Robinson High Offensive Line: The Heart of the Knights

The 2012 Robinson High football team returns an unprecedented veteran group of offensive linemen who head coach Mike Depue calls the strength of his team.

"This is the deepest, most experienced group of linemen we've had here at Robinson," DePue said.

All five starters from 2011 return, along with two reserves who play regularly. Six are seniors, one is a junior.

"I put them with any offensive line in this town," said DePue. "They are experienced, knowledgeable and nasty. They will help the running backs have an extemely good year, and they will make the quarterbacks feel well-protected."

Miscues on the offensive line can make the best desgined play look bad. It's one area DePue doesn't expect to have to worry about very much this fall.

"Any one of them is capable to pick up schemes and make calls at the line," he said.

The outside tackles are rising seniors Conner Rafferty (6-foot-4, 270 pounds) and Brooks Lovely (6-3, 235). Rafferty is a seasoned vet, now in his third year on varsity. Lovely is just getting back from an ACL tear he sustained in January. According to DePue he's, "ahead of schedule."

"I'm excited about this group," Lovely said. "We all know each other's strengths and weaknesses, we know the defenses we're gonna play, and we trust each other."

The starting guards will most likely be rising seniors Ted Kelly (6-2, 280) and Bruce Hector (6-3, 260). Kelly is a citizen as well as an athlete — this past week he was away in Pennsylvannia working with the Eagle Scouts.

"(Ted) was a kid that when he got here, we didn't think he would play, but he's proved it through all his hard work that he earned that spot," offensive line coach Shawn Taylor said.

Hector is the most sought-after out of the bunch by college recruiters, although it's more for his skills on the defensive line, where he's also a starter at end. after also fielding scholarship offers from Akron, Ball State, Tennessee State, Bowling Green and Florida Atlantic. Taylor likes his "quickness off the ball and agility."

"I'm so excited, I expect to do even better than last year," Hector said. "We should dominate on the field."

At center and long-snapper are rising seniors Ryan Woehler and Chris Duvall, an International Baccalaureate student who just last weekend at the USF Sling and Shoot earned himself a preferred walk-on offer to USF.

"(Duvall's) got the best technique of the group," Taylor said.

Woelert is the backup center and also the long-snapper on special teams.

"There's a bond," said Woelert of he and his offensive line cohorts. "We've been together, we hang out together, we play NCAA football on PlayStation together."

"We all started in JV together, came up together, this is a special year for us," said Duvall.

The tight end position is still up for grabs, according to DePue, but early indications from both DePue and Taylor are that rising senior John Taylor has the inside track. Rising senior Andres Nader and rising junior David Mills will also see action.

All that power up front falls right in line with what Robinson likes to do: run the football. The Knights passed 123 times and ran 294 last season.

"We might be even more of a run team this year than last year," said DePue.