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Offensive line is a Baylor strength

By: Kelley Smiddie
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Baylor Offensive Line

Baylor coach Phillip Massey has spent preseason practice drilling runners, throwers and catchers to see which ones are best suited to handle the football on Friday nights for the Red Raiders. He already knew which ones are best suited for pushing defenders out of the way.

Tackles George Bock and Tyler Watson, guards Rob McRae and Avery Smith and center Joe Scott represent more than 1,200 pounds of force providing holes for their running backs and protection for their quarterback, whoever those may be.

“Our offensive line should be our strength,” Massey said. “We’ve got to really hang our hat on the five returning starters there.”

Each is a senior and stands 6 feet or taller. Weights range from McRae at 220 pounds to Watson and Smith around 270 apiece.

“We feel pretty good,” said Scott (6-1, 260). “We’re ready to take on the challenge that the offensive line’s been presented with of really leading this team and getting the running game going. We have real strong running backs and a strong defense this year. We didn’t really have a great defense last year.

“We’re hoping to be able to move the ball well with this offensive line. That’s our plan right now.”

Massey said three running backs are in competition for playing time. One is returning rushing leader and senior Brandon Pickett.

Junior Sam Williams provides speed, sophomore John Mackey supplies power and Pickett has more of a combination of the two.

Massey noted deficiencies in the running game and a poor ratio of stopping third-down conversions among the defects of the eight-loss 2007 team.

“We know we want to improve our running game,” Massey said. “We felt last year that that’s one thing that hurt us. We weren’t able to run the ball with the efficiency I would’ve liked. We want to at least average 4 yards a carry, and we were way below that.”

Baylor was a playoff participant in Massey’s first year as coach in 2006. Any playoff hope last season was wiped out by a seven-game losing streak after a 38-7 victory over St. Anne’s-Belfield, Va., the same opener as this season, but this time on the road.

The Red Raiders had chances to stop the skid at four, five and six games but lost by three, one and three points in consecutive weeks.

Something that was a nonfactor in 2006 contributed to Baylor’s slide in 2007. It was one that was out of the Red Raiders’ control.

“We go from being 9-3 to 2-8,” Massey said. “The 9-3 year we had basically no injuries. Last year we ended up having 11 starters, some of them two-way players, miss two or more games. We just didn’t have the depth, and the same thing could happen this year in certain areas.

“In my 22 years of coaching, I had never seen as many injuries in a particular season as we had last year, and they were not practice injuries or we could’ve changed some things. Every one was in a game situation.”

Seasons like the one Baylor is coming off of teaches lessons, albeit painful ones. Watson said something as simple as learning how to finish games could make a big difference in 2008.

“If we do the things we’re supposed to do and do them right, the wins are going to come,” Massey said. “We need to eliminate turnovers and eliminate silly penalties that set us back. Consistency is probably the thing we want to pinpoint most.”

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