Beyond the Stat Sheet, Football's Offensive Line Makes an Impact

The moment the ball is snapped, it becomes the center of attention for most of the players on the field.

On a run play, attention is concentrated on the handoff between the quarterback and running back and the subsequent movement of the ball downfield. In a passing sequence, receivers are locked in a carefully synchronized dance between themselves, the ball, and the passer.

The 11 players on the other side similarly have an interest in the pigskin—whether to sack the quarterback before he can air it out, pick the ball out of midair, or pry it out of a running back’s hands.

While each position may serve a unique purpose, if a different-colored jersey ends up with the ball at the end of the play, it’s a good sign for the defense. But there are, on every play, five players whose job will always be the exact opposite. That is, rather than seek the ball, it is their sole duty to keep the other team away from it. They may not fill “skill positions,” but anyone who sees them face up against charging 250-plus pound defensive linemen would be hard pressed to deny their abilities, despite their absence from the box score.

They are the offensive linemen and, for Harvard football, they are a critical component of the team’s current 15-game winning streak, second only in Division I football to Ohio State’s 16.

Given the injuries to many of the offense’s skill position players throughout the 2014 season, the undefeated record is slightly surprising. The starting quarterback appeared in only four games all season; Each of the two leading rushers missed significant portions of the season due to injury; And before the year even began, a receiver and tight end—both of whom were seniors expected to have productive seasons—were sidelined for the campaign.

A key reason that Harvard’s 10-0 record was at all a possibility given the fluctuation in last year’s attack was the offensive line. No matter who was under center or in the backfield, the 2014 O-line consistently created wide running lanes and protected passing pockets. Largely due to its efforts, the Crimson ended with the second-most prolific offense in the Ancient Eight behind Yale—a team that started a Clemson transfer at quarterback and a running back now suiting up for the Indianapolis Colts.

“It was certainly one of the best [offensive lines] we’ve ever had,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said.

Anchored by then-senior center Nick Easton ’15, the Crimson was second in the FCS in tackles for loss allowed (behind only FCS national champion North Dakota State) tied for second in the Ancient Eight with 5.5 yards per rush, and allowed just 11 sacks on the year.

Harvard may have graduated left guard Michael Mancinelli ’15 and lost Easton to the San Francisco 49ers, but the 2015 edition of the line will still feature seniors Adam Redmond, Cole Toner, and Anthony Fabiano, all three-year starters. The continuity of the unit’s prowess and wealth of experience was on display last Saturday in the tilt with Rhode Island, when Crimson quarterback Scott Hosch had a career passing day under ample protection from the line, throwing for 336 yards and three scores.

“We’re confident playing together,” Redmond said. “We know what we’re doing on every play. I know where the guy next to me is going to be, he knows where I’m going to be, and that just makes us work as one unit every play, and that makes the job easy.”

Joining Redmond, Toner, and Fabiano are junior right tackle Max Rich and sophomore right guard Larry Allen Jr., both of whom have had limited game-time experience.

Though Rich and Allen Jr. have big shoes to fill, the stability of a group over the last few years that has enabled rushers Treavor Scales ’13 and senior Paul Stanton to notch their places in the Harvard record books predicts another productive offensive line, something Murphy attributes to recruiting practices.

“We want guys that are really tough and competitive,” Murphy said. “It isn’t good enough to be a great athlete, a big guy, if you’re really not a tough guy because it’s one of those jobs that to take pride in it, there’s no real sense of glory…. You have to have that mentality that I’m going to work every day not expecting a big paycheck. But I really enjoy what I do.”

Redmond, Toner, and Fabiano may never score a touchdown, and they may never feature prominently—if at all—in a box score. But for these three seniors, the payoff isn’t in the individual glory. It comes through the unit—“tied together like elephants on a string,” as Murphy puts it—paving the way for the guys around them to move the ball down the field.

“When the offense succeeds, we succeed, so we take pride in all of that on the field,” Redmond said. “We have a lot of fun out there.”

—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samantha.lin@thecrimson.com.