Spring Outlook: The Offensive Line

AMES, Iowa - Spring football practice begins on March 8 and Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell will get his first chance to work with his players in preparation for the 2016 season. Campbell sat down with Cyclones.com to preview each position. Today we look at the offensive line.

Synopsis
The position with the biggest attrition is the offensive line.

Iowa State must replace 111 career starts on the offensive line with the graduation of Jamison Lalk, Brock Dagel, Oni Omoile and Wendell Taiese. Including in this total is the loss of three-year starter Daniel Burton, who opted to graduate early and forgo his redshirt senior season at ISU.

Replacing the losses and reconfiguring the o-line will be a top priority for Campbell in the spring. Luckily for Campbell, he has one of the brightest offensive line coaches in the nation in offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Tom Manning.

Manning worked wonders on the Toledo offensive line in his four years at the school. The Rockets were habitually tough up front, and Manning was a big part of their success. He was named the 2015 Offensive Line Coach of the year by FootballScoop for his efforts.

The Cyclones return only two players who have started a game in the trenches in Jake Campos (6-8, 297, Jr.#, West Des Moines, Iowa) and Nick Fett (6-7, 313, Sr.#, Audubon, Iowa).

Campos, who will sit out spring drills with an injury, has been a staple in the ISU lineup the last two seasons, starting 23-straight games at tackle. Campos' starting string is the longest active streak by a current Cyclone.

Fett, a walk-on who was placed on scholarship for the spring semester, primarily played on special teams units in 2015. When Omoile went down with an injury prior to the Oklahoma State game, Fett was inserted into the starting lineup at right guard and performed admirably. He has a chance to be a full-time starter in 2016.

Jaypee Philbert Jr. (6-4, 314, Jr.#, Atlanta, Ga.) is another returnee who has a chance to be elevated to a starter. Although Philbert never received a start in 2015, he played on a number of snaps from scrimmage as a rotational sub at tackle.

Iowa State never had the chance to see Patrick Scoggins (6-1, 293, Sr.#, Inglewood, Calif.) in 2015 after Scoggins suffered a season-ending knee injury in fall camp. Scoggins, a junior college transfer, was slated to compete at the center spot a year ago and he will likely battle for playing time at both center and guard in 2016.

Sensing the need for offensive lineman, Campbell brought in Karson Green (6-4, 295, Jr., Madill, Okla.) at mid-year. Green was an all-district selection at Northeast Oklahoma A&M in 2015 and has the ability to play at the center and guard spots.

Shawn Curtis (6-5, 290, Jr.#, Orlando, Fla.) has been in the program for three seasons and will be options for the Cyclones in spring ball. Also look for Bryce Meeker (6-5, 303, Fr.#, Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and Julian Good-Jones (6-5, 270, Fr.#, Cedar Rapids), who are both coming off their redshirt seasons to be in the mix this spring.

Kory Kodanko (6-5, 316, So.#, Green Bay, Wis.) enters his third season in the program and will fight for snaps at guard.

Campbell On The Offensive Line
“The O-Line is still probably the biggest challenge for us as we go into spring and the biggest question mark. This a group that needs to continue to grow and get stronger. It's a wide open race. Obviously, with Jake Campos injured and having off-season surgery, it will hurt us. But I am proud to see how hard he is working to get back. He's been a leader for us. It's been great to see that and you want to see that from your veteran guys. The other young man that has stood out to us is Nick Fett. Nick is a guy that has high-end ability. He only started in one game last year, but when he did play, I thought he showed up and played well. You talk about strength, you talk about power, you talk about wanting to get better day in and day out, Nick has really stood out. There's a plethora of other guys. Jaypee Philbert Jr. has played a lot of football in this group. He's got ability. He's played in Big 12 football games, so it will be really interesting to see him grow. I'm really intrigued by some young guys in the program. Julian Good-Jones is a kid that when you talk about the highest ceiling of any player on the football team, he's right there. We have some other guys in that mix. Bryce Meeker, a young freshman, and Shawn Curtis have both stood out to us. You are going to see a million combinations, a million different guys in and out, and it will be our job to find the right fit. But what I know is that we'll find seven guys. My goal is to find seven guys by the time we get out of fall camp that we feel can play and give us quality reps. I think it's just development, fundamentals and just continuing to get bigger, stronger and faster.”

Players Mentioned

Daniel Burton

Jake Campos

Shawn Curtis

Brock Dagel

Nick Fett

Julian Good-Jones

Karson Green

Kory Kodanko

Jamison Lalk

Bryce Meeker

Oni Omoile

Jaypee Philbert Jr.

Patrick Scoggins

Wendell Taiese

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