Experienced, healthy O-line looks to be Rebels’ backbone

By Ryan Greene

Friday, April 17, 2009 | 2:10 a.m.

Omar Clayton won't have any reason to fear for his life -- or actually any stinging pain at all -- tonight at UNLV's annual spring game.

Quarterbacks such as the Rebels junior are off-limits to contact in the spring finale at 6 p.m. at Sam Boyd Stadium.

But, Clayton hopes, that aspect of the scrimmage will have a striking resemblance to live action come this fall.

Contact or no contact, he knows he'll be playing behind one of the Mountain West Conference's most experienced and cohesive offensive lines.

"The biggest thing you want to have overall as an offense is chemistry, and a lot of the time the offensive linemen are the closest guys on the team, the closest unit," Clayton said. "And that's definitely the case for our guys. For myself, knowing that those guys are protecting me, I definitely feel comfortable."

While Clayton's arm and his rhythm with his reads and receivers will be what most fans at Sam Boyd Stadium keep close tabs on Friday night, the line will hope to give him as much time as possible to deliver and avoid having plays get blown dead.

"When you play a lot of games together, everything starts to mix and you know what the other guys are going to think, what's going to happen and how it's going to play out," said junior right tackle Evan Marchal. "The wealth of experience over the years has really built up, and over the spring everything kept building. We're pretty much working as one now."

It's easier for the group to find that groove when the pieces have been working together for as long as they have.

Marchal, junior left tackle Matt Murphy, junior center John Gianninoto and senior right guard Joe Hawley all started up front a year ago, only allowing 14 quarterback sacks in 12 games.

That number ranked 15th nationally and second in the MWC behind only Air Force, who only threw the ball 138 times compared to UNLV's 385 attempts.

Clayton, who started nine of UNLV's 12 games in 2008 before having his season cut short due to a torn MCL while running the ball against TCU, says that stability is priceless.

"I think a lot of the time, quarterbacks are in the situation where their offensive lines aren't that good, and it messes up your whole game," he said. "It's a heavy burden on you when you have to worry about those big defensive guys and linemen just coming through or blitzes not getting picked up. Those guys you see throwing for immense amounts of yards -- guys like (Oklahoma's) Sam Bradford or (Florida's) Tim Tebow -- they're playing great, but they just sit back there and distribute the ball because they have those great offensive lines.

"The better our offensive line is, the better we're gonna play."

The ability to function as one doesn't just come from the practice field, either.

Hawley, Marchal and Gianninoto share an off-campus apartment, with Murphy living right down the hall in their building.

The group goes on grocery shopping outings at Costco, and once a week gets together for an all-you-can-eat Sushi deal.

Yes, 300-pound linemen filling up on raw fish, rice and seaweed.

"When they see them coming, I'm sure they think 'We're not getting our money's worth on this deal,' " UNLV coach Mike Sanford joked. "We have a bunch of guys that hang out together and like being together, and that's a huge thing. I think it's awesome. Those guys like each other."

What will also help heading out of spring ball and into fall camp is that the line starts on a clean slate in terms of health.

Marchal, who battled a handful of ankle woes a year ago, is back to 100 percent, as is Gianninoto.

The only wild card is at the left guard spot, where redshirt freshman Sean Tesoro -- who Sanford raved about a year ago on the scout team -- is currently atop the depth chart.

Behind him is junior Ramsey Feagai, Murphy's roommate who drew plenty of praise during the spring practice season.

The four returning starters have worked as a unit so far in making sure the hole gets plugged without a hitch.

Part of that is buying into what the veterans want to accomplish next season on top of what they already have.

"I think we just need to be more physical and dominating," Hawley said. "We need to physically dominate every play and the line of scrimmage because we have a chance to be a really good offensive line. It just depends on what we do with it."