Rogers High: Mounties Rebuilding Offensive Line

Monday, August 11, 2014

ROGERS -- Rogers High coach Shawn Flannigan is expecting Billy Treacy to be a leader on the offensive line.

Treacy (6-foot, 210 pounds) will be at center in the Mounties' triple-option offense and he is a senior with the most varsity experience.

At A Glance:

Rogers High Offensive Line

Biggest Strength: Senior Leadership .. Most of the players in what is expected to be an eight-player rotation are seniors, including Billy Treacy who will take over at center in the triple-option offense.

Biggest Question Mark: Experience. .. Rogers graduated every starter on offense and Treacy has the most expereicne after taking less than a dozen varsity snaps last season.

Watch Out For: Treacy. .. The senior is very intelligent, which Mounties coach Shawn Flannigan is a must at center. Treacy has also emerged as a team leader.

“We are really excited about the season because our guys know the system. We are starting to execute pretty well.” — Senior center Billy Treacy

About a dozen plays worth last season.

A year after rushing for 3,843 yards while averaging 7.1 yards a carry, the Mounties will field and entire new offensive line line. In fact, all 11 players that started in the Mounties Class 7A playoff loss at Fort Smith Southside last season have graduated.

"I think Billy got about six varsity reps in real time last season," Flannigan said. "But Billy is a highly intelligent kid, and you want your center to be smart. If anybody doesn't know what to do, Billy can show them what to do. He is the leader on the offensive line."

The seniors are now in the fourth year of operating in the run-oriented offense and Flannigan said that is a plus.

"The offensive lineman are critical to any success but they have this offense down," Flannigan said. "We are still experimenting with people. We do have a bunch of seniors, which is great to see. Then, we have some young guys that are doing some good things. We feel we have some depth at a few positions.

"We have eight guys we can put across the front, it is just figuring out who the first five are going to be."

Treacy said the offensive line has overcome the lack of experience with a strong work ethic that started in the offseason.

"Our guys know the system and we are working hard," Treacy said. "We are all really focused on what we need to do. We are giving a 100 percent every play."

Offensive line coach Rob Bray said Treacy is penciled in at center but the senior is capable of playing any position on the offensive line.

"Smart kid that is always reliable," Bray said. "He has a knack of being around the right spot. We are in a little bit of a rebuilding mode."

Junior Luis Salas (5-11, 252) and seniors Skylar Partain (5-11, 257), Xavier Galdamez (6-1, 267) are currently the top candidates at guard.

"All those guys are working hard," Bray said. "Two of them are seniors,, and they know the expectations that we have."

Brandon Willis (5-11, 172), Jacob Bray (5-10, 175) and Dylan Hagan (6-2, 180) are working at the tackle spots.

"Those are tackle-tight end combination people," Bray said. "We are working all those different combinations right now. We want to create depth, quality depth on the offensive line. We have good kids out there, they just have not proven themselves in varsity games. We just need to get them some experience.

"They only have junior varsity experience, but they are working hard and doing the right things. We are getting better every day."

Sports on 08/11/2014