Whitworth offensive line key to building program into perennial power

When Rod Sandberg entered his first spring in 2014 as the head coach of Whitworth, he only had a handful of linemen on the roster who were healthy enough to practice.

It’s not exactly the blueprint he envisioned, especially after Sandberg hired Alan Stanfield from Shadle Park to run an up-tempo offense that seeks to run 110 plays a game.

“It was a real area of concern,” Sandberg said of the offensive line. “We had four, six kids healthy on any given practice. That’s pretty hard to run a practice.”

The coaches recruited hard, looking for long, lanky players with fast enough feet to protect the quarterback in an offense that tied for the lead in NCAA Division III with 368.1 passing yards per game last year.

“This spring, having 14 guys out there in their second year in the system … it increased our competition,” he said. “Those guys got stronger in the weight room.

“They are the No. 1 position that has to improve and be better than last year if we are going to be better.”

Whitworth improved from 4-6 and 2-4 in the Northwest Conference in 2013 under John Tully to 6-4 and 4-3 in Sandberg’s first year.

But Sandberg brushed off any talk of improvement, especially when he competes in a league dominated for years by Linfield. The Wildcats are seeking to extend their record of 59 consecutive winning seasons, which leads the nation at any collegiate level.

“We are not satisfied with last year, by any means. We didn’t win a national championship,” Sandberg said. “But we are realists. We understand the challenges that we have had.

“The offensive line is a microcosm of our whole team,” he continued. “It takes three to four years to reestablish culture. By Year 3, you get close to getting in what you want to get in and establish who you are. They could only handle so much last year.”

Island of Cosby

Whitworth’s fortunes will be anchored on the left side of the line by 6-foot-7, 310-pound Kyle Cosby. The senior from University High is an all-conference selection and the team’s best chance for an All-American.

He played half his career under Tully’s offense, which first sought to establish the run. Cosby now enters his second season under Stanfield’s high-octane air attack.

“The biggest difference is tempo,” he said. “There is no huddle. It’s just going, going and going.”

Asked how the unit changed its conditioning to deal with the number of plays, Cosby said essentially that it hasn’t.

“It’s built into practices. We always practice at the same speed, and sometimes actually faster, than the game,” he said.

Cosby was used as a road grader under the old offense.

“We ran it down their throats. The old ground-and-pound,” he said. “The new offense is very fluid. It’s all about where you take the defender and the running back takes that lane.”

Bryan Bremer played as a 263-pound offensive lineman under Tully. After he graduated in 2014, Bremer worked as a graduate assistant last season coaching outside linebackers.

When offensive line coach Matt Miethe asked to reduce his role so he could continue working at Rogers High School, Sandberg hired Bremer as the offensive line coach and made Miethe the co-coach.

Sandberg noted that the change allowed him to have two offensive line coaches.

“Bryan definitely knows this place, knows the past and knows the players,” Sandberg said. “The players know the commitment to excellence he has. They are a captive audience because they believe in him.”

Bremer said his new job was made much easier by having Cosby at left tackle. He returns along with three juniors, Michael Crucioti (6-1, 280), center and team captain Joe Beattie (5-11, 245) and guard Trevor Woodall (6-2, 260) of Coeur d’Alene.

The final spot appears up for grabs between senior Cameron Coy (6-0, 252), junior Noah Shultz-Rathbun (6-2, 260) and sophomores Vince Porporato (6-3, 275) and Tanner Conroy (6-2, 260), the latter from Mt. Spokane.

Cosby “is a threat not only to the defense, but he allows our offense to be more flexible,” Bremer said. “We can slide away from him and be comfortable leaving him on an island on the quarterback’s blind side.”

While the pass-first offense appears very complex, it can be very simple for the offensive line. Everything is predicated “on blocking the five most dangerous hats,” Bremer said.

On a typical play, the quarterback comes to the line, barks out the play and makes changes for blocking. For instance, if a linebacker approaches the line for a blitz, the quarterback can yell out a call that tells the linemen to change assignments to pick him up.

“The linemen have about five seconds to process the play, pick out the five most dangerous hats and go,” Bremer said.

Search for big uglies

In addition to coaching the offensive line, Bremer also takes over as recruiting coordinator after longtime assistant coach Jason Tobeck left the program earlier this year.

“It starts with recruiting the right guys,” Bremer said. “Don’t get me wrong, we’ll take a big body. But, I’d rather have someone who is 6-3 and 240 pounds over someone who is 300 pounds. Because we would have to break him down to the weight we want and build him back up again.”

Sandberg agreed, saying the search for quality linemen is one of the hardest jobs in college football.

“I have really good friends who are offensive line coaches in the NFL, college and high school,” he said. “Nobody at any level can find enough of them.”

The key is finding kids who are willing to learn and inserting them into a weight program that allows them to develop, he said.

“We are not going to sit back and be too picky,” Sandberg said. “But we’ve got to help their bodies adapt and coach them up.”