Throughout fall camp, LetsGoPeay.com will take a look at each of the position groups as the Austin Peay State University football team goes through preparations for the 2021 season. We start these position previews in the same place where the Governors offense gets started – the big fellas up front.

"The first thing that comes to my head is nasty."

This was the response of Austin Peay co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Josh Cochran when asked to describe the style of play he sees in his offensive line. The group that Cochran describes as "nasty" features a veteran core of nine returners and a graduate transfer with 70 collegiate starts among them; however, with eight freshmen on the roster, the Govs offensive line is also undergoing a youth movement at the same time.

"It is a special group," said Cochran. "Bucky Williams is an All-American, two all-conference guards in Colby McKee and Seth Johnson, and then Jacob Caughell is a guy that was a freshman walk-on and earned a scholarship because of the way he performed last spring. Garrett Bell is also looking really good; he has had a great summer. The leadership from those guys right there, in combination with the great group we brought in, is going to provide a lot of depth and we are really excited about the season."

With HERO Sports Sophomore All-American and AFCA Second Team All-American honors last season, Williams is the headliner of the Govs offensive front. Williams became just the fourth Governor to earn first team all-conference honors as an offensive lineman since 2007, after allowing just one sack on 457 snaps during Ohio Valley Conference play last season.

Alongside Williams, the trio of Johnson, McKee, and Caughell each started all six conference games for the Governors last spring, with the offensive line returning 25 of the 30 starts made during the six-game slate. A redshirt junior with 18 career appearances, Bell also started games against Central Arkansas, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Murray State last season.  

"I think we are kind of known as a spread the football team," Cochran said. "But our mindset as an offensive line is that we are going to be a downhill, punch you in the face offense. We are all about being nasty, playing violent, and of course we want to do it the right way, but we are going to be as physical as humanly possible and our guys enjoy that."

This style of play from the Austin Peay front five is what allowed first-year head coach Scotty Walden's offense to rack up an OVC-best 29.7 points per game last spring. The Governors high-tempo offense also ranked second in the league in passing yards per game (224), rushing yards per game (154), and total offensive yards per game (377) during the conference contests.

"It can be a tough offense to play in," said Cochran. "You are 300-plus pounds and you're having to do your assignment – move another 300-plus pounder against his will – and then sprint to the line and do it all again within 12 seconds. We believe that we train these guys to be in shape to do it and we believe that the defensive line is more tired than us up front. It can be fun when you see the defensive line is tired and you can kind of feed off that."

One newcomer that will bring Division I experience to the trenches for the Govs is graduate transfer Joe Ware, who spent five seasons at Bowling Green. The 6-3, 309-pound lineman played 14 games for the Falcons and made four starts at left tackle during the abbreviated 2020 season.

"We are fired up about Joe Ware," said Cochran. "He started several games at Bowling Green and he has had a great camp so far. We were talking about leadership earlier and he has such a positive outlook on everything that the team already looks to him as a leader. We are really excited about how he is performing, how he is meshing, and how he is stepping into a role as a team leader."

Also providing the Governors much needed depth on the offensive line is a quartet of sophomores – JD Broussard, Gavin Campbell, Breant Kendall III, and Michael Treadwell. Campbell, a redshirt sophomore and the eldest of the bunch, appeared in a pair of contests last season, while the other three did not see action in their first collegiate seasons.

Offering even more depth to the Govs offensive front is a pack of eight freshmen that were recruited by Walden and Cochran. The in-state trio of Aaren Alexander, Jack Baker, and Harrison Wilkes are joined by Florida's Chandler Kirton and Brennan Smith, Georgia's Anietie Ntekop and Christian Wingfield, and Alabama's Kobe Nash.

"The freshmen are right there with each other and it is an exciting time to be a Gov with these guys coming in," Cochran said. "They had an unbelievable summer; coach Chris Campbell did a great job with them in the weight room. I'll be honest, I have been at Baylor, North Carolina, and Texas, and I have never seen an offensive line class of 18-year-olds come in with this sort of strength in the weight room. They were just putting up crazy numbers in the weight room. Obviously, we have to translate that to play on the field, but we think we can do that and it is a really special group of players, but even more importantly of young men."

Like these position previews, everything for the Governors high-powered offense starts up front with Cochran's unit. While the eight freshmen lineman will surely look to the likes of Williams, McKee, and Johnson for guidance during their first collegiate season, the leadership provided by the men in the trenches far exceeds the Govs offensive line room.

"Bucky is probably the most vocal leader up front," said Cochran. "That's just kind of his personality, he's a take control kind of guy, but really all of those other four returners [Johnson, McKee, Caughell, and Bell] are guys that are going to speak up when necessary and are going to lead by example too. I think our entire offense, and really our entire team, looks to those guys for leadership, whether it is in terms of vocally or by example."

2021 Returnees / 2020 Stats

Garrett Bell (R-Jr.) / 6 games, 4 starts

JD Broussard (So.)

Gavin Campbell (R-So.) / 2 games

Jacob Caughell (R-So.) / 9 games, 6 starts

Seth Johnson (Graduate) / 8 games, 6 starts

Colby McKee (Graduate) / 8 games, 6 starts

Breant Kendall III (So.)

Michael Treadwell (So.)

Bucky Williams (R-Jr.) / 9 games, 9 starts

2021 Newcomers / 2020 Stats

Aaren Alexander (Fr.)

Jack Baker (Fr.)

Chandler Kirton (Fr.)

Kobe Nash (Fr.)

Anietie Ntekop (Fr.)

Brennan Smith (Fr.)

Joe Ware (Graduate) / 4 games, 4 starts (at Bowling Green)

Harrison Wilkes (Fr.)

Christian Wingfield (Fr.)