Tigers' O-Line: Pushing the team forward

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When people think about their favorite football player, the star quarterback, the fast running back and even the big-play wideout usually top the list.
The neglected players are often the offensive linemen, the men who provide protection for the skill positions.
Although these five players are the least talked about because of the lack of statistics for this position, their role as protectors plays a huge part in the Tigers overall performance.
"It starts with us and it ends with us," said junior Craig Neece as he describes how the offensive linemen lead the game.
Neece, junior Daniel Howard, sophomores Kody Bontreger, Taylor Shellman and Hunter Logan, make up DePauw's five starting offensive linemen. They work as a unit on a day-to-day basis in order to build cohesion.
Some of them first started playing football in elementary school, so they are used to the hard grind of football practice six days a week.
Logan enjoys how, as an offensive lineman, he is involved in every aspect of the game.
"When people think about football the first thing they think about is hitting people and you get to do that on every single play," Logan said.
Unlike other players, such as the wide receiver, Logan said they get to do their job and begin every offensive play. 
The offensive linemen find that the most rewarding part of their position is the physical contact they have in the trenches when battling the defensive unit.
"I love being physical [and] getting under everybody's skin," Neece said. "If you could just upset and ruin somebody else's day, then there's nothing like that."
But because of the strength they need to be successful, their work never ends.
"As soon as the old season is over, the new season begins and getting stronger is a big part of it," Bontreger said.
The line is looking forward to a bit of a break though. Shellman said he uses his free time after the season ends to recover from the injuries he has accumulated.
"I've been told I need to take three to four weeks to heal and then I'm back doing lifting, getting bigger, faster [and] stronger," he said.
Since playing on the offensive line requires the players to be big and strong to effectively do their job, they must lift and eat a lot.
The players all eat food that helps them gain "good weight," such as meats, vegetables and carbohydrates.
"I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy," Howard said. Shellman likes snacking on almonds while Logan has incorporated a lot of chocolate milk into his diet to gain weight.
With all the lifting, eating and general roughness involved with the job, the players often deal with the negative misconceptions people have about their position.
"Linemen aren't just the big guys that stand in the way of people," said Neece. Instead, his peers on the offfensive line must understand all of the offensive formations, so their jobs of protecting and facilitating offensive efficiency can be achieved.
"We're actually one of the smartest positions besides the quarterback," said Shellman. The offensive line must recognize the defense's plays, their pre-snap shifts and be on their toes for defensive audibles throughout the game.
Shellman said that the talent on the offensive line has been a major factor in the team's improving offensive statistics.
"We're scoring a lot more than we did last year, we're putting points on the board which is good," Shellman said.
The players are putting up an average of about 20 to 25 points.
While the players like a good win, they also remember the low-points in the 2013 season. All the players agreed that the loss in their second game against Wittenberg University was the hardest.
"We came in against Wittenberg and the team got beat up pretty good and I got beat up pretty good," Logan said.
In his first game of the season against Sewanee: University of the South, Logan felt like "the big man on campus" after playing his personal best, but felt the blow to his self esteem after the team's loss against Wittenberg.
Despite some losses, the linemen are still confident about their strengths and still believe they could help push the team to victory.
"As we go the whole team goes," Neece said. "If we're playing well our whole team is going to play well."