Roster Snapshot: Center and Guards

No. Player Position Ht/Wt Year
51 Tony Morales Guard/Center 6-3/295 Senior
72 Jack Reichel Guard 6-5/290 Junior
74 Cole Collier Guard 6-1/300 Junior
76 Paul Stawarz Guard 6-5/295 Junior
61 Colin Yang Guard 6-2/290 RS Freshman
66 John Gerold Guard 6-3/270 RS Freshman
71 Bailey Smith Guard 6-5/300 Sophomore
75 Giovani Pancotti Guard 6-5/280 RS Freshman
68 Grant Caravelli Guard 6-3/290 Sophomore
Jacob Hines Guard 6-4/325 Junior
Jack Anderson Guard/Center 6-5/300 Freshman
Dawson Deaton Guard/Center 6-5/290 Freshman

By my count, there’s eight scholarship guards and/or centers (Morales, Reichel, Stawarz, Smith, Pancotti, Hines, Anderson and Deaton) and three of those eight are arriving in the spring semester, Hines, Anderson and Deaton.

Graduated is Baylen Brown, who played really everywhere his senior year, but he should have just played guard this past year. He was probably best at that spot.

ROSTER RECAP: The Graduates | The Juniors | Defensive Line | Linebackers | Safeties | Cornerbacks

And I’ve included Morales here as a guard even though he played center the entire year. Morales is, I think, on his seventh year of eligibility due to injuries. I know that some of you weren’t real pleased with how Morales played last year, but unless Deaton or Anderson come on strong and push Morales out of his spot, then I could certainly see Morales keeping his spot.

And for me, the interior of the offensive line is really going to be interesting and the most important moving forward. Teams ravaged the perimeter just as much as they ravaged the interior of the line, so it has to shore up. I really don’t know who is going to get the call because I really don’t have a clue about who is going to step up. I wasn’t super excited about the play of anyone on the line, so if the entire group gets a significant shake-up, I’d be fine with that.

Let’s watch #73 and #53.

So, here’s the two star freshmen and the thing about both of them is that Anderson, #53, is ridiculously athletic for the position that he plays and Deaton, #73, is also fairly nimble, but Anderson is just on a different level. I remember watching film last year and thinking that Pancotti could be a guy that steps up this year with Smith needing the most work. But overall, I’m at a bit of a loss as to who will emerge during the spring. I can say that I’m happy that Anderson and Deaton will be getting those reps, but it makes me quite nervous to consider two true freshman starting protecting Shimonek.

Back To Top