‘A team within a team’: Wheaton Warrenville South’s offensive line is a close group

It’s like these guys were meant for this football feature series.

“The offensive line, it’s a team within a team. It’s just one group of hardworking boys trying to create the win for the team,” said Wheaton Warrenville South left tackle Jake Winters.

Entering Week 8 they’ve succeeded more often than not.

WW South’s starting offensive front — Winters, left guard Ryan Freeding, center Angel Salcido, right guard Oliver Glover and right tackle Rory Massé — has helped the Tigers to a 4-3 record.

They’ve paved the way for running back Owen Yorke to rush for more than 1,000 yards and protected quarterback Luca Carbonaro long enough to pass for more than 1,100 yards.

“That doesn’t happen without these guys,” Tigers coach Sean Norris said in an all-program meeting after WW South gained 270 yards on the ground in last week’s 27-14 win over Lake Park.

“That happens because these guys are selfless. They work hard and they put their teammates in a position to have success. That’s just the embodiment of the offensive line,” said Norris, most appreciative of trenchmen after starring at quarterback for Wheaton North and Wheaton College.

In fact, Winters — a team co-captain, he was selected to wear jersey No. 77, a premier program honor as that was Red Grange’s number — prefers anonymity as long as they’re getting the job done.

“I know some people love publicity. That’s just not us. I feel like the unit, all of us, would just like to work in silence,” Winters said.

The Unit … That again speaks to the point of this “Team Within the Team” series: primarily units, or position groups, that help comprise or support a football team.

“The Unit” was the nickname Tigers’ offensive line coach and Geneva graduate Joey Wagner gave WW South’s offensive linemen the past two seasons at an overnight team camp at Carthage College.

“It really just embodies what it means to be a Tiger offensive lineman,” said Massé, with Winters a senior alongside juniors Freeding, Glover and Salcido.

“You’ve got to trust your guys, trust those around you, work together as one cohesive unit,” Massé said.

“We do everything together. We eat together at team meals, do conditioning together, run sprints, roomed with each other at Carthage.”

Unlike Wagner, 285 pounds when he played center at Geneva in 2014, this group’s 230-pound average is undersized these days at the high school level. That places a premium on communication, execution and unity.

Wagner, who played at Aurora University, favors technique, athleticism, cohesiveness and trust over size on the offensive line.

Technique, Wagner said, is “really the foundation of being an offensive lineman. You can have the biggest, strongest kid on the field but if he doesn’t have the right tools for the job or isn’t using them properly he won’t have as much success as an offensive lineman who is.”

In early offensive possessions the Tigers will find what plays work and what don’t, and they’ll hit the winners hard until their opponent can stop them.

Against Lake Park they used a pulling guard to block the front-side linebacker plus down-blocking to “wash” out the defensive line and open a gap for Yorke behind them, Massé said.

In pass protection, depending on the play call, three linemen may each be assigned to a specific gap and whoever comes to that gap they’ll pick up and push outside, keeping the pocket clean for Carbonaro. The other two linemen are responsible for a specific defender.

“So it’s like half-man, half-zone,” Massé said.

Blown plays or missed assignments are handled instructively rather than by pointing fingers. Accountability, Winters said, is critical on the offensive line. Errors are shared — as are successes.

Because this is The Unit.

“When one person makes a mistake,” Winters said, “in a way, it’s all of us.”