University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Tank Powers Offensive Line
August 17, 2006 | Football
Aug. 17, 2006
By Adam Lucas
Sometimes it's a challenge to figure out the origin of a player's nickname.
D.J. Walker's "Junebug," for example. He wasn't born in June. He isn't small and shifty, like a junebug. It's just something that has stuck from childhood.
And then there's Scott Lenahan. He's better known as "Tank" to his Tar Heel teammates--and there's no mystery about how he earned the moniker.
Lenahan is 6-foot-1, 290 pounds. His shoulder pads swallow his neck and his lower body is built low and strong. Like, well, a tank.
"My freshman year, I was squatting and it was either Kyle Ralph, Brian Chacos, or Chris Woods who said, `Man, you look like a tank,'" Lenahan says. "It's definitely stuck. I have freshmen who come up to me and ask me what my real name is. They just know me as `Tank.' I don't really know anybody who calls me `Scott.'
No matter what you call him, Lenahan has been an important part of Carolina's 2006 training camp. He tried to come back too quickly from knee surgery last fall and ended up on the shelf for the entire season. That continued a frustrating trend of injuries for the Marietta native.
He underwent knee surgery as a freshman. During spot duty in the 2004 season, he tore wrist cartilage but played through it. He had surgery on the wrist in the spring of 2005. One month later, with his knee still bothering him two years after the first surgery, doctors again did surgery on his left knee.
"The doctors told me it usually takes about a year to come back," Lenahan says. "I tried to come back in three months and do training camp. At the end of training camp I took a wrong step and hurt it again, because it wasn't healed all the way.
"There was some real discussion about me not playing anymore. I talked to my doctors and my parents and they thought the best decision was to wait it out and let it heal."
Lenahan returned in late November, went through this year's spring practice, and has been healthy throughout camp. He picked exactly the right time to return--new offensive line coach Mark Weber was facing the prospect of breaking in a new center. Ben Lemming was a candidate to play there, and Calvin Darity had also experimented with learning the position.
But Lenahan is a natural center.
"Scott fits into the center prototype perfectly," Weber says. "He's an athlete, he's fast, and he loves playing football."
Once Lenahan was installed at center, the rest of the line fell into place. Lemming was able to fill a potential hole at right guard and has also been tried at tackle, and right tackle is the source of a multi-player battle that may not be decided until the week before the Rutgers game.
"We had a void at right guard that needed to be filled," Lemming says. "We needed to get Scott on the field because he's quick, strong, and tough. He's low and quick, so he gets under pads easily, and he's got 4.9 speed. That's ideal for this style of offense."
The junior has the measurables. But speed doesn't matter if a center can't adequately get the ball to the quarterback.
It sounds simple. But a regular feature of Carolina's training camp in recent years when breaking in a new center has been trouble with the quarterback/center exchange. Even Jason Brown, who evolved into an All-ACC selection and fourth-round NFL Draft pick, had trouble mastering the art of the snap after making a position switch from tackle to center.
So the best news about Lenahan might be the absolute quiet coming out of camp regarding the QB/center exchange. Even working with a pair of quarterbacks, there have been very few hiccups, either with the direct snap or the shotgun snap.
If problems arise, expect Lenahan to be willing to put in the extra time to correct them. After battling injuries, he's learned to appreciate the simple things about football--even long, hot training camps.
"I know training camp is hard, but I'm loving it," he says. "It's the weirdest thing. I haven't felt this feeling in a while. It's so nice to be able to go out there and worry about things like technique instead of doing rehab. It's nice not to worry about the coaches or other players questioning if I can play because of injuries."
He's been the guy watching practice from the sidelines. He's been the guy spending hours on a stationary bike. He's been the guy who almost lost his career to injuries.
Now?
He's just Tank.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. He is the coauthor of the official book of the 2005 championship season, Led By Their Dreams, and his book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about Going Home Again, click here.
