‘They’re big guys.’ MGCCC football built an offensive line that stands tall on any level.
As Les George surveyed the room during the first in-person group meeting of his offensive linemen ahead of the new season, the sheer size of the players made him realize that his 2020 group has a shot to be something special.
“The first thing I thought is, ‘Man, I can’t screw this thing up,’” the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College offensive line coach said.
MGCCC head coach Jack Wright and George have pieced together perhaps one of the largest college offensive line depth charts regardless of competition level.
Of the 10 players on the two-depth chart, none weigh less than 305 pounds. The average weight for the group is 325 pounds.
A 2016 story by SBNation.com showed that the Oakland Raiders had the NFL’s largest offensive line that season with an average of 331 pounds. Georgia last season was widely considered to have the nation’s top college offensive line and that group checked in at 330 pounds.
And when you factor in players’ heights, that’s where the MGCCC linemen separate themselves from the rest of the junior college programs in the state and others at the FBS level.
MGCCC’s top 10 offensive linemen average 6-5 and the top four tackles have an average height of 6-6½.
“Sometimes I have to get back a little bit further because of those tackles,” MGCCC 6-2, 210 pound freshman quarterback Philip Short said. “We’ve got some huge tackles. It’s the biggest O-line I’ve played with, probably seen in my life.
“They create big holes in the run game and they pass protect. What else do you need them to do?”
Just how big is the offensive line?
The largest offensive lineman on the roster is South Pike product Kelin Williams, a freshman who checks in at 6-8, 400 pounds. Three other Bulldogs stand nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with Williams, including starting left tackle Keshawn Moore (6-7, 350), backup left tackle Percy Lewis (6-8, 350) and freshman backup right tackle Peyton McKinion (6-7, 310).
Sophomore starting right guard Quincy McGee, who is 6-4, 325 pounds, is considered the leader of the group. As a South Alabama commit, he is one of three starting linemen who have committed to an FBS program. Moore, a sophomore, has also committed to South Alabama and sophomore starting left guard Hayden Shook has committed to Tulane.
The two other starters on the line are freshmen — right tackle Carson Williams (6-4, 305), who is an Arkansas State transfer, and Jacob Cox, a 6-3, 315-pound center who was wanted by just about every junior college in the state out of Amory.
Williams already has an offer from Deion Sanders’ Jackson State program.
Any team would love to have a line as big as MGCCC’s, but it takes more than size to play for the Bulldogs.
“You’ve got to be able to move and be able to bend,” George said. “If you get all big guys that can’t move, it’s going to be 3 yards and a cloud of dust all the time.”
MGCCC dominates recruiting trail
As last season’s national champion, MGCCC is one of the nation’s top junior college programs, allowing George to beat out the state’s other junior colleges for the biggest and the best players who don’t sign with Division 1 schools.
“It’s just the recruiting market that’s out there,” George said. “We get film of offensive linemen from throughout the state and evaluate them. This was the year we had some big guys in state.
“They’re big guys, athletic guys that we’re excited about.”
George can point to a record of success that includes sending 13 former linemen to the FBS level. That includes Martinas Rankin, who was a standout lineman at Mississippi State and started five games at left tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs last year before a knee injury ended his season early.
For George, it’s all about making sure each prospect he recruits understands that he’s going to help them reach their potential.
“At the end of the day, you look at the facts,” he said. “When the recruits look at that, it’s not hard to recruit to Gulf Coast. From top to bottom, it’s a phenomenal program.”
One part of George’s recruiting pitch that can’t be underestimated is MGCCC’s all-you-can-eat cafeteria.
“That’s definitely a plus,” he said. “These guys come on campus. They see the food and we tell them it’s all you can eat. Then, we start talking nutrition and how to manage that.”
Short jokes that his offensive linemen probably have a daily calorie intake “probably over 1 million.”
“We eat a lot,” Shook acknowledged. “We have two or three plates, usually get a main course, go to the grill, get a hamburger. We just chow down.”
Bulldogs find players from all over
The offensive linemen on Gulf Coast’s roster come from all over — including Class 6A Clinton, where backup center Jimmy Bennett (6-2, 320) played, and Class 1A McAdams, where Lewis played.
When George pulled up Lewis’s McAdams highlight reel, he was amazed by what the 6-8 Lewis did at the tiny Attala County school that has a student body of about 180.
“Man, it looked like he was just out there with a bunch of middle school kids having fun,” said George, who also played on the line at MGCCC. “He was on offense and defense, but he just stood out as soon as you turned on the tape … geez. That kid, you watch his feet and his athleticism. It’s a rare thing when you see a guy that moves that well with length and upper body strength.”
Lewis is part of a second-string unit that George has confidence in.
“I think Percy Lewis is going to be a special player,” he said. “You see really good, natural talent from Zacchaeus Williams (6-4, 320). All those guys are right there on the heels of the first group. Kyle Bruce (6-4, 345) and Peyton McKinion, all those guys are going to see time.”
Gulf Coast relies on rushing attack
With Short and fellow freshman DeCarlos Nicholson still establishing themselves at quarterback, MGCCC has relied on its ground game to set the tone early this season.
The Bulldogs (2-0) have rushed for 629 yards and six touchdowns on 103 carries with sophomore Arkansas State commit Deondre House leading the way with 45 rushes for 366 yards and four TDs.
The 5-9, 180-pound House can easily get lost working behind his mammoth line.
“It’ll be hard to find him sometimes in practice because he’s so short,” MGCCC sophomore linebacker Mike Smith (6-1, 225 pounds) said. “He’s almost 5 yards past the line of scrimmage before we finally see him.”
MGCCC, which is riding an 18-game winning streak, has this week off after Thursday’s game was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns at Copiah-Lincoln. The game is now scheduled for Nov. 19 in Perkinston.
After that, the Bulldogs play Nov. 22 at East Central (1-1). If it is to mount a second straight undefeated season, MGCCC will need a strong ground game centered around House and his towering offensive line.
