OFFENSIVE LINE PREVIEW: FAMILY BUSINESS
It’s official, per Detective Thamel: Dexter Williams is QB1 in Kennesaw. Who’s going to protect him?
A long national mystery has finally come to an end: Dexter Williams will start at quarterback for Kennesaw State this season.
Why are we calling the race now, you ask?
Was it the (exceptional) in-house short documentary following KSU’s QB through a day in his life? Using him as the frontman for a uniform launch? Sending him (and no other QBs) to speak with the media after camp opened? What about the fact that DWII was the first Owls QB to get some NIL $ from KSU and has been the starter since the spring?
No. Detective Pete Thamel settled the debate over the weekend, just as the Owls broke fall camp to get into full game prep mode.
Open and shut case, folks. No surprises here, even if I am still a little overexposed on Touchdown Tommy stock. Now that the QB race has officially crossed the finish line, what other position groups do we actually have questions about?
Anytime an offense looks like this…
…we’re not dealing with a lone gunman. Everyone’s to blame.
We’ve discussed quarterbacks (sorta, I’m hoping to write a longer piece about QB1 before kickoff), running backs, receivers, and tight ends so far in the buildup to Jerry Mack’s first game in charge.
We saved the most important unit for last: the offensive line. Who’s going to protect Williams and the skill guys and get this revamped offense moving in the right direction?
Offensive line play is one of those areas of the game where I’ll have to admit my blind spot. I know enough to be aware of how little knowledge I really have about the five players who are basically sumo wrestling and playing chess at the same time.
I always like throwing some clinics your way to frame position groups within the new system. First, current Tennessee OL coach Glen Elarbee explains some key facets of the power running game that the Owls will try to lean on. There’s a few more in this same series that are worth a watch to understand what KSU wants to accomplish up front, all the way down to the mechanics of lining up at tempo.
And here’s one from Baylor, posted over a decade ago, when Kennesaw State still hadn’t played a football game yet.
The Clements name looks familiar, right? That’s Randy, father of current Owls offensive line coach Jay Clements, talking through blocking for spread offenses. If the Veer and Shoot coaching tree was the Godfather cinematic universe, Randy Clements is probably Tom Hagen — a right-hand man who wasn’t technically part of the Briles family but stuck with Art almost every step of the way from Stephenville High school onward. Jay Clements finished his career as a Baylor tight end before getting into coaching.
His most recent stop? An offensive line analyst at Mississippi State under Briles’ son-in-law, Jeff Lebby. That’s enough Briles talk for today. You can do your own research on that topic.
It’s fitting that Clements followed in his dad’s footsteps, since offensive line requires more unity than any other position group — especially in the portal era. Family bonding becomes a little tougher when you have five new siblings every year.
To look at the room Clements will lead this season in Kennesaw, let’s first take a trip down memory lane to the two-deep for last year’s opener in the Alamodome. We were so young and innocent.
Needless to say, that means there’s a lot of player movement to catch up on:
Key departures — G Ethan Newman (Memphis), C Jacob Norcross (Memphis), T Mason Bowers (Charlotte)
Returning contributors — G/T Seaburn Hines, G JT Pennington
Incoming transfers — Need to take a deep breath before rattling off all these newcomers:
Centers: Josiah Chenault (Howard), Cameron Williams (Alabama A&M)
Guards: Brandon Best (GA Tech), Chase Stevens (Florida), Elijah Zollicoffer (Arkansas State)
Tackles: JaDarious Lee (FIU), Rene Miller (Alcorn State), Nikola Milovac (USF), Chrisdasson Saint-Jean (FAU)
Freshmen — Eseosa Aigbokhae (McDonough, GA), Haston Crawford (Tuscaloosa, AL), Jamiel Williams (Rome, GA), Zamario Woodgett (Smyrna, GA)
Projected starters
Disclaimer: I know absolutely nothing past what Mack says in the media and what kind of Zapruder film the KSU football account posts on social media. Everything else is pure conjecture. This seems like the current lineup, though:
LT: JaDarious Lee | 6’4”, 290 | FIU
LG: Brandon Best | 6’4”, 313 | Georgia Tech
C: Josiah Chenault | 6’3, 302 | Howard
RG: JT Pennington | 6’4”, 321
RT: Nikola Milovac | 6’6”, 314 | USF
Also in the mix: G/T Elijah Zollicoffer (Arkansas State), G/T Seaburn Hines, C Cameron Williams (Alabama A&M), T Rene Miller (Alcorn State)
For a full 30,000-foot view on the state of the offensive line room with an eye on the future, I started to put together these charts on current experience and the long-term prognosis at a couple positions. Yes, I’m aware of how pointless it is to even mention 2030 in an era where college football rosters are built four months at a time.
Remember how much you complained about last year’s line? If three of those guys climbed the ladder to the AAC, that should reframe our expectations pretty quickly as to what’s typically available for instant impact. Mack and the staff still managed to sign nine portal additions up front — most of whom come in with previous experience and/or multiple years of eligibility left. There’s a much wider margin of error than last year, where a couple portal misses/injuries sunk the line from the start.
When you see leaner or unorthodox rooms like the running backs and tight ends, that’s part of the push and pull with resource allocation. Kennesaw needed a complete overhaul up front just to reach a functional level, and there’s not a cheap way to make that happen. Looking at the rest of the portal classes in CUSA, the Owls brought in the league’s biggest OL haul this cycle. WKU added 8 of their own, but nobody else grabbed more than 4 out of the portal.
Offensive tackle seems settled by newcomers: JaDarious Lee, arriving from FIU, manning the left side and Nikola Milovac (USF) on the right. Same with center, where Howard’s 2024 starter Josiah Chenault took over at center during spring ball and looks as close to a lock as possible for the starting job. Behind him, fifth-year senior and Alabama A&M transfer Cameron Williams missed 2024 but has racked up over 2K snaps in his career. Two guys with D1 starting experience at center is a night-and-day difference from last year, when true freshman Jacob Norcross was forced into duty from day one against UTSA.
Milovac at right tackle, in particular, feels like a massive add — figuratively and literally — in that his success could have a knock-on effect for future recruiting efforts. No, there’s not much game action to speak of from his time in Tampa, but he’ll have a much quicker learning curve than most Owls. USF HC Alex Golesh runs the Veer and Shoot, too, serving as Tennessee OC when Mack took the Vols RB job. If Milovac can show up on campus and perform, that bodes well for how future portal talent will look at the Owls. Nobody in the G5 ranks wants to call themselves as a “minor league” team verbatim, but that’s what could happen by showing proof of concept in the offense. You don’t have to call yourself the Cobb Volunteers to take advantage of talent flowing downstream from similar offenses in Knoxville, Tampa, Starkville, etc.
In terms of being an interesting character, how can you beat a Serbian dude who found out about American football from a Facebook ad? Sign me up for a tackle with soccer footwork, too.
My question on Lee is a bit similar to Zollicoffer: How often do teams let starting OL walk out the door for a lateral move? FIU’s coaching change complicated matters, I’m sure, but there was a window in December where he was available for Willie Simmons to get back from the portal. That’s not a value judgment on the redshirt junior; it’s just something worth a little extra thought as we plug him into the starting lineup immediately.
Either way, Lee made his claim on left tackle after enrolling midyear and taking part in spring practice. He’s lined up on both sides during his college career and you’d hope the smaller frame (6’4”, 290) allows for some athleticism when he pulls on counter and dart concepts in the new offense. Just a dumb guy guessing here: Almost feels like he might function like an extra guard in this offense.
If both tackles are settled, what about the actual guard spots? Pennington — and Hines, who’s hit for the non-center OL cycle at Kennesaw — might be the guys Mack would’ve protected in an expansion draft from last year’s roster. For reference:
launched this OL lineup tool over the summer in an effort to quantify success at a position at which fans mostly relies on PFF grades and vibes to decide who’s good and who’s not.All players on a bad offense take a bit of a tax in these rankings, but Hines and Pennington were two of Kennesaw’s top three last year.
Worth noting that Lee ranked 26th in CUSA, while Zollicoffer was 71st in the Sun Belt. No other incoming transfers were ranked, either because of playing in FCS or not qualifying on snap counts.
I’ve heard Fleming, Bud Elliott, and others discuss offensive line as a “weak link” position, where the unit succeeds or fails based on the most vulnerable member of the group. It’s like a boat with a leaking hull. Even if the damage looks small, it’s still sinking the whole ship. Here’s how basketball writer Owen Phillips (who can be found at The F5) describes the idea in hoops terms:
Modern defensive schemes require five defenders to be on the same page, rotating on a string and covering for each others mistakes at a moment’s notice. One weak link in the chain renders all the previous defensive rotations null. It doesn’t matter how good of a one-on-one scorer they are on offense if they look like food to opposing ballhandlers when they’re on defense.
Guess we’re doing Pettway on grass again? Moral of the story is that one guy getting blown up will ruin the play, no matter how well everyone else executes the assignment.
Speaking to that weak-link idea, here’s how the Owls linemen fared at their respective schools last season. Tempo, RPO rate, etc. are obviously not quality indicators, but that’s included for extra context as to how their previous style fits in with what Kennesaw will do on offense this year.
It’s still stunning to see the PA/RPO 9.83% rate for Kennesaw State’s pistol offense that was supposed to major in RPOs last fall.
If you’re worried about pass blocking, I’d echo your concerns to a certain point. I’m just not sure exactly how much of a factor true pass sets will play in early downs in an offense that will be so RPO and screen heavy. Third and long does scare me, though, if DWII doesn’t even have enough time to let the choice routes develop.
Don’t shoot the messenger on these PFF grades, by the way. I don’t think the braintrust at Professional Football Focus will give the portal haul any awards, but again: Good luck to any GM trying to find 9 perfect offensive linemen on our budget. I also don’t know that PFF evaluates FCS and lower G5 games with the sharpest pencil when their national power rankings still only list 131 of the 136 teams in FBS. Coping? Yeah, maybe.
Back to the guard discussion, the continuity from Pennington returning and slotting in between Chenault and Milovac, two guys he’s worked with all offseason, is probably too much to pass up for an offense that mostly consist of new faces. That probably pushes him over the edge battling with a couple guys who came in after spring ball. For what it’s worth, the Marietta Daily Journal’s feature story on Pennington and the line talked about the guard lining up next to Milovac, which sets him up on the right side.
Could I sell you on Best, one of those other summer enrollees, at the other spot? A sample size of 34 career offensive snaps probably won’t sway you. There’s still enough of a pedigree from his time as a 3 star recruit, with other offers from Kansas State, Virginia Tech. Brent Key, a certified offensive line coach, was listed as his lead recruiter for GT, too. Watching Kennesaw’s practice clips like Zapruder film, Best has worked his way into some practice reps with the ones, at least. If you opt for continuity with Pennington, that opens a pathway to treat the other guard spot like a draft and go Best Player Available.
We might be following the lead of a CUSA opponent, too. Jax State OL coach Rick Trickett, who previously swooped into Georgia’s P4 ranks to grab an unused Clay Webb from UGA, vied for Best’s services in the portal, too. Webb turned into a fringe All-American type player who signed as an undrafted free agent after wrapping up his Gamecocks career. Did Trickett see something similar in Best?
Georgia Tech’s creative, advanced run concepts under OC Buster Faulkner would also point to Best being comfortable doing more than just spamming inside zone. He’s repped enough counter, power, RPOs, and QB run game that Militello probably didn’t stump him with any of the install during fall camp.
If Zollicoffer misses out on a starting role to kick off the season, his G5 experience at both guard and tackle would make him a valuable sixth man off the bench for a line that will need the extra bodies to hold up to the extreme tempo.
Mack talked to the media during camp about “seeing what sticks” among his offensive linemen. He was less concerned with finding a starting five, and more about his top seven or eight. That opens up a spot or two for utility guys like Zollicoffer and Hines to get some snaps, regardless of how the preseason battles for starting jobs finish.
Verdict: Size matters, both for the height and weight for individual lineman and the numbers in the room. I feel pretty confident that this group will play better than last year after bringing in some extra experience and more bodies, period. We just don’t know how much better yet.
That’s the same story almost everywhere on this team, I guess. Whatever happens, a lot of credit’s due to Mack and his staff (particularly the personnel dept.) for loading up at premium positions of need in a tough portal market.
PS from Hootcorp headquarters: Thanks to the guys over at the Owl Chat Podcast for having me on this week’s season preview episode. Jumping on the mic was a first for me, and I have a newfound respect for anybody offering up takes without the ability to self-edit 10K words beforehand.
I also have to acknowledge the unintentional humor in bringing on a decorated football alum/professional broadcaster and pairing him with a guy who blogs about the Owls every couple months or so.
Anyway, take a listen and let us know what you think. Maybe the Hootcast will get rolling one of these days, too. Who knows.