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Seminoles pin offense's revival on line's play

With an inexperienced quarterback but solid running backs, FSU needs the players up front to shine.

TALLAHASSEE - Florida State offensive line coach Mark McHale knows the perception.

"You normally think of Marshall as pass, pass, pass," he said of his most recent job before coming here in February to replace long-time assistant Jimmy Heggins.

Well, that'll happen when you work with a guy such as quarterback Byron Leftwich. But the measure of McHale's coaching and game planning can be found in looking at how Marshall moved the ball without a future NFL quarterback.

In 2003, the Thundering Herd relied more heavily on the run and Earl Charles (1,039 yards on 205 carries). As a team, Marshall averaged 196 yards rushing, 20th nationally and first in the Mid-American Conference.

So much for perception.

"You've got to do what you've got to do to survive," McHale said.

At FSU, the goal isn't just to survive; it's to thrive. Again. Long renowned for offensive fireworks, FSU last season averaged 372.5 yards (61st nationally) and 25.2 points (57th), its worst figures since 1981 (349.4 yards, 21.8 points).

Entering Monday's opener against Miami, the offense is loaded with question marks: Redshirt freshman quarterback and former Land O'Lakes High star Drew Weatherford, a largely inexperienced, unproven receiving corps and a rebuilt, unheralded line.

The strength, at least based on past performance, is at running back with senior Leon Washington, who led the ACC at 95.1 yards a game (951 yards) and was the Gator Bowl MVP with 195 yards, and junior Lorenzo Booker, who gained 887 yards. Lamar Lewis and Jamaal Edwards showed promise as freshmen, and newcomer Antone Smith has turned heads in practice.

"I think we have some of the best tailbacks in the country," Washington said.

Defenses are sure to know that and likely will make stopping the run their first priority. So what's FSU to do? Well, part of the answer is the play-calling of oft-criticized offensive coordinator Jeff Bowden, who will rely heavily on McHale's input.

"He's coached in games against better teams and been able to win, putting together winning plans and some pretty strong running games," said Bowden, who worked with McHale at Southern Miss in 1991. "I'm going to lean on him for some good thoughts on the running game; what we need to be doing and what we don't need to be doing and how we need to do it formation wise."

That brings us to McHale's main impact. He immediately went to work remaking the way FSU blocked. Without giving away the playbook, the newer schemes should help the Seminoles better handle blitzes and defenses that crowd the line with eight or nine men. They also should be tougher to figure out.

"It helps with the formations and gives you more wrinkles," said senior offensive guard Matt Meinrod, the former East Lake High standout who sustained a season-ending knee injury in the third quarter of last year's opener against Miami.

The Seminoles have had so few wrinkles, you'd have thought they were an ad for Botox.

"We'll definitely be a lot more flexible and be able to adjust (more quickly)," senior center David Castillo said.

Even with Washington and Booker and a future first-round pick at tackle in Alex Barron, the Seminoles struggled at times to get their running game moving forward. They had 57 yards against Miami (on 35 attempts), 50 against Maryland, 48 against N.C. State and 34 against Florida.

FSU gained 1.4 yards per rush in those games.

FSU lost three of those games.

"We're doing some different things, and they're working pretty well," Washington said.

"If you don't block, I don't care what you do anymore," coach Bobby Bowden said. "It all comes down to blocking."

To a man, with all due respect to Heggins, the linemen say they came into the fall practices better prepared to thrive. In the team's first scrimmage, the starting offensive line had one missed assignment and one penalty.

"We've watched a lot of film, a lot of NFL film," Castillo said. "And Coach McHale loves to meet. I think we meet more than the NFL does. But the way we've played as an offensive line the last couple of years, we needed to. It's going to help us."

He and his teammates better hope it does. After No.9 Miami, the Seminoles host the Citadel on Sept.10 then go to No.22 Boston College, the newest member of the ACC, for a crucial Atlantic division game.

"As these quarterbacks here get game experience under their belts, you're going to see them shine," McHale said. "But the load's going to be up front at the start."