Second-year signal-caller key to Dolphins’ future

By Joe Mayes  |   Wednesday, May 14, 2008  |  Comments( 2 )

Miami Dolphins
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After a college career during which he was a four-year letterman at a school where going undefeated doesn’t assure you a chance at the national championship, the Miami Dolphins took him in the second round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He is now entering his second season and will be expected to call the signals for what is arguably the most important unit on the field. Every offensive play will start with the ball in his hands.

And unlike quarterback John Beck, he has virtually no competition at his position going into the 2008 season.

After allowing just one quarterback pressure during his senior season at Hawaii, the Dolphins drafted center Samson Satele 60th overall (20 picks behind Beck) last year. Then-head coach Cam Cameron was sufficiently impressed with Satele, and he opened the 2007 season as the starter and stayed there all year, becoming the first rookie center in the franchise’s storied history to start every game and just the fourth first-year lineman to do so.

But the burden will be even greater this year.

With an entirely new coaching staff, Satele will have to learn a whole new offensive system, including all the line calls. The good news is that head coach Tony Sparano is a former offensive line coach who will give Satele all the help he needs to succeed.

Miami's offensive line looks to have three new starters and one starter from last season changing positions. No. 1 draft pick Jake Long is slated to take over at left tackle with Vernon Carey moving back to his 2006 position on the right side. Free-agent pickup Justin Smiley is penciled in at left guard, with fourth-round draft pick Shawn Murphy likely to give Drew Mormino a fight for the right guard position. That means the only offensive line starter projected to return to his 2007 position is Satele.

But all this bodes well for the future of Dolphins football. All six of these linemen are young and big, the kind of foundation Dolphins capo di tutti capi Bill Parcells likes. Carey, at 6-foot-5 and 335 pounds, is the old man of the group and he’ll be just 27 when the 2008 season starts. With Carey, Smiley (26, 6-3, 311) Murphy (25, 6-4, 320), Mormino (25, 6-3, 299), Long (23, 6-7, 315), and Satele (24, 6-3, 300), the Dolphins' offensive line looks to be set for the next decade.

And Satele will be the anchor in the middle who calls the signals and starts every offensive play with the ball in his hands, regardless of who’s on the receiving end of those snaps.
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About Joe Mayes

Joe Mayes is an award-winning writer with credits ranging from national sports columns to local newspapers and commercial and technical writing. Joe is the host of "The Morning Wrap," a morning drive-time sports talk radio show on WTKE-FM in Northwest Florida.
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