A Constant Build Toward Immediate and Future Success

The hope is starting from scratch will only happen once. Over time, the man in charge wants a consistency in messaging, lore handed down from class to class, each year to the next. A level of play which isn't just passed from game to game, but season to season.

As Colorado State's offensive line gathers to step onto the practice field as a group, the messaging is clear: The onus is on them. To score points. To extend drives. To let the stars shine while they sweat and toil in the relative anonymity they prefer.

Scratch is where Christian Pace started in January, his offensive line room a collection of holdovers, newcomers and a handful of players who followed from Connecticut. Let the work begin.

"It's a continuous annual calendar of development. Literally once January starts, here's where we start," Pace said. "Once that's done, obviously you're in the spring ball, spring install, everything. Then it's spring review and do your summer teach. And then you basically start over again where you did in the winter of here's where we're at. And you try to use the stuff they did in the spring.

"So they're watching themselves. Obviously, guys are going to pay more attention when they get to see themselves on tape. And then it's just the same kind of blueprint over and over. It's just for us as coaches, it's more how do you find the ways to present the same message differently where they're still getting everything you need. And that's kind of where we got to be."

There is a target date on Sept. 5. There are two numbers Pace would like to reach by then: Five and 10 – starters and the extended group of backups who are reliable. Neither number has been hit yet, partially due to guys missing a day here or there.

It's a process. And the work is hard. Maybe harder than ever.

Phillip Ocon picks out two areas which are non-negotiable from Pace: Fundamentals and maniacal effort, regardless of circumstance. Zach Smith added another.

"I'd say toughness, too. I mean, I've never been a part of a coaching staff that's hammered down on just toughness and grit," Smith said. "I think that is just one of the biggest pillars Coach Pace has brought. He's hard on us, and he needs to be hard on us, and I think that's the best way for us. I think we have some dudes that we're going to see who are going to make it, and some dudes aren't going to make it. I think the biggest thing for them that they're hammering down is just like he said, just toughness, grit, and getting us to where we need to be for September 5th."

What Smith was referring to was what they've labeled this point in camp. This is the time when repetition can feel monotonous, when the sun is beating down and the days of work start stacking together. It can begin to feel as if they're living in their own version of Groundhog Day.

It's that repetition which will build the room, deliver cohesion. The toughness is as mental as it is the physical of bodies crashing into each other in team periods.

"We like to talk about middle of camp, you're in the crucible. OK, either you're going to harden and become a weapon or you're going to shatter and we'll just melt away," Pace said. "Right now it is just … It's not redundant because it's needed, but just getting them to buy into, even though it's the same stuff you did two days ago, three days ago, four days ago, it's all about preparing to succeed, and so getting them to realize as young guys, like, man, it might not be the most fun stuff, but it's the most needed.

"So it's just showing them why and showing them those examples of when you do it right in indy, it shows up on team. When you don't do it right in indy, you get beat in team and it's just, everything's relative."

Spend a bit of time around the group and the demands are clear. Encouragement will flow when earned, corrections delivered on the spot and sometimes with a sharp, dry-witted sense of humor – cutting and funny at the same time with an undertone of love.

Even the players admit at times it is hard to keep a straight face, but they do because they understand time and place.

"I think he's one of the funniest coaches I've ever had, and he has to be hard on us because if he wouldn't, right, he wouldn't be doing his job," Smith said. "Like Phil said, I respect him more than any coach I've ever had. I love how hard he is on me. It makes me better. I want him to keep pushing me to be better, because in my opinion, if he stops pushing you, he gave up on you, so the more that he keeps being hard on all of us, the better for all of us."

Players missing days may put a delay on landing on a starting five, a group every coach would love to have spend a lot of time together in the buildup to the season. It has been the reality in camp, so one must find the positive aspect.

That, of course, is the creation of depth. Pace knows it will be required to get a team through the season. He feels they are moving toward the eight-to-10 player marker he'd prefer, but he wants to see a couple more come on in the next week before they settle into game prep.

On top of that, he likes moving parts. Tackles may become set, but the interior guys are best if they can mix and match in those backup roles.

"Five guys can go out on the field to play the game of football, but we want to be able to put any guy in our O-line around there and be confident that they can run with the ones," Ocon said. "We're really only as strong as our weakest link, so we want absolute buy-in from every guy in our room, whether that guy just got out of high school and he just got here, or that guy's a fifth-year transfer from somewhere else, or whether that guy has been here with the previous staff, you've got to buy in and you've got to do what we do here."

The work will continue because it must. The first directive for Pace is to have the group ready for the first game. Then the next, conceptually getting better week by week. The group must retain what it learns from one camp to the next and each unique blitz package thrown at them.

Pace is also focused on player retention. When one season ends, players graduate and move on, the plan being the depth he has built up will move into starting roles. A good room doesn't just last from game to game, but season to season.

His style, his approach and that humor are all making an impact on a group of players who have to set a tone for offensive success. The work is hard. They feel it. And the man making them sweat out every nuance is tough on them.

Which is something they feel they need.

"He definitely gets on us, he coaches us hard, but I respect the absolute hell out of that man, excuse my language," Ocon said. "He's bought us food, he shows that he cares about us, and regardless of if he's going to get on you, you've got to hear the message and not the tone of it. He's definitely a great coach and we're really trying to play up to his standards."

Together, they've just scratched the surface.

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