By BJ Querubin— Staff Writer
Football is the ultimate team sport. To direct more than 50 men to work together as one unit and be successful for 60 minutes is a task that is more difficult than most realize.
Life’s not fair, and neither is football. In this sport, only a handful of players get their shine.
The skill position players are under the spotlight the most. The ball is in their hands for most of the game, and there are eye-popping statlines to remember their performances.
However, there is a unit that is the utmost important, yet the utmost overlooked, to the success of the offense that is solely dependent on the execution of their play: the offensive line.
There’s no other unit that receives only a sliver of acknowledgment for when they play well and receives all the blame for one bad game.
Whether it’s punishing their bodies every play during a game, dozens of hours hitting the five-man sled or being yelled at by their position coach, there is one thing that has remained true at every level — being an offensive lineman is the most thankless journey anyone could embark on.
Without them, the team falls apart in an instant. With them, the ball carriers get the glory.
At San Jose State, the linemen know what comes with the territory.
Redshirt junior Jack Snyder understands the role of being on the offensive line.
“As an offensive lineman, if people watching the game don’t know who you are, that’s usually a good thing,” Snyder said.
Ironically, he would eat those words. Several days later, he scored his first career touchdown against UNLV.
With the exception of rare drawn-up scoring plays for linemen, there isn’t anything glorious about the job. It’s tons of hard work and the weight of the team is carried on their shoulders.
The job is especially hard when a team passes the ball as much as SJSU.
Any offensive skill position player would know to reward the big men that make them look good.
At SJSU, the Spartans’ offensive line has done an excellent job protecting veteran quarterback Josh Love. This season they tied for eighth in the nation in sacks allowed at 14.
Their success this season has been in large part to the chemistry they’ve built through their relationship.
“I’ve gotten really close with most of them,” Love said. “Before this season, I took ‘em out to go eat sushi, because we all love sushi.”
Aside from taking the big guys out, the standout quarterback has demonstrated his loyalty by making the extra effort off the field.
“In the offseason, he spent more time watching film with us more than he ever has before,” Snyder said.
Being in the trenches entails not only making your teammates look good, but going the extra mile protecting them as well.
Most linemen would go grave lengths to protect their quarterback, on and off the field.
Earlier this season in the NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers backup QB Mason Rudolph suffered a concussion from a horrendous helmet-to-helmet tackle.
Love’s o-line had problems with that play, and they let their favorite quarterback know about it.
“A couple of them came up to me and said, ‘If anything like that happened to you, we’d go after that dude. We’re there for you.’” Love said.
The offensive line lives in the trenches, and they epitomize what the sport of football is all about — grit and sacrifice.
Follow BJ on Twitter @beejaycue