Beckley faced a daunting task this past offseason – replacing four starters along the offensive line.
Six games in the new crop of Flying Eagles are doing well for themselves.
The boys up front paved the way for the Flying Eagles last Thursday as Beckley accumulated 319 yards of total offense, 240 of which came on the ground in a 50-13 over Preston.
For their efforts, the Flying Eagles offensive linemen have been named the Week 6 Offensive Line of the week.
Isaac Lambert (LT), Tyler Hunt (LG), Keandre Goode (C), Ryan Suggs (C), Drake Bowling (RG) and Ja’Marques Manns (RT) played along the front for the Flying Eagles in their fifth win of the season.
The circumstances of the Week 6 victory were abnormal, playing at Preston at 4 p.m. on a Thursday due to the Buckwheat Festival but head coach Street Sarrett couldn’t have been more pleased with how his team handled the situation.
“What I liked about it was our team as whole with the age that we are traveled well and handled it,” Sarrett said. “Usually when you have young guys like we do they take a long trip like that like a field trip or a fun trip but they were locked in. We went right in and threw the ball for a touchdown and protected (QB) Devin (Richardson) pretty well and we were able to get a lot of play-action things going and it really opened things up for us.”
To be 5-1 at this point is remarkable considering the turnover the Flying Eagles have had along their front but speaks to the dedication the current group showed during offseason workouts and weightlifting.
“That group we had last year, we had to replace everybody except one guy,” Sarrett said. “They had good leadership from those guys and they take pride in playing on the line. Those guys I just mentioned right there, they probably had 98 percent attendance in our offseason weight program and through the summer they showed up every day and worked. They’re just getting a little better each week. They still make some young guys mistakes but they’re improving.”
A different dimension this year’s group is excelling at is pass blocking.
Last year’s team threw for only 303 yards. This year’s has picked up 616 already. It’s been a testament to not only the improvement of first-year starter but also the first-year starters blocking for him.
“Last year we were more run oriented and this year we started out that way,” Sarrett said. “We wanted to get Devin some confidence and as he’s gotten better our o-line has gotten better at pass blocking. Its a work in progress and hopefully we keep getting better and better.”
