Going into spring drills, it was almost a given that the big guys up front would be the strength of the San Diego State football team.
And for the better part of two weeks, they have been. However, it hasn’t been the line you’re probably thinking of.
The most dominating line this spring hasn’t been the one opening holes it’s been the one closing them.
“The way we’re playing right now I think is a tribute to all the work we put in during the winter,” defensive tackle Cameron Chance said. “We had a real strong commitment to improving ourselves and we really worked hard.”
Heading into spring drills there was great uncertainty as to just how well the D-line would perform after losing Adrian Ioja, its only real pass-rushing threat.
However, with one practice left and one final scrimmage this Friday, the defensive line has more than asserted itself this spring as a force to be reckoned with come next fall.
“They’re doing well this spring. They look good and strong,” left tackle Ephraim Salaam said.
This group of pass rushers and run stoppers consists of Atonio Santos, Charles Gatlin, Dan Dorsey, Darryl Jones, Antwone Young, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamilla and Chance.
With all seven rotating and getting an equal amount of snaps this spring, no four players have stood out over the other three. And with seven competing for only four positions, it could be assumed that tempers would start to flare and blood begin to heat up.
However, it has been anything but for this group.
“Everybody’s motivation is to go out on the field and start,” Santos said. “But there’s definitely no ill feelings among any of us about who’s going to start. We’re a family.”
The competition between this family has been so great and so intense this spring that one player may line up with the first team one day, then come right back with the second team the next.
“I started off with the first team and the next week I was with the second team because I didn’t perform the way I should have,” Gbaja-Biamilla said. “Not one of us is relaxing out on the field because the competition for a starting job won’t let us.”
It’s a starting job which only Gbaja-Biamilla, Dorsey, Chance and Gatlin got to experience last season. But while this group of seven may be limited in their number of starts, they are by no stretch rookies.
Chance, Dorsey, Gatlin and Santos are all entering their senior seasons. Jones is preparing for his junior campaign after transferring two seasons ago from Washington State. Gbaja-Biamilla and Young are the young ones of the group, each entering their sophomore seasons.
No one knows who will get the starting call next fall, but as competitively close as they have been this spring, it would be easy to think they were all brothers.
“This defensive line plays like a family,” Gatlin said. “When we get out on the field, that’s what it is … family.”
