South Pointe needs offensive line to set the horses loose

South Pointe offensive line coach Mike Zapolnik has to replace all five of his offensive line starters from last season’s state title team. It’s one of the steepest challenges in Zapolnik’s well-traveled coaching career.

“Every program goes through the rebuilding process, and that’s where we’re at,” he said early last week. “The guys will have to step it up. That’s all.”

Offensive line was South Pointe’s position group hit hardest by graduation, and Zapolnik could be forgiven for harboring envy toward his fellow assistant coaches.

The Stallions return quarterback Greg Ruff, receivers Quay Brown and Josh Wilkes, and athlete/defensive backs Chris Smith, Derion Kendrick and Nick McCloud. The latter four are FBS commits/prospects, and the backfield is solid too with Zaylin Burris, Voshon St. Hill and h-back Paul-Michael Potter. Weapons abound for offensive coordinator Jason McManus.

Instead of looking at the glut of skill position talent as heaping pressure on his blank canvas of an offensive line unit, Zapolnik, who teaches art at South Pointe, sees it in a different light.

“That’s the good news, I think. We do have some good skill guys around us,” he said.

A cerebral guy, Zapolnik has been all over the map in his coaching career. Stops at the college level include Tennessee-Martin, Brown and Fairfield, and in high school at E.E. Waddell (with former Lancaster and Lewisville coach Bennie McMurray) and Weddington (with former South Pointe assistant coach and current Independence head coach) Justin Hardin.

He relishes the challenge this group provides.

“We’ve got a couple guys coming up that got some experience last year so obviously we’re counting on them to come through,” said Zapolnik. “I’ve got to bring along three more guys that will work together and get going after it, and just try to get back to where we were.”

Center Bryan Binford and tackle Steven Bledsoe both signed to play football with Division II Union College, and Andrew Hinson, Evan Van Pelt and Zeph Heath are also gone. The Stallions will definitely miss Binford, who was the chief communicator from the middle of the o-line. Finding a willing voice to replace him will be one of the main challenges.

South Pointe runs a zone-blocking scheme, where offensive linemen move into spaces and find defensive players as opposed to lining up directly in front of a man they’re assigned. The Stallions’ Air Raid-style offense doesn’t require blocks to be held very long, just long enough to get the ball into the mitts of Smith or Wilkes or Brown, or any one of the slippery open-field snakes in the field’s seams and edges.

“That’s one of the reasons this offense has gotten so popular,” said South Pointe head coach Strait Herron. “You don’t really have to block anybody, just be a speed bump. I think it will help us. It’s all about moving your feet and having good technique. They’re not the biggest group in the world, but I think athletically they’ll be pretty sound.”

Senior Paden Lipe will be one cornerstone of the line, once he gets fully healthy. Lipe started as a sophomore and started several games last season before going down with a shoulder injury. Lamon Bryant will be a big guy at guard and Ethan Hudspeth should be a pretty reliable addition after mainly playing defensive line last year. Maurice Davis and Dylan Thomas will likely get a shot to start up front, but others will too.

One thing that was clear at a practice last week, “Zap” gets on with his offensive line group very well. He and his players recently had a cookout at one of the running backs’ house and a corn-hole tournament ensued. Herron assured a reporter that Zapolnik let his players win.

South Pointe’s fifth-year head coach lauded Zapolnik’s relationship with his players, saying “Coach Zap, he’s as good as it gets. He’ll have them ready.”

“Sometimes he tries to use art in our things,” said Lipe. “It doesn’t always pan out that much. But coach Zap, he’s a great guy, one of the best coaches I’ve been under.”

The confidence and respect shared by the offensive line players and coaches should resonate through a team that has its eyes on the first back-to-back state titles in the school’s short, but illustrious, pigskin history. The Stallions have still only lost one game out of 30 during three seasons in the 3A classification, and none since 2010.

“We’re definitely blessed with so much talent around us that we can be the first team to go back-to-back, which is our ultimate goal,” said Lipe. “We have so much talent that if we work together as a team, sky’s the limit.”

This story was originally published August 8, 2015 at 1:46 PM with the headline "South Pointe needs offensive line to set the horses loose."