“A lot of sudden change,” left guard Thor Miller said. “That was one of the big things coach (Lance) Guidry talked about.”
Miller is an XBox aficionado. “Call of Duty,” specifically. Center Mason Martin prefers sports video games. The entire offensive line agreed on one Netflix show — Jackass — that passed the time while waiting out the weather.
For the one unit that entered camp with the most to prove and three graduated, three-year starters to replace, the cohesion began in these delays and is now apparent on the field.
“It’s getting there,” Martin said of the unit’s ever-evolving rapport. “It’s always tough, especially losing guys who played that many snaps. But we’re getting there. We spend a lot of time together on the field, off the field. We’re a pretty tight knit group, so that helps with chemistry when you’re tight off the field as well.”
Martin — a preseason All-Southland selection and two-year starter — and Miller are perhaps the only two certainties on a line otherwise littered with inexperience and devoid of much depth.
Based on Guidry’s comments and practice observation, the team has honed in on five first-team players.
Jalen Smith, the redshirt junior who missed all of last season with a foot injury, is taking first-team reps at left tackle. Miller is at left guard and Martin is at center.
Tyrae Johnson has supplanted Jimmy Converse at right guard and Joe Jenkins is with the first team at right tackle.
Converse and Kyle Zenon, at left tackle, serve as backups, though the two combined have seen action in three career games. True freshmen Beau Morris and Joe Latronico will also be relied upon, Guidry said, leaving little in the way of experience.
Miller’s appeared in 31 career games. Martin in 29. The rest of those seven expected contributors? Fourteen. Eleven of those are courtesy of Jenkins, a junior.
“If we’re going to play (freshmen) this year, we’ve got to play them early and get some experience,” Guidry said. “We can’t just keep holding them and holding them and hope no one gets hurt. Then, all of a sudden, a freshman has to play. We need to activate them quick … You can go out here and practice, that’s fine and dandy, but there’s nothing like game reps.”
Guidry said Monday he feels there are “six or seven” offensive linemen he can rely on. Morris and Latronico are often the first names he mentions when assessing who may be thrust into large roles — again some sudden changes.
“We’re unproven,” Martin said. “You never know until you put it on the field in a game. I say you never know, the outside world doesn’t know … You see on film mistakes are starting to get erased and we’re starting to get better at certain things. It’s encouraging to see guys working hard and trying to get better.”
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