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Offensive linemen often toil in obscurity, unless a quarterback is sacked or a running back is tackled behind the line of scrimmage.
The “skill players” get the glory. The O-line gets the blame, though San Diego State’s offensive line has received attention this season not so much for glaring mistakes but a growing list of injuries.
There have been two or three starters at three of the five spots on the Aztecs’ offensive line this season. Somehow, some way, center Brayden Bryant and right tackle Nate Williams have started every game at their positions despite nagging ankle injuries suffered in the first half of the season.
They are literally limping to the finish line.
“Whether it was foot surgeries or bumps and bruises here and there, I’ve had to play through something every year,” said Bryant, who transferred to SDSU this year after two seasons at North Dakota. “It’s definitely a mental challenge. What fuels me is that everybody is feeling something, especially this time of season.
“The team’s needs are greater than my needs, so whatever I’ve got to do, like I’m hobbling off the field, whatever I can do to help the team is what I’m going to do.”
The pair painfully took their positions in practice this week as SDSU (3-7, 2-3 Mountain West) prepares for the season’s final road game Saturday afternoon against Utah State (3-7, 2-3). The Aztecs conclude the season Nov. 30 against Air Force at Snapdragon Stadium.
A pair of early bye weeks offered welcomed relief for Bryant and Williams early in the season. But it seems like they’re reinjured each game during the tussles in the trenches.
Williams was doubled over in pain when he tweaked his ankle during a drill last week in practice, stepping away for a moment to let the pain subside.
He was in and out of the game the week before against New Mexico after reinjuring himself. It was a similar situation last week at UNLV, although Williams did not return after getting hurt against the Rebels.
“I’ve been rolled up on every week,” said Williams, who transferred to SDSU this year after four seasons at Akron. “It’s a reoccurring thing. I repopped it and it kind of flared up (at UNLV). The week before I did it early in the game, then went and got an injection to take care of it, numb it up with lidocaine, then came back in and finished the game.
“(Against the Rebels) it was a better decision not to return because it would set me back this week.”
SDSU offensive line coach Mike Schmidt said “it’s a battle of attrition that we’re fighting through. … There’s been a lot of moving parts. That’s why we’ve struggled with consistency. But we’re battling through it.”
This is Schmidt’s 15th season coaching the O-line. It includes 12 years with the Aztecs, returning this year after two seasons at Syracuse and one at Mississippi State. He’s never seen an offensive line with so many challenges.
“All the good offensive lines we’ve had around here, they stuck together, they saw the game the same way,” Schmidt said. “They worked with each other from spring ball through fall camp and up through the whole season.
“You could see in those years the run game protection got better and better as that went on. I think we got a little bit stagnant after Week 3 or Week 4, just because of all the moving parts.”
The SDSU roster included 17 offensive linemen when the season began. There were 10 able-bodied linemen this week in practice.
The two-deep includes only eight players, with Saipale Fuimaono listed as the backup at both tackles, Ryan Dirksen as the backup at both guards and Briley Barron as the backup center.
How did it come to this?
It began in the offseason, when SDSU lost five offensive linemen, including three starters, to the transfer portal. Four of them left for Power Four programs.
Five linemen — including starters Bryant, Williams and left tackle Joe Borjon — transferred in.
The Aztecs were down two potential starters during spring practice as guards Myles Murao and Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli recovered from offseason knee surgeries.
Borjon, who earned the starting spot at left tackle in training camp, was lost in the first half of the first game against Texas A&M-Commerce with a season-ending knee injury.
That started a shuffle along the line.
Starting left guard Christian Jones moved to left tackle and Murao returned to the left guard spot he occupied last season. Murao started two games, was reinjured and had knee surgery that’s expected to sideline him the remainder of the season.
Before the season’s fourth game, backups Dean Abdullah and Ryan Silver left the team, with plans to enter the transfer portal.
After Murao’s injury, Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli moved from starting right guard to left guard and Tyler McMahon replaced him at right guard. McMahon was a candidate to redshirt, but started the past seven games. He, too, is battling a bad ankle.
Transfer Saipale Fuimaono has been a super sub, plugged in at three different positions this season.
And so it goes.
“We don’t make excuses,” Bryant said. “That’s not the kind of unit we are. We’re going to play the hand we’re dealt. We’re going to show up each day and give our best effort.
“We’re playing for our character, playing for the man beside us. We’re not going to give in.”
It’s a painful way to test the limits of body and mind.
“Those obstacles and adversities build your character,” Williams said. “It also builds the camaraderie with your brothers. You appreciate each other a lot more.”
Williams said the biggest thing he has learned is he can do anything he sets his mind to.
“A lot of times in our lives, not just in the game of football, there’s challenges that come and obstacles that we don’t expect,” Williams said. “You’ve got keep going. You’ve got to push through it.
“Once you get past that, the sense of relief and pride you have is way more than the pain could ever feel.”
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