-up while playing at Stanford. All those second-best finishes have irked the Cardinal’s linemen, though publicly they keep quiet about it.
“I was furious when he (McCaffrey) didn’t win,” said A.T. Hall, the starting right tackle. “I used to live in the South (in Atlanta), so I know how it is down there. Everything is SEC football. No one believes we play football back here. I still talk to my friends, and they’re like, ‘You guys suck, the Pac-12 is terrible.’ No one believed he was that good, and then he goes to the NFL and everybody pays attention.”
Luckily for Hall & Co., Stanford has been given another chance. Behind a mix of old and new faces — the Cardinal start three seniors, a sophomore and a true freshman, including fifthyear left guard David Bright, who can play virtually any position on the line — junior running back Bryce Love leads the country at 198.1 rushing yards per game. But the most impressive stat isn’t his total, it’s Love’s yards per carry, an astonishing 10.27.
“I absolutely try to do a good job myself, and try to be mindful of getting our players, to worry about the things we can control,” said Stanford offensive coordina-
tor Mike Bloomgren, now in his seventh season on The Farm. “But the reality is, being in New York with Christian (when he lost) was hurtful. I don’t want to feel that again.”
SMART LOCKER ROOM
Stanford’s success at the top tier of college football — jump-started in 2009 when Jim Harbaugh took an 8-5 team to the Sun Bowl, then followed that up with an Orange Bowl trip in 2010 — is impressive for its longevity. But it’s more remarkable when you consider that rigorous academic standards dramatically limit who Stanford can recruit.
Backup lineman Nick Wilson, who grew up in Georgia, said other schools would bill themselves as “the Stanford of the East” or “the Stanford of the South” during his recruitment. When he got an offer from the actual Stanford, Wilson figured going to the school that set the standard for everyone just made sense.
In February, Stanford signed two of the top three offensive tackles in the country, according to 247Sports composite rankings: Walker Little (starting left tackle) and Foster Sarell ( backup right tackle) are contributors as true freshmen.
Bloomgren agrees that the pool he and head coach David Shaw recruit from is smaller than most but says he’s at an advantage because “the cool thing, with offensive linemen especially, is that most of the great ones are cerebral.”
That’s part of Stanford’s success, too: The Cardinal have a brainy, bookish offensive line room. They’re so intelligent, in fact, that Bloomgren regularly asks for his players’ input each week as they install the game plan. If a lineman objects to a particular play call or block, he has the freedom to say so. It’s a
strategy Bloomgren learned when he coached with the New York Jets under Bill Callahan, who stressed that learning from your players was crucial to progress.
“It’s very collaborative,” Bloomgren said. “I wouldn’t be using all of my resources if I didn’t do that with the smart room we have. ... When guys cosign off on a game plan, it’s amazing what they’ll do, how much they’ll strain and find a way to make it work. Like, ‘That’s my idea, I have ownership over that.’ I definitely think that’s a big component of what we do.”
Bloomgren paused and chuckled. “And then of course it’s absolutely easier to do at Stanford over other places.”
But the sustained success up front has more to do with a certain mentality than it does a particular SAT score. When Bloomgren goes on the road to find the next great offensive lineman, long before he asks about GPA, he looks first for someone with “the desire to move a man from Point A to Point B against his will.” Because that’s the first requirement if someone wants to be part of the Tunnel Worker’s Union.
‘TUNNEL WORKER’S UNION’
It started with Chris Marinelli. The Boston native, who played left and right tackle for the Cardinal from 2006 to 2009, explained the concept to his teammates after being inspired by his father, Jim, a member of the Tunnel Workers Union Local 88 in South Quincy, Mass., for more than 35 years. That union relishes the dirty work, digging tunnels out of the spotlight. That metaphor fit perfectly for the guys tasked with creating tunnels for Stanford’s runners.
Marinelli says when he played, the program struggled in part because it lacked an identity. When Harbaugh came in, he spoke repeatedly about having a blue-collar mentality, a phrase that hit home with Marinelli given his dad’s upbringing. He proposed the Tunnel Worker’s Union nickname, and it stuck.
Now working as a trader in New York City, Marinelli gets back to a few Stanford games a year. Last season Bloomgren invited Marinelli to speak with the current linemen. Marinelli couldn’t believe what he heard.
“I don’t really know any of those guys, but it’s amazing to hear them repeat back to me, almost verbatim, the story of how it started and the symbolism behind it,” Marinelli said. “They’ve adhered to it the whole time, and I really think it’s been a huge catalyst for Stanford’s success. It’s pretty wild. I didn’t anticipate it would catch on like that, and I know my dad didn’t either.”
When Joshua Garnett won the 2015 Outland Trophy, given annually to the most outstanding interior lineman in college football, he mentioned the Tunnel Worker’s Union, explaining that offensive linemen are often the guys who “put on their hard hats and don’t get a lot of recognition, but without them, a lot of things wouldn’t go.”
Bloomgren loves when upperclassmen police the younger guys and says it’s especially helpful in the offseason, when coaches are limited by NCAA rules with how much they can interact with players on field.
The offseason is also when most of the team bonding takes place. For the offensive linemen, that starts with Thursday night dinners at Wing Stop, their favorite eatery. According to Hall, each lineman has a standing order of “about 25 wings,” which they top off with three scoops apiece of Baskin Robbins ice cream.
Occasionally Love joins them. The 5-10, 196-pounder looks petite next to a starting line that averages 6-5, 309 pounds, but those are his guys, and he loves them.
Love’s still trying to figure out how to repay them for all the tunnels they dig.
He’s just “a broke little college student,” he says, so buying dinner for the group is out of the question. And he’s not very skilled in the kitchen, or he’d bake them cookies.
Clearly, that means there’s only one option left: win the Heisman. It might be the only way the Stanford offensive line can finally get the recognition it deserves.