Brent Zwerneman has a nice little article on how Cyrus Gray has improved so far in practice, because he knows his playbook and assignments now, and how having Gray, true freshman Christine Michael and redshirt sophomore Bradley Stephens means the Aggies' running game is in good hands. However, Z misses his mark when looking at our poor running game last season, and blaming it almost solely on the backs. He mentions that Mike Goodson never became the every-down back Sherman envisioned him being last season, but he only pays lip service to our real problem last year: the offensive line.

I went back and took a look at our offensive line recruiting for the past five years, and the results are enough to make you want to cry. The 2004 recruiting class was truly Dennis Franchione's first recruiting class, because the '03 group had been put together by the previous coaching staff, so that is where I began my research. In 2004, we took three offensive linemen: Yemi Babaloa, Grant Dickey, and Travis Schneider. Babaloa ended up more interested in smoking pot than beng a football player, and he is now doing time for his part in an assault on a drug dealer. Dickey was a juco transfer who only played two seasons. Schneider redshirted in 2004, and played four years for the Aggies. He was the one major contributor from the '04 class on offensive line.

In 2005, we signed four offensive linemen: Robbie Frost, Lee Grimes, Kellen Heard, and Michael Shumard. (By comparison, we signed 6 DBs in that class. I know we are facing spread offenses in the Big 12, but 6 DBs seems excessive.) Heard redshirted then moved to defensive line, where he played for three seasons before deciding to leave the program after the '08 season. Grimes and Shumard both redshirted in 2005, and are now fifth-year seniors. Shumard is currently running first team at LG, while Grimes is running first team at RT. Robbie Frost redshirted in '05, played in four games in '06, seven games in '07, and six games in in '08, earning a start against Army. It was announced last week that Frost has been placed on a medical redshirt, and will no longer be playing on the football team.

In 2006, we signed one offensive lineman, Lucas Patterson, Patterson redshirted in '06, and played on the defensive line in '07 and '08. He is now being moved back to the offensive line, where he is being pencilled in as the starter at LT. I'm just wondering how we can recruit only one offensive lineman in a recruiting class?

In 2007, we signed two offensive linemen, Daniel Baker and Evan Eike. Eike redshirted in '07, and then started all 12 games last season at LG. Baker redshirted in '07, and saw action in 9 games last season, at both RG and TE. Baker is a versatile player who is serviceable as a blocking TE.

The 2008 class was Sherman's first class, although many of the players were also recruited by the previous regime. We signed six offensive linemen in the '08 class: Josh Ayers, Leroy Chevalier, Jeffrey Hyde, Chris Lathrop, Brian Thomas, and Joe Villavisencio. Ayers, Chevalier, Hyde, Lathrop, and Thomas all redshirted last season, while Villavisencio saw playing time in two games last season after his redshirt was pulled, starting the Iowa State game, and also playing against Baylor. Chevalier has been placed on medical redshirt, and Lathrop has been moved to defensive tackle to provide depth on the DL, so we are looking at four redshirt offensive linemen from the '08 class to provide depth this season.

For those doing the math at home, that means we had classes of 3, 4, 1, and 2 offensive linemen signees going into the 2008 season. The '08 class had six OL, but you can't expect true freshmen to come in and play on the offensive line right away, b/c they are not physically or mentally ready to excel there (unless their name is Orlando Pace). If you subtract the two people who moved to defensive line (Kellen Heard and Lucas Patterson), our numbers go down to 3, 3, 0, and 2. Take away the attrition because of arrests (Babaloa) and juco eligibility expiring (Dickey), and the numbers shrink to 1, 3, 0, and 2. So we entered the 2008 season with basically six scholarship offensive linemen. Is it any wonder that we were decimated by injuries? Is it any wonder that we lacked the depth to replace those injured players?  Sherman and offensive line coach Jim Turner did a terrific job just keeping enough bodies out there to field a team.

Sherman only took four offensive linemen in the 2009 recruiting class (Stephen Barrera, Patrick Lewis, Clint Naron, and Rhontae Scales), and has five committed in the 2010 class so far. That means in his first three recruiting classes so far, Sherman has brought in 15 offensive linemen, almost doubling Fran's effort when you look at the players he actually put on the OL. With the numbers we have, Sherman couldn't be blamed if he brought in classes of eight OL the last two years, just to get enough healthy bodies on the roster who can contribute to the program. Averaging five OL per year, which we are doing right now, will get us on the right track to balanced recruiting classes.

Before we can fix the running game, which Sherman is making a priority, we need to fix the lack of depth at offensive line, and Sherman and Turner's recruiting has reflected that priority. Now once we get those players through the Strength and Conditioning program, and onto the field, even Zwerneman himself will be able to run for positive yardage behind them.