Franklin’s most experienced offensive linemen will be stationed three spots apart every time the Grizzly Cubs break huddle this season.
Muscle memory will direct senior Jake Trueblood to the right, while classmate Danny Groves ventures left. Their mission is shared, however, and that’s to help the Cubs generate as many yards, first downs, points and victories as possible.
The 6-foot-5, 270-pound Trueblood returns as Franklin’s starting right tackle; the 5-11, 311-pound Groves is entrenched at left guard.
Both players were in the eighth grade when Chris Coll took over as head coach five years ago and immediately began addressing the need to improve the program’s size, strength and depth in the trenches.
Trueblood and Groves are sled-moving examples of that mission.
“A lot of that is credited to coach Coll and our previous line coach, Sean Little,” said Trueblood, whose grandfather Larry Trueblood coached Franklin’s lone undefeated team (1969). “Even from my freshman year to now, I can tell it’s definitely improved and grown.
“I would boast that now it’s probably our strongest unit on the field. Just to know we can run the ball and have that mentality.”
Franklin ball carriers combined for 1,702 yards last season, though two of the squad’s top three backs graduated. Junior John Shepard begins the year as the go-to back after averaging 6.5 yards a carry and finding the end zone on six occasions.
The team also breaks in a new quarterback in sophomore Clay Pinnick, who will be throwing to a mostly untested group of receivers.
At this point, however, there isn’t much Trueblood and Groves haven’t seen.
The latter thinks back to when he and Trueblood were second-grade teammates lining up for the Indiana Hoosiers bantam football squad. Current Franklin left tackle Reece Byerly and running back Shepard were a year younger, but valuable in their own right.
A decade later, they are the nucleus of Franklin’s offense.
“I always played on the offensive line, and now that we’re starting to get some recognition, it makes us work as hard as we can,” Groves said. “Ever since coach Coll got here, it’s been about having a brotherhood. The guys on the offensive line are pretty close.”
As such, they pride themselves on the responsibility of bettering an area considered a program weakness not all that long ago. The torch will eventually be passed to Byerly, sophomores Sam Welch and Brody Stephens, and so on down the line as Franklin linemen are groomed for the rigors of varsity competition.
The example being set by Trueblood and Groves promises to go a long way.
“Just two great program kids who struggled through the ups and downs of their freshman and sophomore year, but kept grinding and kept working,” Coll said. “Anybody will tell you in football that if you’re not good up front offensively or defensively, you’re going to struggle.
“(Trueblood and Groves) are there at every workout in the offseason. They’re there at every summer workout and every practice. They may not be the kids that get their name in the newspaper, but they’re always there for you.”
