Jonathan Jacobskind/Asst. Sports Director
Joe Staley, Jahri Evans and Logan Mankins. Three names even NFL diehard fans would not recognize. Now, have you heard of Tom Brady, Drew Brees or Colin Kaepernick? I’m sure the answer is yes.
However, what many football fans neglect to realize is that without those three ‘no-names’, the aforementioned super star quarterbacks would not survive in one NFL game or at any playing level.
These no-names happen to be pro-bowl offensive lineman. Staley plays for the San Francisco 49ers alongside Kaepernick; Evans suits up for the New Orleans Saints with Brees while Mankins and Brady are New England Patriots. While their respective teams are different, Staley, Evans and Mankis’ duties remain the same: protect the quarterback.
Truth be told, FIU football and especially quarterback Jake Medlock and the running backs will rely heavily on their protectors up front, better known as the offensive line. No matter what level of play, Pop Warner, NCAA or the pros, the philosophy remains the same: for a team to be a great on the gridiron it must be built from the inside out.
Despite the skill positions like quarterback, receivers or running back that receive all the press, it’s the O-lineman that battle in the trenches in between the hash marks are the ones that deserve the props.
Don’t get me wrong; guys like Medlock, running back Kedrick Rhodes or wide-out Glenn Coleman deserve a lot credit for their play-making ability despite a forgettable 2012 season that gave former Head Coach Mario Cristobal the pink slip. However, neither of these standouts, along with any other skill position players, won’t reach their full potential unless the underappreciated ‘no-names’ referred to as the O-lineman do their job to serve and protect.
Graduation, one of the highlights of a student-athletes career, is also a negative for the FIU program. It leaves gaps to fill the following year. This year, not a single O-lineman from the 2012 season is returning.
Caylin Hauptmann, Giancarlo Rivera, Shae Smith and Rupert Bryan won’t be running out on the field for that week one matchup on the road against Maryland. So it is up to the young bloods like redshirt freshman Trent Saunders, redshirt sophomores Aaron Nielsen and Edens Sineace, junior Yousif Khoury, redshirt juniors Jordan White and Delmar Taylor as well as any other O-lineman on the spring roster to make a staple in the depth chart during spring football.
Throw in some youth, a bit of inexperience and a few scoops of lack of chemistry and that’s the recipe Offensive-line Coach Steve Shankweiler must work with in order to brew up an offensive line entrée to fill the 2013-2014 depth chart.
It’s not just Medlock, Rhodes or Coleman, but it’s the Saunders, Khoury, Smith, Bryan, Nielsen or Sineace that will be the ultimate benefactors for the 2013-2014 season.
Come week one against the Maryland Terrapins, the O-line will take the field as not a bunch of ‘no names’, but as a close-knit family of resilient protectors that will ultimately determine the future direction of the FIU Panthers football team.
