Oklahoma State University Athletics
Wednesday Football Practice Report
April 06, 2011 | Cowboy Football
April 6, 2011
STILLWATER, Okla. - The Oklahoma State football team took to the practice fields Wednesday in ideal weather conditions for a two-hour session dressed in helmets but no pads.
All spring long, coach Mike Gundy has praised both the performance and the depth of the offensive line. After Wednesday's practice, offensive line coach Joe Wickline discussed his group and its strengths.
"They've been around for a while. There are guys that have been here for two and three years now and there are no mysteries on the schematics of things and in the fundamentals," Wickline said. "They have been in the meeting room and they're getting to be old heads, even some of the guys in the second bunch, so it's a lot cleaner look than it usually is among the second bunch of guys."
Wickline said there is not a glaring drop-off from the first team to the second team and that the differences are mainly on smaller issues, as opposed to missed assignments, bad snaps and things of that nature. He was asked what he is looking to get from the offensive line this spring.
"Finding a third guard, a third tackle and second center - what I call the immediate foundation - I think we're getting there, yet we'll also have two groups," Wickline said. "Will we have two interchangeable groups? We'll figure that out."
The Cowboy line remains intact from last season's group that paved the way for one of the nation's most explosive offenses and the 2011 unit features four seniors and a junior among the five starters listed on the pre-spring depth chart. With that experience comes a sense of responsibility to be role models for the younger linemen in the program.
"The seniors as a group see it as a cycle and have done a pretty nice job in a leadership role," Wickline said. "They have a lot of fun, especially at this time of year. They have their assignments and they're helping the young players. I think more of that will happen in the summer when they're on their own and lifting with Coach Glass. As of right now, they're doing a nice job helping the young guys."
Anchored by a first-team all-Big 12 performer in Levy Adcock, a two-year starter in Lane Taylor, perhaps the league's best center in Grant Garner, plus veterans Jonathan Rush and Nick Martinez, Wickline said this group of offensive linemen has the makings of being the best he's coached.
"I have been around some guys that may have been better as individuals than what we have now, but this group of guys as a collective unit has already done some good things and has a chance to be the best we have had," Wickline said.
