i have been very pleased with cushing as a coach. he seems to do a fantastic job and ultimately as the talent level increaes i think he can coach them to even higher levels
Rebuilding Texas A&M’s offensive line is going to take tough, love.
Yes, Punctuation Police, the comma does belong in the above paragraph.
That’s because Adam Cushing, the architect of A&M’s strong offensive lines the last two football seasons, views toughness and love as common traits in powerful blockers.
“Toughness is in the soul and the spirit, not in the muscles,” said Cushing, quoting NFL Hall of Fame member Alex Karras. “It’s mental resiliency. Grit is the word we use in this program.
“No matter what the circumstances are, you’re able to go perform the way you’re supposed to perform.”
Anybody will agree that toughness is needed in the trenches. The task of pushing around 300-pound defensive linemen isn’t a job for the meek or soft.
But love? Aside from the love of pregame meals, why is love important?
“If you want to be a good offensive lineman, you have to love it 24 hours a day. You have to understand whatever you accomplished today, you have to go and do it again tomorrow. You have to continue to love it.”
“When I talk about love football (to linemen), I say ‘Who do you love?’ They say, my mom, my girlfriend, whatever,” Cushing said. “OK. Great.
“You don’t love Mom 23 hours a day, right? You love her 24 hours a day, no matter what. You may get in a fight with her, but you still love her, right?
“If you want to be a good offensive lineman, you have to love it 24 hours a day. You have to understand whatever you accomplished today, you have to go and do it again tomorrow. You have to continue to love it.”
Who’s to argue with Cushing? The 45-year-old husband understands love. He’s a doting husband to his wife, Jaime. He’s the father of daughters Abby (15) and Dana (13) and son Alex (10).
He also understands how to construct a strong O-line.
When Mike Elko was hired as A&M’s head coach after the 2023 season, he almost immediately hired Cushing to fix an underachieving offensive line.
In 2023, the A&M was ranked 91st in the nation in rushing offense and 87th in sacks allowed.
The next season under Cushing, A&M was 26th in rushing offense and 57th in sacks allowed. Last season, the Aggies were ranked among the nation’s top 30 in both categories.
Cushing said that doesn’t happen without love.
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Adam Cushing spent three seasons as the head coach at Eastern Illinois before coaching offensive linemen for Mike Elko at Duke from 2022-2023.
“You want to perform well, so you better be studying the playbook,” he said. “You better be watching the video because you love it that much that it consumes you.
“Love is this all-consuming thing. It pervades every part of your life. A good offensive lineman is tough, and he loves football.”
Cushing has loved football ever since he was a tight end at Mount Carmel High School under coach Frank Lenti, the winningest football coach in Illinois high school history.
Like so many high school coaches, Lenti had a major influence on Cushing.
“His impact on my life, his coaching staff’s impact on my life, his willingness to coach with passion and coach hard, but demand high standards made such a positive impact on my life beyond the field,” Cushing said. “Some of the things he taught me helped me to not coast through things in any aspect of my life. Like, he made sure that I was accountable to maximum effort, maximum focus and maximum everything in everything I did.”
Cushing strives to pass that along to his players. He does so with an almost cerebral, almost soft-spoken approach that’s different than some of his predecessors at A&M.
“I’m going to passionately coach. I’m going to attack problems, not people. When we’re out there on the field, everybody wants to do it right. I do believe that there’s no kid out there that’s making a decision to not do the right thing.”
“I want to be a positive coach,” he said. “So, I’m going to look at it that anything that’s going on is a problem with a solution, and that’s what we’re here for.
“I’m going to passionately coach. I’m going to attack problems, not people. When we’re out there on the field, everybody wants to do it right. I do believe that there’s no kid out there that’s making a decision to not do the right thing.
“So, my job is to figure out why they’re not doing it right. Is it because I haven’t drilled it enough? Is it because they haven’t transferred it from the drill work right?
“I always say to them, ‘Your production on the field is our responsibility.’ Because if you haven’t gotten it, that’s ultimately on me.”
Of course, the play of the offensive line is vital to the success of the overall team, especially since joining the Southeastern Conference in 2012.
In that span, A&M has finished seasons ranked among the nation’s top 20 four times. All of those years, the Aggies fielded strong offensive lines.
The Aggies 2012 offensive line — perhaps the gold standard for all A&M lines — included three future NFL first-round draft choices in tackles Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews and guard Cedric Ogbuehi.
USA TODAY Sports
Selected second overall by Jacksonville in 2013, Luke Joeckel is the highest-drafted Texas A&M offensive lineman in program history.
The 2018 line featured future NFL draft picks Erik McCoy and Dan Moore. The 2020 line included Moore and eventual first-round draft pick Kenyon Green.
Last year’s line had four players — tackles Trey Zuhn III and Dametrious Crownover and guards Chase Bisontis and Ar’maj Reed-Adams — who are all expected to be selected in the NFL Draft next month.
“I say it to the guys — we’re the catalyst,” Cushing said.” The team is going to go as we go. The team is going follow our lead. If we’ve got grit. If we play hard. Everybody else is going to because they’re gonna look at us and say, ‘If they’re going to do it, we can do it.’”
The primary question for Cushing is whether he can do it again. Can he assemble another line that could be a catalyst for another highly-successful season in 2026?
That won’t be easy. With Zuhn, Crownover, Bisontis and Reed-Adams bound for the NFL, center Mark Nabou Jr. is the only returning starter up front.
The need to overhaul an offensive line can be highly problematic. Take LSU, for example.
LSU had four offensive linemen selected in the 2025 draft. Behind its rebuilt offensive line, LSU struggled protect the quarterback and mount a consistent running game.
A&M hopes to avoid similar problems. Cushing is optimistic that a combination of returning players and transfer portal additions will fortify the line.
“Competition breeds excellence. That’s just the reality,” Cushing said. “I already have seen the competition in the offseason workouts. The desire to be great. There’s going to be a lot of competition in the spring (workouts).”
Presumably, from a lot of tough guys who love football like they love their mamas.
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