Coaches often talk about how even the most talented players won’t play well together as a team unless they develop chemistry and timing that allows them to perform at the highest possible level.

J.T. Brooks has gone from a guard in a four-point stance in Arlington Martin's Wishbone offense to a tackle in a stand-up two-point stance in SMU's Run-and-Shoot offense (photo by SMU athletics).

Nowhere on the football field is that idea more true than on the offensive line. A team can have five of the biggest, strongest blockers around, but if they don’t play together as a single, cohesive unit, they’ll struggle to open running lanes, and their quarterback will spend much of his time running for his life. Because of that, most coaches feel it takes considerable time for an offensive line – no matter how talented the individual players are – to gel into an effective unit.

The SMU offensive line fared fairly well in 2008, the Mustangs’ first season in head coach June Jones’ Run-and-Shoot offense. But an already-young line got even younger at the end of the season, as right tackles Tommy Poynter and Vincent Chase finished up their careers on the Hilltop. As the Mustangs go through spring drills, the leader to fill the considerable void left by the graduation of Poynter and Chase is redshirt sophomore J.T. Brooks.

Brooks sidesteps any assumptions that the starting right tackle job is his to lose, despite the fact that he has been working with the first unit since spring practices opened last month.

“You can’t say it’s not open for competition,” Brooks said. “I want to make it my job, but it’s always open to competition – that makes everyone better. Even (right guard) Bryce (Tennison) and (left tackle) Kelvin (Beachum, Jr.), who started all year last year have to compete – at this point, you can’t say anything is set in stone.”

That may be, but Brooks has entrenched himself as the leading candidate for the job, which puts him side-by-side with his roommate: Tennison. Brooks said the chemistry he has with Tennison has helped him settle in to his role on the field.

“We talk a little football at home, but it’s not like we sit and talk (about) techniques all day,” he said. “But just being around each other all the time, we really know each other. We communicate well, and that’s important on the field.”

Brooks also has been aided by a re-vamped offseason regimen that has helped him re-shape his physique.

“I’m about 305 now, but I got as big as 315 or 320 last year,” the 6-foot-5 Brooks said. “(Offensive line) Coach (Dennis) McKnight doesn’t make a huge deal about weight – he stresses body composition. So that’s what I worked on – cutting down my body fat to get quicker, and it has worked. I can feel a big difference. It’s not just weight – working on body composition translates to strength.”

Brooks said he didn’t endure constant hassling from the coaching staff or the strength and conditioning staff in the offseason about his conditioning.

“They’re not on my too much,” he said. “It’s on me – I know what I have to do. I’ve tried to stay away from fried foods and desserts, and I try not to drink sodas, and I think it has helped.”

Brooks said offensive line coach Dennis McKnight is less concerned with actual weight than he is with his blockers' body composition (photo by SMU athletics).

But rearranging his body composition is just one of several adjustments Brooks has made since arriving in 2007 from Martin High School in Arlington.

“I played guard in high school,” he said, “and I really didn’t pass block, almost at all – we ran the Wishbone. I played in a four-point stance in high school. Then I got here, and in my first year, under Coach (Phil) Bennett, I was in a three-point stance. Now, when Coach Jones got here, his offense has us in a two-point stance.”

The adjustment to blocking from an upright starting position was considerable for Brooks, who struggled initially with his new stance.

“At first, it felt like I couldn’t run-block at all, because I was used to blocking out of the four-point stance,” he said. “Now I’m in the two-point stance, and you’re already upright, which makes it harder to generate power. But once Coach McKnight worked with me and I got the stance right, I realized you can run-block just as efficiently this way. Now it’s just a matter of improving technique, and getting more and more comfortable with each other. We’ve got more work to do, but we’re getting better every day.”