Offensive linemen quietly making the Falcons better

Feature story was written by Athletic Communications student assistant Alyssa Jodarski

When you think of football, you think of flashy quarterbacks and wide receivers. Often going unnoticed, however, is the offensive linemen. These players allow the offense to run and pass the ball, but the thing is they generally get no love, even though there would be no game without them.

Concordia University Wisconsin's (CUW) football team has a unique situation with offensive linemen, as all five were new starters last year, and all five returned this season with expectations to be even better than a season ago.

The Falcons' starting five consists of left tackle Rasheed Simmon, left guard Jerry Carey III, center Riley Mendias, right guard Tyler Ryan and right tackle Austin Evers, along with the other offensive linemen have formed a bond that must be talked about.

While this group is extremely close-knit, they come from all different backgrounds. None of them are from Wisconsin, with some traveling thousands of miles away and states with much warmer weather such as California, Nevada and Florida where Mendias, Evers and Simmon reside. Others like Carey and Ryan have less than a day's car ride to get to school from Chicago and Winona, Minnesota.

This group of offensive linemen is not only hardworking, but they are a close-knit group. Off the field, they hang out and many live together. Ryan said, "We need to be close because we have to work as one on the field. If one of us were to make a great block but another failed to block, it's still a loss. We work together and we aren't hard on each other for mistakes."

When asked the value of the offensive linemen, both offensive coordinator Henny Hiemenz and right guard Ryan, had similar answers. Hiemenz expressed that, "Anything we can do from start to finish, begins with them. They're the most important group on the team in my opinion." Ryan reflected that view, saying "I think we set the tone for the offense. It all has to start with us and we give our playmakers room to make plays."

Last year Ryan, now a senior, was the only one coming in with collegiate experience after transferring from Winona State. During the 2018 season, he took on a leadership position, keeping the other four, who were all freshmen, to direct and guide them to success. Throughout the season, they began, slowly, to work together and improved as each snap and game passed by.

Hiemenz stated that "We went really slow, for a long time. I think it was the same two run plays for about a month and a couple of protections for about a month." It began to feel different to him as a coach a couple of games into the season, about the time they were beginning to face conference opponents.

Mendias agreed with him, explaining "Probably the third or fourth game when we were playing conference opponents and were locking them down. We all kind of meshed together and became one unit."

It goes unnoticed by the casual fan, that is the communication that happens before the ball is snapped by the center. The quarterback delivers the play in the huddle, possibly adjusts the play at the line of scrimmage and for several seconds after that execution is expected. However, prior to the snap each offensive lineman must call out their protection and work together from left tackle to right tackle. As time went on, their unnoticed communication began to flow.

Ryan explained, "Riley is our center and everything starts with him. He barks out the calls to us and the guards have to communicate to our tackles. It's very hard to make sure everyone is on the same page in the beginning, but it gets easier as time goes on."

The group had their challenges last year, with Ryan feeling their biggest downfall was inexperience. "It was being uncomfortable with what we were supposed to do, being uncomfortable playing next to each other, and getting used to the individualities of the players," the senior explained. "There were growing pains along the way but we grew together."

What helped the new faces protecting the quarterback last year was the fact that the guy throwing the ball was a senior in Aaron Nixon who was slinging the ball around the field to a fellow senior in Josh Sanders. "I could mess up and Nixon would go out and turn a play that should be a loss of six yards into a play that gains 20 yards."

This year, the offense doesn't have the luxury at the moment of a quarterback who had four years of experience and accumulated over 10,000 total offensive yards. They do, however, have a signal-caller in sophomore James Linn who has a plethora of talent and the ability to grow each and every game. It is all new to Linn, just as it was all new to the offensive line last year. With Linn being the new quarterback, Ryan stated that "We all kind of know we have to step up and help lead the team. The offense has to fall on our shoulders somewhat."

This allows Linn to have more time to make plays. Ryan has confidence in Linn, saying "James has all the ability to get to that level and take us where we need to go. James is such a dynamic player and he has that Nixon ability to turn a loss into a gain."

The offensive linemen are ready to work hard so that Linn has less to worry about when the play begins.

Ryan said that their biggest challenge this year is to "perform of the standards we have of ourselves." He further explained, "We want to be the top offensive line in the conference. It's very rare to have the same five guys two years in a row."

Fast forward to today and all five offensive linemen have returned, with the only change being that Austin Evers has taken over at right tackle.

Generally, offensive linemen don't receive much praise, but instead, receive criticism and negative comments when they don't perform as an individual or a unit. People don't walk away from a game talking about how well the offensive line played, but do mention when they gave up multiple sacks. People don't admire the offensive line when the quarterback goes untouched play after play or when the running back busts one up the middle untouched for a huge game.

When asked if offensive linemen need praise, Hiemenz said, "They're the ones least concerned about getting a pat on the back, generally. Our success is their pat on the back. They're the guys who show up to work with a lunch pail and do their job."

Ryan mentioned, "We need to be unselfish and put the team first. If we have that attitude, everything works out."

Mendias agreed, stating, "We put our nose down and do our work."

Overall, the offensive linemen are all completely different in personality, studies, and background, but they have one thing in common; they love football. They put their pads on, grab their lunch pails and hard hats, and show up every single play to make the team better. They never complain and downright deserve more attention publicly for quietly going about their business to make the Falcons better one snap at a time.