STILLWATER – I’m well aware as a reporter covering Oklahoma State football the concern that fans, hardcore Cowboy football fans have over the welfare and the prognosis of the offensive line. Last spring had fans really in a panic when there were only seven healthy offensive linemen at the end of spring. No spring game because of the offensive line shortage. That’s why I spend extra time watching the offensive line. I try to get around offensive line coach Charlie Dickey and be aware of what is going on. Try to know what he is thinking. I talk to other coaches and the consensus is the offensive line is not just okay. They have a chance to be pretty good. Quarterback Spencer Sanders seems more than happy with the starting five. His opinion matters, since they are protecting him.
Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics
Springfield in last spring’s Spring Finale.
Your starting offensive line is left tackle Caleb Etienne, left guard Taylor Miterko, center Preston Wilson, right guard Hunter Woodard, and right tackle Jake Springfield. The 6-5, 310-pound Springfield, a former walk-on is described as a player that never misses the assignment. He knows who he is supposed to block. His technique is good, but sometimes he gets it done unconventional, maybe not as pretty as it could be, but the bottom line is he gets his man blocked.
“That is very important to me to be consistent as possible through camp,” Springfield said. “I don’t want to have one really good day and then have a bad day. I try to keep stacking good days. I’m going to have a bad day eventually, and when I do, I just try to be a goldfish and forget about it.”
Not many (bad days), Springfield takes a tremendous amount of pride in being an offensive linemen, they all do. He’s started 16 games in his career after being awarded a scholarship. He’s played a big role in helping the 6-7, 320-pound Etienne. Etienne when he arrived was overweight and shaking off football rust after the COVID season followed his red-shirt season in junior college. He really hadn’t played much football since high school in New Orleans. Head coach Mike Gundy said he’s come a long way with help from Rob Glass and the strength staff, Dickey, and his offensive line teammates.
Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics
Caleb Etienne taking on Tyler Lacy in practice.
"The good news is he's been able to go out and practice against those good defensive ends that we have and let them kick his butt,” Gundy said of Etienne’s Stillwater school of hard knocks. “And so, we have two choices when we're getting our butt kicked: we can turn and run or we can fight back. That's the only two choices we have in life. He's fighting back now. So, he falls in the same category as what he mentioned is, now three weeks from now he needs to be better. Five weeks from now he needs to continue to improve and learn that it's okay to be really, really physical and grind and I think he'll become a decent player."
Springfield says that he too has benefitted from going against that defensive line group, particularly those “Leo” ends that earned All-Conference and freshman All-American honors last season.
”It's really good to go against guys like Brock (Martin), Trace (Ford), Collin (Oliver) that really bring their A-game every day at practice,” Springfield added. “It's helped me through this fall camp getting reps against them. It's helped all of us. I can see from my spring ball to now I knew what I needed to work on, and I was able to accomplish it this fall camp."
He also complimented Etienne, knowing how it isn’t easy to break into that starting fraternity on the offensive front.
"He's doing some really good stuff. He's been working his whole butt off this whole camp. We all have just to get better every day, and I'm excited to see what he does and what we all do this season."
I feel like I’ve noticed a special close-knit camaraderie with this offensive line. Last season and the season before that Josh Sills was a demonstrative leader that could overshadow the group. Make no mistake, the best offensive lines are one for all and all for one.
“We’ve always been a close group, I mean always,” Springfield countered my question some. “We had new guys come in and we’ve integrated them into the system. We feel like we’ve always been close each year. This year it may appear we are closer. Every year we’ve been a close and cohesive group on the offensive line.”
This season nobody will believe it until they see it. I believe they will see it starting on Thursday in Boone Pickens Stadium.
