SU’s Browning worked magic with the line

By Darrell Laurant  |   Wednesday, November 26, 2008  |  Comments( 1 )

College Football
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No matter how the fallout from the firing of Syracuse University football coach Greg Robinson eventually settles out, chances are offensive coordinator Mitch Browning will land on his feet. Somewhere.

A competition for Assistant of the Year among Big East coaches could include a number of strong candidates. Ron English came down from Michigan to turn the Louisville defense from porous to pugnacious (except for the West Virginia game). Greg Forest, the quarterback coach at Cincinnati, had to tutor four different starting quarterbacks this season. There are others.

Still, it would be hard to top what Mitch Browning accomplished this season with an offensive line that was arguably the worst in the nation in 2007. The transformation was nothing short of remarkable.

Last year, before Browning's arrival, the Orange fielded a forward wall with too many freshmen (three) and too much girth. As far as quarterback Andrew Robinson was concerned, his "protectors" could just as well have been five large statues planted in front of him. Opponents gleefully dashed around and through the largely immobile Orange "bigs" and sacked the unfortunate Robinson a mind-bending (as well as torso-bending) 54 times.

As for run blocking, the Orange backs averaged 2.0 yards a carry in 2007 -- about the distance they would cover simply by falling forward. All season, the ground attack (if it could be called that) amassed just 753 yards. LaDainian Tomlinson used to get that in two games.

Enter Browning, offensive coordinator at Minnesota when the Gophers averaged 490 yards a game in 2005. He was given much of the responsibility for the O-line, and the first thing he said to that unit -- in so many words -- was: "You guys are fat."

So he worked them hard during the spring, and motivated them to keep up that regimen during the summer, and the linemen reported for fall practice an average of 15 to 20 pounds lighter.

The nice thing about coaching an offensive line is that it offers perhaps the best opportunity for quick improvement. It's hard, if not impossible to make skill-position players faster, or quarterbacks' arms stronger, or defensive linemen and linebackers meaner.

But you can take the average 6-foot-4, 300-pounder into the gym and make him stronger and quicker. You can spend hours going over film and technique, to the point where your linemen know exactly what their responsibilities are. And it will show, sooner rather than later.

Last season, almost every down was a passing down, because the Orange backs simply could not run between the tackles. There were no holes there.

Last season, featured back Curtis Brinkley rushed for 371 yards (3.3 per carry) and two touchdowns. This year, with one game left to play, he has already topped 1,000 yards and scored seven times.

Even more revealing was the performance of true freshman back Antwon Bailey in last week's 24-23 upset of Notre Dame -- 126 rushing yards and a touchdown. When multiple backs make an impact, it means the line is doing its job.

And so was Mitch Browning. He's just not sure where he'll be doing that job next year.

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