There is a sports cliché that a team takes on the personality of its coach.
That cliché typically means teams become an image of their head coach. But specific units can be a reflection of their position coach.
Frustrated Texas A&M football fans certainly hope so.
A&M offensive line coach Steve Addazio reportedly is gruff, domineering and sometimes ill-tempered.
That’s just what the Aggies offensive line hopes to be.
“I really want aggressiveness because the biggest thing in the trenches is to show dominance,” senior guard Layden Robinson said on Thursday. "You have to show dominance. That’s what sets the tone for the game. That’s what we need to get better at.”
The Aggies’ offensive line has to improve, as anybody who endured the disappointment of a 5-7 record last season is keenly aware.
It’s no coincidence that since A&M joined the Southeastern Conference in 2012, its most successful teams had excellent offensive lines.
A&M was 11-2 in 2012 with a gold standard line that featured future NFL first round draft choices Luke Joeckel, Jake Matthews and Cedric Ogbuehi.
The Aggies were 9-4 in 2018 with a line that featured future NFL starters Erik McCoy at center and Dan Moore at tackle.
A&M finished 9-1 and No. 4 in the nation in 2020. That line, considered one of top three in the country, had Moore and eventual first round draft choice Kenyon Green.
A&M’s offensive line struggled to gel 2022. Maybe that was because they were in the first season with Adazzio. More likely, it was because of season-ending injuries to starting center Bryce Foster and guard Jordan Moko. Also, Robinson and left tackle Trey Zuhn played all season hobbled with injuries.
“I was banged up last season, but that’s no excuse,” Robinson said. “At the end of the day I have to get my job done. I’m back and I’m 100 percent. I’m ready to go and I’m ready to take on any challenge we face as an O-line and as an individual.”
Even though projected starters Zuhn and Foster are missing spring drills, Robinson said the offensive line is making strides toward becoming a unit that can pave the way for a reversal of fortunes from last year.
“You can tell from the energy of practice,” he said. “The energy of practice is very competitive. Yesterday, was one of our most competitive practices we’ve had so far.
“We just want to get after each other out there. Offense versus defense. We’ve got a lot of energy this year. You can feel it. You can feel it from everybody’s presence. You want to get better. You want to beat the man in front of you because that’s only going to get you better.
“I feel like we’re playing the best D-line in the SEC and they’re playing the best offensive line in the SEC. That’s how it’s going to be every day. Highly competitive.”
Obviously, that’s what coach Jimbo Fisher wants.
“You’re either creating a good habit or a bad habit. You like to play or you don’t. You like to compete or you don’t,” Fisher said. “Every time you walk between the white lines whether it’s spring, whether it’s fall, whether it’s during the regular season it shouldn’t matter. It’s all the same. You’re playing football. You’re wanting them to create good habits. From that standpoint I think we’re doing a good job.”
He’s counting on better habits leading to better performances from the line.
Last season the Aggies averaged just 141.7 rushing yards to rank 11th in the Southeastern Conference. The Aggies also allowed 25 sacks to rank sixth.
Robinson said the memory of that substandard showing and the accompanying losses is driving him and his offensive line teammates this spring.
“Everybody who was a part of that team experienced what the failure was like,” Robinson said. “Now, we can’t go no lower than that. It’s only up from here.
“The attitude and mindset we have to have is to attack practice every single day. We don’t expect any less from anybody else. If we do, we make sure we get on them. You have to remember that feeling. Nobody wants to feel that again. We’re not going to feel that way again. We’re going to execute this spring and take it into the fall.”
NOTES:
Sherman and Byrne collaborated to do that. Very clear in retrospect that by itself is not enough…fieldtrailer said:
One of these days a coach going to come in here and build a team beginning with oline. Realizing it's the backbone of an offense. It's been a weak link for most of a decade.
