{"id":37473,"date":"2021-08-11T13:05:42","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T17:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=37473"},"modified":"2021-08-11T09:30:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T13:30:13","slug":"37473-uclas-offensive-line-is-the-starting-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2021\/08\/11\/37473-uclas-offensive-line-is-the-starting-point\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA\u2019s Offensive Line Is The Starting Point"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five starting offensive linemen coming back intact is great for a starting quarterback. It\u2019s a blessing for the running backs. But it\u2019s a downright dream for an offensive line coach and offensive coordinator. UCLA\u2019s offensive line is the starting point, with five starters returning, for everything that happens, good or bad, this season.<\/a><\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s Offensive Line Is The Starting Point<\/h2>\n

More Of That Accountability Stuff<\/h3>\n

Juniors Sean Rhyan<\/strong> and Duke Clemens<\/strong>, redshirt junior Alec Anderson<\/strong>, along with senior Sam Marrazzo<\/strong>, and super senior Paul Grattan<\/strong> are going to be the foundation for any success the UCLA offense has. They have a season together under their collective belt. And Justin Frye<\/strong>, the offensive line coach and offensive coordinator, went to the word we have heard so much during the off-season with this team. Accountability. \u201cAccountability means ownership,\u201d Frye said Tuesday. \u201cWith a veteran group, with guys that have played a lot, when they\u2019ve played next to each other\u2026the game will slow down. You\u2019re not worrisome about everything that can happen. You\u2019re just worried about what you\u2019ve got to do. And then you get that done because you know the next one to you is going to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frye, who is known to throw out lines about what is in a \u201cplayer\u2019s toolbox,\u201d gets that even \u201caccountability\u201d is already nearing overuse. \u201cA lot of clich\u00e9 words and things get thrown out,\u201d Frye said. \u201cWe diagnose. Like, what is accountability. It\u2019s ownership, and you control that. Not the coaches, not the defensive scheme or the offensive scheme. You own your task at hand on that play. And if you keep it that simple, you\u2019ll be able to function at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Center Of Attention<\/h3>\n

The role of Marrazzo is not to be underplayed. Any experienced starting center is key. He missed Spring camp with a leg injury. And while the Bruins have depth on the offensive line, it was clear during Spring that not just anyone can step into the center role and be effective. Frye talked about Marrazzo\u2019s growth as a player and as the leader of the offensive line. \u201cThe guy was here when we got here. He was a young kid with an immature body and unsure about how to play. And he\u2019s busted his butt,\u201d he said. \u201cAmongst anything else, I\u2019m loving watching the guy out there that really earned it and worked for it and goes for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frye identified Marrazzo as the guy who is going to recognize certain defensive schemes and call them out to the rest of the offensive line. It\u2019s the natural job of the center, and he said Marrazzo has grown into the role. \u201cHe gets it pretty quick,\u201d Frye said. \u201cEverybody learns differently, but with Sam, you could say it to him, see him process it, and then he will write the picture down or take the note, and then he digests things pretty quick.\u201d Frye said when the staff first got the chance to work with the younger version of the center, it didn\u2019t take a lot of repetition from the coaches for Marrazzo to pick it up. \u201cHe was a guy where he would hear it once, maybe twice, and he was pretty locked in with it.”<\/p>\n

The Presence<\/h3>\n

We pointed out earlier this week that in his absence during the Spring there was only sporadic success in the shotgun formation snaps, so his health over the course of the next four months will be a vital thing for UCLA fans to keep their eyes on.<\/p>\n

In terms of having a determinant factor in games, Frye said he needs the offensive line, \u201cTo be felt.\u201d In case that sounds a little too intangible for clarity\u2019s sake, Frye breaks it down more. \u201cAny great offensive line unit and the ones that you\u2019re around, there is a presence there.\u201d Need a deeper explanation? Try this one. \u00a0\u201cIf it\u2019s third and short\u2026and we\u2019re at the Rose Bowl, if you really have presence, then Zoe Rose Frye, my nine-year-old daughter, needs to be sitting up in her seat saying, \u2018they\u2019re going to run the ball right there.\u2019 The same as the D coordinator on the other side and the same as everybody in the stadium. And we don\u2019t care,\u201d Frye said. \u201cWe just do it. We just get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only way to get to that point is through execution. \u201cThere is no magic potion,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you do your job and you do it at a high level, this is what happens. There\u2019s no drill for it. I wish there was. It\u2019s not cosmic. It\u2019s just what happens when you do your job and you do it at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping Everyone Moving Forward<\/h3>\n

The story has already been told about how starting quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson<\/a> has missed games for injury and Covid protocol reasons. He has yet to play an entire season. If he is to cross that threshold, UCLA is to maintain strong running game, and the Bruins are to have any shot at a successful season, the offensive line is going to have to find some of that presence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five starting offensive linemen coming back intact is great for a starting quarterback. It\u2019s a blessing for the running backs. But it\u2019s a downright dream for an offensive line coach and offensive coordinator. UCLA\u2019s offensive line is the starting point, with five starters returning, for everything that happens, good or bad, this season. UCLA\u2019s Offensive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":37476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[5090,5719,4212,7770,6997,4213,208],"class_list":["post-37473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-pac12","tag-alec-anderson","tag-duke-clemens","tag-justin-frye","tag-paul-grattan","tag-sam-marrazzo","tag-sean-rhyan","tag-ucla-bruins"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}