A running back gets the ball and races to the endzone untouched through a hole the size of the grand canyon. The fans let out an ecstatic cheer and discuss what a great player he is, never noticing the great job performed by the offensive linemen.
This is the life of an offensive lineman.
Football fans notice the man with the ball in his hands. Although offensive linemen tend to outweigh skill players by nearly 100 pounds, the pictures, the articles, the interviews, the favoritism and the spotlight usually are attracted to the guys who score touchdowns and rarely are bestowed upon the men who clear the way for their successes.
In movies, an offensive lineman is always depicted to be a fat, dumb guy who sucks up to the quarterback and smiles a lot.
LSU tackle Rodney Reed and guard Stephen Peterman said that is not the case.
“We have an Academic All-American right here,” Peterman said looking at Reed.
Reed said all the members of the LSU offensive line are fairly balanced as far as their social life and academics are concerned.
“And we give back to the community,” Reed said. “On the field, we’re all pretty consistent, and we give a lot of effort. In the games we have the same intensity as in practice.”
Reed and Peterman are the two seniors on the LSU offensive line. They are the two leaders.
Against Georgia, the big men up front cleared the way for the Tigers’ running backs Shyrone Carey and Joseph Addai, who rushed for 76 and 66 yards respectively.
Georgia recorded only one sack on LSU quarterback Matt Mauck, but the pressure came from the defensive end who was being blocked man-on-man by LSU tight end Eric Edwards.
Peterman joked that tight ends are not really a part of the offensive line, so it did not count.
ESPN’s NFL draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. ranks Peterman among the best 25 senior football players in the country on his latest “Big Board.”
Peterman said he likes the publicity but does not pay much attention to it.
“I’d like to thank the people who give them to me,” Peterman said. “It’s an honor to get those awards. Right now, the main thing I’m concentrating on is Mississippi State. If we have a good season, a lot of people on our team will get accolades and awards after the season. You really can’t focus on that now. We’re just focusing on the next game.”
Peterman leads the team with knockdown blocks, and after he knocks a defender on the ground, he is not afraid to let him know about it.
“I might tell him a little something,” he said.
Reed interrupted him with a chuckle and said, “Yeah, Peterman likes to talk a little trash. I would, but I’m usually too tired at the end of a play to talk trash.”
They get most of their knockdown blocks on running plays, but neither Peterman nor Reed have a preference between run blocking and pass blocking. But Peterman said he feels the run blocking more the next day.
“The year we won the SEC championship, you wouldn’t be as sore on Sundays because we pass blocked the whole game,” Peterman said. “Now we run the ball a whole lot, so you’re more sore on Sundays. It’s good to pass, but you know you have to run the ball. That’s our job.
“When we’re out there running the ball like we did against Georgia or last year against Mississippi State, those drives where we just run the ball and didn’t even throw it, that’s a great feeling for an offensive lineman.”
Reed said running the ball right at the defense is a strength of the team.
“We have really great downhill running plays,” Reed said. “We have great downhill runners in Joseph Addai and Shyrone Carey. I think taking it right to the defense is our strength. That’s our best running set, when we run powers and leads.”
The quarterback is the centerpiece of a huddle, and offensive linemen usually are not vocal, but Reed and Peterman said they will discuss different matchups while they wait on the play.
“We try and help each other out like, ‘Maybe we should have done this or should have done that,'” Peterman said. “But once Matt gets up there and has the play, you’ve got to focus on him and next play. You really can’t say too much.”
Reed continued, “But as far as motivation goes, we have plenty of experienced guys. I mean if you can’t get motivated to play Georgia in front of 92,000 fans, then you don’t need to be on the field anyway. As far as all the ‘rah! rah!’ stuff, we don’t need to do all of that in the huddle. As far as the mental stuff, we do talk about that.”
Before the start of the season, many publications ranked the Tigers’ offensive line as the top unit in the Southeastern Conference and one of the best in the nation.
“We’re as good as our last game,” Peterman said. “You can come out and have a good game or you can come out and have a bad game. How we performed the last game is what people are going to think of us.
“Against Western Illinois people were saying, ‘Oh, the offensive line is not living up to its expectations.’ And now we’re the best thing since sliced bread because we had a great game against Georgia. Each week we have a challenge to live up to, and if we don’t live up to it we can’t be good. But if we come out and everybody does what we’re coached to do, we can be a great offensive line.”
Reed, Peterman anchor offensive line
September 24, 2003