Football

Syracuse offensive line looks to gel with moving parts, integrate new playbook after poor 2014

/ The Daily Orange

Almost everyone is healthy on Syracuse's offensive line, but there are still moving parts and inexperience on a unit that is also adjusting to its second new offense in two years.

Omari Palmer called last year’s offense despicable.

“I believe we were 122nd last year in the NCAA in offense, which is godawful,” Palmer said.

And while the quarterbacks, receivers and running backs didn’t perform anywhere near an optimal level in 2014, Palmer takes stock in his unit’s contribution to that disappointment, too.

Syracuse graduated its starting left tackle and center in Sean Hickey and John Miller, respectively. A rash of injuries plagued the offensive line last year, and the quarterback’s protective seal was consistently banged up in some form.

Now, three months have passed. Almost everyone is healthy, but there are still moving parts and inexperience on a line that is also adjusting to its second new offense in two years. It’ll get to showcase its growth in Saturday’s spring game, which will be just another step in the progression of a unit that embodied SU’s struggles last season.



“They’re making strides,” SU head coach Scott Shafer said. “You’re starting to see those five guys play together as a unit, make calls, do a better job with picking up blitzes and passing off stunts and exchanges in the gaps.”

Now that spring practices have concluded, the Orange has a good idea of who’ll start on the offensive line on Saturday. Senior Ivan Foy is at left tackle, senior Nick Robinson at left guard, juniors Kendall Moore and Jason Emerich will contend at center in place of the injured Rob Trudo, freshman Aaron Roberts at right guard and the junior Palmer at right tackle.

And with Trudo’s injury, a unit that once had 60 percent of its starters sidelined at once has been able to test its depth of 15 players before preseason even kicks in — when SU will bring in five more offensive linemen.

“The offensive line is supposed to be five guys playing as one and having guys injured here and there is always going to be tough,” Robinson said. “Just know that if one of us goes down, there’s going to be another guy ready.”

The first four or five practices of the spring started with elementary learning, Shafer said.

That means installing a new offense, learning the new verbiage of it and getting a feel for a different cadency system. Then comes communicating different calls against its own defense’s blitzes and stepping with the correct foot once the ball snaps.

About halfway through the spring’s 15 practices is when the unit can progress to a little bit higher learning, the head coach added. That’s when the linemen can focus on learning greater chunks of the playbook — so much so that the line feels comfortable running the same play over and over against its own defense.

“We’ve had team periods where we would run 16 straight outside zones, going left, right, left, right,” Palmer said. “The defense knows what’s coming, we know they know what’s coming and we don’t really care.”

It’s a return to the blue-collar mentality that the offensive line wanted to be known for last year, and the next step in getting back to full strength for the first time in a long time.

And a unit that couldn’t stay as one, as Robinson called it, is now working to do so, as it hopes to redefine itself after a season of disappointment.

“Now that we’re finishing up spring ball, now it’s starting to come together,” Shafer said. “We’ve got a long way to go to get to where we want to be, but they’ve made good progress.”





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