Saints’ Salsbury Anchors Line

SENIOR IS FOUR-YEAR STARTER FOR SHILOH CHRISTIAN

By Chip Souza

Posted: November 25, 2009 at 5:19 a.m.

Anthony Reyes
Shiloh Christian senior offensive lineman Josh Salsbury, right, blocks De Queen senior Tyler Reynolds in the first half Friday in Champions Stadium in Springdale. Salsbury is a four-year starter for the Saints.

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SPRINGDALE — A highlight for most high school athletes is hearing their name called over the public address system or reading their name in print. Unless they’re an off ensive lineman.

It’s the one position on a football team where anonymity is preferred.

Shiloh Christian senior center Josh Salsbury has been a fi xture on the Saints’ off ensive line the past four years, starting since he was a ninth grader on the undefeated 2006 team.

“Actually he was a guard that year, then as a sophomore, he moved over to the center position,” Saints coach Josh Floyd said.

Playing under the Friday night lights as a freshman was not expected, Salsbury said.

“Honestly it was a total shock to me,” Salsbury said. “Coach Floyd came up to me one day at practice and asked me what I thought about moving up. I kind of thought about it for a minute. I wasn’t really what I would call an off ensive lineman back then.”

Salsbury said his buddies back then were about as excited as he was to get the early call-up to the varsity team.

“I never played on the ninthgrade team,” Salsbury said. “My friends were very supportive of me and I was very supportive of them. They were just as excited as I was about that. They were probably more happy for me than I was.”

In four seasons in the trenches, Salsbury (6-foot, 240 pounds) has seen it all.

He’s enjoyed as much team success as possible, winning two state titles and a runnerup finish. He’d like to add a third ring this season, but first the Saints (10-1) must get past Class 4A’s most dominant program this decade in Nashville (12-0) on Friday in Champions Stadium.

“Nashville is going to be good, they are going to give us a run for our money,” Salsbury said.

Shiloh offensive coordinator Rod Washington said having a veteran center like Salsbury is especially valuable in the Saints’ spread off ense, where almost every snap is in shotgun formation.

“Getting good snaps, that’s the key,” Washington said. “You’ve got a guy up there that knows all the defensive fronts and all the alignments, so it’s huge for us.”

Floyd said the center position was about as key as the quarterback spot to the Saints attack.

“In our off ense, the quarterback is the most important position to a lot of people, but to me the most important is the center just because of the snap,” Floyd said.

Salsbury and the rest of the line calls themselves the TUB Club.

“It stands for Tough United Blockers,” Salsbury said. “Some people look at it as being fat ... I mean it kinda is that way.”

The group holds Thursday morning breakfast gatherings and also tries to hit an all-you-can-eat wings place on Mondays. Salsbury said several of his TUB Club buddies like Travis Bodenstein (6-5, 290) and Samuel Harvill (6-1, 260) can consume “40-50 wings easily.”

“But they are big guys and they work up an appetite,” Salsbury said.

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