2016 Frontier Football Preview: Offensive Lineman

If there's one position that's unsung in college football, it's the offensive line. No box scores, no stats, rarely a name in the paper or on the news. Yet, the linemen are usually the difference between a strong offense and a weak one.

With so many teams in the Frontier Conference aspiring to have great offenses this fall, and with so many good defenses out there, Frontier teams are banking on a strong offensive line to make them go.

That's the case at Montana State University-Northern where second-year head coach Aaron Christenson is hoping to put together a consistent line for this fall. Northern had some good beef up front last season, but injuries held the Lights back from getting any consistency on the line.

However, this fall will hopefully be different. Though the Lights did lose two starters to graduation, they return senior All-Conference performer Pete Morales (6-3, 295), and he'll be expected to anchor the Lights up front. Morales has been a standout up front for Northern for the last two seasons, and he's one of the top returning O-linemen in the Frontier.

With Morales as the leader and the return of the likes of Clint Willis, Diamond Pedro, Adolpho Robles and some transfers, the Lights are hoping to get a big push on the line of scrimmage this season.

Overall, the Frontier saw most of the top linemen in the league graduate last spring, and Carroll College may have taken the hardest hit, losing a pair of All-Americans in Josh James and Ryan Armstrong. James is now playing in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers, so one would think Carroll will take a step back on the line this season. However, junior Chris Emter (6-4, 302) is a two-year starter returning for the Saints, and veteran line coach Jim Hogan always produces top offensive lines, so the Saints should be just fine.

In all, eight of the 10 All-Conference linemen are gone from last season, but Southern Oregon returns a good one in First-Team All-Conference guard Ty King (6-6, 300). The Raiders are another team that relies heavily on offensive line production, so expect them to have a stout line again this season.

Aside from Morales and King, the only returning All-Conference linemen is Montana Tech standout Ryan Stemple (6-3, 290). The senior is a three-year starter and will be the veteran leader of what should be a powerful running attack, led by All-American Nolan Saraceni.

Other strong offensive linemen to watch this coming season include, Eastern Oregon's Mitch Staeffler (6-1, 277, Sr.), College of Idaho's duo of Andrew Galloway (6-2, 280, Jr.) and Sam Zardys (6-1, 260, Jr.), as well as UM-Western's Kyle Putman (6-3, 250, Sr.) and Rocky Mountain College's Kyle Reittler (6-5, 300, So.) who started for the Battlin' Bears as a freshman last season.

Of course, other top names will emerge on the offensive line in the Frontier this season. And that's because, there are so many great running backs and offenses in the league, new stars along the offensive line are bound to be born in 2016.

Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a series of stories previewing the top players in the Frontier Conference at each position. On Monday, the HDN will take a look at the top linebackers in the league.