For Emporia State’s spread offense to work, the Hornets need more speed at the skill positions like running back and receiver. But they also need more speed up front and they’ve started to recruit accordingly.
“Out of all the kids brought in including a junior college transfer, there’s one that’s over 300 pounds,” offensive line coach Travis Fox said. “Everybody else is between 240 and 260 and 270 pounds. I’m just looking for guys who are athletic and strong, because I feel like that’s the type of offense we’re molding ourselves into.”
Fox has blended experience and young talent on his line this year. In the middle, he has senior Blake Green and junior Steve Underwood at the guard positions and senior Luke Costello at center. Three freshmen are competing for the two tackle positions. Ben McKaig will most likely start at left tackle and Jordan Godberson and Randy Holladay are battling for the right tackle position.
The three seniors inside have provided leadership and guidance to the rest of the linemen. All three have stressed the importance of film, especially in their offense.
“As soon as we can teach them to watch film and use that as a tool, that’ll be the biggest things that helps them out,” Costello said. “We’re really going to try to watch more film this year because I don’t feel like we utilize that tool enough last year.”
Learning how to watch film is not the only thing the high school guys need to get used to.
“You have to use a lot more technique when you’re at the college level, because everybody’s big,” Costello said. “Everybody’s fast. You might have been the big guy in high school, but now everybody’s just as big as you are — if not bigger and faster — so you’ve got to learn the proper technique, the proper steps, learn how to use your hands.”
Last season Underwood, Costello and Green teamed with seniors who were all used to the previous coaching staff and the previous power-based offense. The veteran linemen all said that the cooperation and willingness to learn has been a big improvement this year.
“I’m ready for something fresh,” Fox said. “As a coach, this is 10 years coaching college football and it’s been a pleasure coaching these guys every day and I’m not trying to be nice to them, I’m not trying to be mean to them. I’m just trying to tell them the truth and what we need to get done and they don’t hesitate to give me everything they have and it’s really been a true pleasure in the spring and this fall.
“This is the hardest I’ve seen emporia state compete in the last 18 months since I’ve been here, and I know that we’re not against anybody right now, but really that doesn’t matter. We are competing against each other and ourselves to improve this team.”