Gopher Football
– Minnesota Starters
This final preview I’ll be doing will be just a tad different. Rather than focus on individual players, I feel that it’s only fitting that I talk about the Minnesota offensive line as a group. More than any other position on the field, the offensive line is anonymous. You see them line up, you see them break off the ball, and then in Minnesota’s case, you see each one of them knocking defenders on their collective bum’s. You often only hear their names called if they make a bad play, but fortunately for the Gophers those times are relatively rare.
One thing many people don’t know about coach Mason is his excellent history of coaching offense, and more specifically the offensive line. He spent time as the OL coach at Iowa State, Illinois and Ohio State before spending six years as the offensive coordinator in Columbus. During his stay as the coordinator at Ohio State, the Buckeyes led the league in scoring 4 times, and in total offense twice. So really, it should surprise no one that Glen Mason knows how to put a good offense on the field, and he knows more than anybody that it all starts up front. More on the OL than any other position, head coach Glen Mason and Offensive Line coaches Mitch Browning & Gordie Shaw have continually excelled at putting together excellent units. Despite getting what appear to be marginal recruits on signing day, the coaching staff knows exactly what they’re looking for, and they know exactly how to mold those players into a cohesive unit.
For Minnesota in 2004, it will all start in the middle. The leading candidate to be the starting center always hustles, he has a great attitude, he puts in 100% effort, and he loves playing the game. Sounds like the classic overachiever, right? Nope, not in this case. Take all of those qualities, throw them on a guy who has great technique, good athleticism and add it to a 6’3″ 285 pound frame and you have a 2003 sophomore All-American, Greg Eslinger.
Greg is back for his third consecutive season starting at Center. He arrived in Minnesota in 2002 as one of the many unheralded recruits I mentioned earlier. (After Minnesota, his next best offer was D-II North Dakota State.) Nonetheless, after just a few days of practicing, before he had even started college classes the coaches knew they had someone special on their hands. Despite weighting in just 250 pounds, Greg beat out several veterans to become the starter in the 2002 opener against SW Texas State; a starting spot he has never relinquished.
Eslinger typifies the Minnesota offensive line. Not real big, not freakishly athletic, but rather very balanced, good technique, athletic enough to run the system, and smart. You’ll see that several of Minnesota’s linemen fit this mold, starting with the guy who plays just to the left of Eslinger. In the fall of 2002, another true freshman to step foot on campus was Northfield, MN native Mark Setterstrom. Not a huge guy, Mark had many of the same qualities Eslinger had. He was an outstanding HS wrestler, which means you know he had great technique, and he also had the work ethic that Mason loves. Just like #61, Mark proved himself to good enough to be a freshman starter in 2002, and he also has gone on to not miss a start in his career.
Back for his second year as a starter is senior Rian Melander. You’ll notice a pattern developing here; Rian is not real big for a Big Ten offensive tackle (6’7″ 295 lbs). Rather, he is a guy with good balance who can really get out and block in the open field. (It makes sense since Ryan is a former TE). In his first season as starter, Rian was a 2nd team All-Big Ten selection, and is ready for a huge senior season. Back at the other tackle spot is sophomore Joe Ainslie. Let’s just say that the future is in excellent at right tackle with Joe. Ainslie is the biggest of the returning starters on the OL, but at just 6’7″ 305 lbs he’s still not the mammoth you are used to seeing with Big Ten offensive linemen. Joe has similar qualities as the afore mentioned three. If you re-watch the 2003 Wisconsin game, there is none other than #78 Joe Ainslie looking for a guy to block as Laurence Maroney is being tackled 50 yards downfield.
The lone newcomer on the OL this season will be senior Brandon Harston. Brandon is a 5th year senior who is a former defensive lineman. While he doesn’t have a lot of experience playing on the offensive side of the ball, he certainly has been around the block and has been given Mason’s full confidence in filling in for departed senior Joe Quinn. Harston will be the biggest member of the Minnesota OL, coming in at 6’2″, 315 lbs.
– Run blocking
Each of the four returning starters are remarkably similar. It’s clear that Mason and company have developed a system, and they are succeeding wildly in finding players to fill that system. Minnesota has adopted a zone blocking running scheme, except with the little twist that the center Greg Eslinger is almost always pulling out into the blocking formations and adding more blockers for the defensive linemen and linebackers to try to shed. His ability to do this, along with several other factors provided by players at different positions, really helped vault Minnesota’s running game to a new level last year. One of the huge advantages Minnesota has on the O-Line is familiarity with each other. On average, Minnesota will average almost 1.5 years of starting experience per man. While this might not sound like a lot, it is when consider the importance of how it relates to Minnesota’s zone rushing offense. (Without getting into a lot of details, the zone blocking scheme works best when the linemen are familiar with each other.) Now that guys on the line will be entering their 2nd and 3rd year as starters, don’t be surprised if the run blocking takes another step forward this year.
– Pass blocking
One of the few things we don’t know about this years offensive line is just how good they’ll be at straight up pass blocking. With new QB’s Bryan Cupito and Adam Ernst likely to be throwing the ball this year, expect more drop back passing. A lot of the pass blocking the past couple years has been with the help of a RB, TE or even a WR helping with the protection. With a couple of more ‘pocket passers’ in the system, it will be interesting to see if Minnesota asks more of the offensive line in its protection this season.
– Depth
One worry Minnesota does not have this year is OL depth. Tops on that list may be junior Mike Nicholson. Mike was the starter at right tackle for the first half of last year before Joe Ainslie replaced him. Mike is entering his fourth year with the U and should be as dependable as a backup as you can find, possibly having the ability to backup all five positions on the line. There are three sophomores capable of backing up the guard/center spot, with all of them came in during the fall of 2002 with Setterstrom & Eslinger. They are Tyson Swaggert, Brian Goblirsch and walkon Josh Brenny. Offensive tackle probably isn’t quite as deep as the guards are. After Nicholson there is a large drop-off in experience. The top backup to Rian Melander is another sophomore, Brian Moss. Following him, the two third stringers are Steve Shidell and Lance Sannes
Around the Big Ten . . .
As usual, expect several solid offensive lines around the Big Ten this fall. Amoong the best will be Wisconsin. Led by Dan Boenning and Donovan Raiola, the Badgers return all five of their starters from last season which will include four seniors and one junior. They are in a simiar situation as Minnesota with the veteran line, great RB and new QB to break in. Another line that returns the entire group and could make some noise this fall is Northwestern. Along with Greg Eslinger, the other big name returning in the Big Ten this year is Michigan senior David Baas. Baas will lead a Michigan line which loses three starters, but has some talent filling the voids that should give Michigan one of the top lines in the conference once again.
Last Year . . .
Last year couldn’t have gone much better for Minnesota on the offensive line. Lead by the OL, the Minnesota ground game shattered several school rushing records. The only games in which they struggled in the least were Michigan State and Iowa. Minnesota may have been a victim of their own fortunes at Iowa. Having very few injury problems throughout the year, the Iowa game saw Joe Quinn leave early in the game with an injury and things went downhill from there.
In the pass blocking you couldn’t have really asked for much more either. Though Minnesota didn’t throw the ball a lot, they only allowed a league-low 16 sacks. Good players yield good results, and that certainly was the case last year. Greg Eslinger was 1st team All-Big Ten and 3rd team All-American, Joe Quinn and Rian Melander were 2nd team All-Big Ten, Mark Setterstrom was honorable mention All-Big Ten, and Joe Ainslie played well enough to warrant honors had he played an entire season.
Bottom Line . . .
They say there are two things you can count on in life; death and taxes. Well, here in Minnesota we’re starting to count on a third: “Glen Mason & Co. will produce another outstanding offensive line”. Despite low rankings of the recruits and often playing undersized guys, the coaching staff always seems to work their magic enough to allow Minnesota to produce a successful running game. With a new QB in place this year it will be especially important for the offensive line to establish itself, but based on past experience this should not be a problem. Minnesota has weapons at all the other skill positions, so a good year from the offensive line should mean a good year for the offense. With 4 of 5 starters back and several capable backups waiting in the wings, there’s no reason to expect that the Gopher offensive line that handled Michigan, Wisconsin & Oregon last year shouldn’t be able to dominate once again.