Extra Points: O-Line Chemistry

April 1, 2015 | Football

By: UNC Athletic Communications

By Lee Pace, GoHeels.com

The Tar Heel locker room was awash with noise and celebration in Charlotte 15 months ago, Carolina having easily dispatched Cincinnati by 22 points in the Belk Bowl. The offense ran the ball for four yards a clip, hit two-thirds of its passes and dominated time of possession with 33 minutes, all that despite losing senior left tackle James Hurst early in the game with a broken leg.

Line coach Chris Kapilovic knew at the time that Hurst would graduate and that freshman guard Caleb Peterson would miss spring ball after a shoulder procedure. He did not know that junior center Russell Bodine would leave for the NFL. The glow of victory dimmed a degree or two as Kapilovic allowed his mind to wander ahead to the challenge ahead—the task of rebuilding, now that an exemplary group he inherited beginning in 2012 had run its course through the program. Soon the Tar Heels would have put five O-linemen in the NFL Draft and/or in professional starting lineups.

“We're going to be so young next year,” he said. “We're still two years away. We'll have eight scholarship guys on the field in spring with Peterson out for surgery. We'll have 12 on scholarship in the fall, with five of them true freshmen and one true sophomore. And the ideal is 16 scholarship guys in your program. We've had a great run. Now we have to put it back together.”

Kapilovic and Tar Heel head coach Larry Fedora saw it coming. They lost Jonathan Cooper, Travis Bond and Brennan Williams after a juggernaut offensive season in 2012. Now they were losing Hurst and Bodine. And at least five players signed from 2010-12 would never find their stride with the program, leaving either because of injuries or having careers derailed by physical ailments.

Offensive lines are defined by their midriff girth, thick facial hair, amiable demeanors off the field and flat-lined egos. The good ones are marked by their age and maturity as well.

“When you're older, you don't have to think as much. You just do,” says senior guard Landon Turner.

Continuity is another bedrock. Five returning starters are on the field this spring, and two freshmen from last year are good enough to be barging down the door for more playing time. It's one thing to play a newcomer because he's good enough to claw his way up the depth chart. It's another to have to play him before he's ready because you have no other choice.

“Our chemistry is better,” tackle Jon Heck says. “The last two springs, we've been rebuilding. This year, everyone's back and we're building off what we did last fall. We're not starting from square one.”

History is full of examples that back up the validity of having older guys who've played together a long time forming productive units.

* 1980-82— Tailbacks Amos Lawrence and Kelvin Bryant were the stars but they had quality lines up front. The 1980 O-line had three senior starters, one junior and one sophomore, and two of the seniors were first-team All-ACC and future pros (Ron Wooten and Rick Donnalley). The next year's starting line included one senior and three juniors, and that evolved into the 1982 line that featured three seniors and two juniors. Over that 1981-82 stretch, four starters remained intact both years and there was only one sophomore (Brian Blados in 1981) on the starting roster.

* 1988—The first of back-to-back 1-10 seasons in Mack Brown's Tar Heel debut overshadowed an offense that generated nearly 200 yards a game rushing with an outstanding tailback, Kennard Martin, running behind an O-line featuring four seniors and one junior.

* 1992-93—The Tar Heels fired off an average of 418 yards of offense over those years and their O-lines were mature and stayed remarkably healthy. The 1992 starting lineup was comprised of senior center Randall Parsons and juniors Curtis Parker, Shawn Hocker, Scott Falise and Ethan Albright. The next year, the juniors were now seniors and were joined by sophomore center Pat Conneely. Over those two seasons as the Tar Heels won 19 of 25 games, only four starts of a combined 125 (five players over 25 games) were missed because of injury.

* 2012 – The Tar Heel offense set school records for points (40.6 per game) and yards (486 a game) behind a line that included three seniors who would be drafted that year (Cooper, Williams and Bond) and two younger future pros (Hurst and Bodine, both of whom were in their third years in the program).

“If you have five guys who are hard-workers, have a little edge about them and know what each other are thinking, you've got something,” Kapilovic says. “Playing well together and communicating is so important on the O-line.”

The 2013 line replaced Cooper and Williams with freshmen (Peterson at left guard and Heck at right tackle). The 2014 line played five sophomores for two games when Turner, the elder statesmen of the group, missed two games early in the season with a knee injury. When center Lucas Crowley was sidelined with chronic ankle issues late in the year, the Tar Heels didn't have a scholarship center available to replace him. The results were predictable. In fact, in the six games last fall in which the five starters were intact, the offense averaged 519 yards total and 225 on the ground, hit 42 points a game and allowed but one sack per game.

“Trust is the biggest thing you get with experience,” says Turner. “It sounds kind of cliché, but it's 100 percent true. You have to trust each other to know he's going to do the right thing. There are so many moving parts and we all have to be able to rely on each other. When there's not trust, an offensive line can break down in chemistry. For example, if I don't trust my center on his responsibility, I might try to do mine and his at the same time. Neither one gets accomplished and everyone drags each other down.

“This spring we're more fluid, we fit together well. A lot of trust has grown within our unit. 'Comfortable' is a good word to describe it.”

The Tar Heels had 14 scholarship linemen this spring until tackle R.J. Prince moved to defense this week. When 2015 signees Tommy Hatton and Nick Polino arrive in August, Kapilovic will have 15 scholarship players and several walk-ons who'll hopefully evolve into productive players.

“Our depth is getting there,” he says. “We're much farther than we were a year ago. We're close to being two-deep with scholarship guys at every position.”

And the Heels are better at each slot. Sophomore Bentley Spain has jumped in front of John Ferranto at left tackle. Peterson is healthy and benefitting from nearly a year of uninterrupted strength training. Turner has lost a few pounds to allow him to be more agile and nimble, while Heck has swapped fat for lean muscle and is more powerful in run blocking. Jared Cohen played as a freshman last year and should get plenty of game action, and William Sweet is a January enrollee who has all the physical tools and exceptional maturity and resolve for an 18-year-old. Crowley brings a level head and old-school mentality to the lineup.

“I like our group,” Kapilovic says. “We've got a lot of competition, but they're still a close-knit group. They get along well and there are no big egos. They're pushing each other but helping each other at the same time.”

Kapilovic tells the story of his time as a graduate assistant in Arizona years ago when the O-line coach he worked under met Fiona, Kapilovic's girlfriend, and advised her to marry an offensive lineman.

“These guys don't have an ego, they're loyal protectors, they're the hardest workers,” the coach told Fiona, who did in fact marry Kapilovic.

“They're a special breed,” he continues. “It's a hard place to play. Unless you've played there, it's hard to imagine how hard it is. You need a special breed of toughness. But you've got to have a good O-line to have a good offense.”

Indeed, as Tar Heel fans have come to know over the years as offensive line eras have ridden crests and weathered valleys. Three years of coaching stability, solid recruiting and intense off-season conditioning prime this unit to be a lynchpin to an improved offense in 2015.

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (leepace7@gmail.com) in his 25th year writing “Extra Points” and 11th reporting from the sidelines for the Tar Heel Sports Network. His unique look at Tar Heel football appear regularly throughout the year. Follow him on Twitter @LeePaceTweet.