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The bottom line: Linemen essential yet

unappreciated components of football
S a l l y Pa ra m p o t t i l
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
@SParampottil
The modern perception of football would not ex-
the offensive line and knocks him down behind the yards, you can easily measure that. We don’t really
line of scrimmage before he throws the ball, it is called have anything we can measure, and the things we
a sack, which is a major defensive statistic. can measure can obviously be skewed based off of
Though this objective measurement exists for de- what kind of offense we’re running.”
fensive linemen, it is often unnoticed by the media, Coppell football has two graduates currently
specifically local media. playing in the NFL - both
The Dallas Morning of them linemen. Class of

“We’re honestly
ist without linemen. News’ high school sports 2014 graduate Solomon
The thuds of bodies slamming into one another, section has a page for in- Thomas plays for the San
the grunts and huffs of players as they grapple, the dividual rankings with Francisco 49ers as a defen-
iconic row of squat poses as the ball snaps and the football statistics. On sive lineman (who played

one of the
play begins - the imagery most people associate with that page is a list of the in the 2020 Super Bowl)
football is all dependent on the existence of linemen. leading players for rush- and class of 2015 graduate
However, despite their importance to the game, ing, passing and receiv- Connor Williams plays for

biggest impacts
linemen often go underappreciated and underrep- ing yards in the North the Dallas Cowboys as an
resented in the media. Texas area. While there offensive linemen.
“They add so much more than people think,” are team stats for leading If not through media

of the game.”
Coppell junior defensive lineman Sammy Hernan- offenses and defenses, and statistics, linemen de-
dez said. “Everyone outside football thinks linemen there are no individual serve positive recognition
are the least important in how ‘they’re just big guys, defensive stats. from the public. Without
they’re not skilled guys,’ but we’re honestly one of “It’s not fair for us,” their contributions to the
the biggest impacts of the game.” Hernandez said. “I un- game in terms of raising
Even the average person could probably give a derstand [the quarter- SAMMY HERNANDEZ the stakes and adding that
general idea of what the quarterback does and take back, running backs and famous football physicali-
JUNIOR DEFENSIVE LINEMAN
an accurate guess at what a running back or receiv- receivers] get most of the ty, the game just would not
er does just by the name alone. In contrast, most glory all the time, but we be the same.
non-football fans probably would not be able to are really huge factors - the defensive line - in how if “The general perception is that we’re just big
define the role of a lineman other than they stand we sack that quarterback for negative yards, that can guys who just hit people. There’s more to the per-
in a line. To many, the large, not-too-smart athlete turn into a third and long or a second and long or even son, to the offensive line, than just that,” Oh said.
is the stereotype given to linemen. make them punt. They should add sacks because it’s just “If someone were to sit in one of my meeting rooms
“Yes, we are strong, yes, we are big, but we are like scoring a touchdown.” during an offensive line meeting and go through all
more than that,” Hernandez said. “We are part of The offensive line has a similar problem in lack the different looks and blocking schemes and they
the team, even if people don’t realize because we of media recognition, but it stems also from a lack of were to see how our kids answer those questions,
don’t score points. We just don’t get enough credit statistics to use. they would be so shocked and impressed by how
for what we do in the game and how our positions “It’s hard to gage statistics for offensive linemen fast they have to think and act and do the job.”
show us to the public.” because each coach has a different definition of what
Defensive linemen are tasked with trying to take a pancake is or what a domination block is,” Coppell SALLY ‘21 can be reached at
down the quarterback. When one breaks through offensive line coach Allen Oh said. “With rushing scp7918@g.coppellisd.com.

Coppell senior offensive linemen Febechi Nwaiwu and Austin Darcy and sophomore offensive lineman Trevor Timmerman set on the line of scrimmage at Highlander
Stadium on Oct. 9. The Sidekick editor-in-chief Sally Parampottil thinks linemen are essential to football but often go underappreciated. Photo by Blanche Harris

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