Stephen Meyers

stephenmeyers@coloradoan.com

So you’re a fat kid who loves football.

Quarterback or running back, that’s where you’re going to play. Where the action is. Where the fun is.

No way you’re going to play offensive line. No one wants to play that position.

Until your youth coach slaps a patch on your shoulder, and boom! You’re now on the line, kid. For the rest of your career.

Jake Bennett, CSU’s starting center, received the patch when he was 8-years-old. Fred Zerblis, Colorado’s State’s two-year starter at guard, has been on the line since he was 6.

You’re too big and you’re going to hurt the other players, youth leagues said. The patch means you stay on the line. Let the fast, athletic kids run and catch the ball, score touchdowns and have all the fun.

Bennett was that kid for a year. Running free in the open field, ball in his hands. Then he packed on the weight, the scale registering more than 85 pounds more than the threshold to play in the backfield.

“I was always kind of the big kid, the fat kid,” said the 6-foot-3, 290-pounder out of Bear Creek High School in Lakewood. “And I’ve stayed the big fat kid.”

The Rams don't rush for at least 220 yards in a game seven times last season without the "big, fat kids." Nick Stevens doesn't throw 21 touchdowns without the "big, fat kids."

These "big, fat kids" are the starring role of the Rams' offense, with four returning starters, including Bennett, the 6-3, 305-pound Zerblis, the 6-5, 295-pound Zack Golditch, the projected starting left tackle, and 6-6, 325-pound right tackle, Nick Callender.

After practice, you’ll find the group of offensive lineman sitting together on the rocks near CSU’s practice facility, cracking jokes and pulling pranks. Offensive line coach Will Friend said they aren't as funny as they think they are.

Zerblis is the self-described shy one; quick with a joke. Golditch is happy-go-lucky. Bennett brings a blunt sense of humor and intensity.

Wing Tuesdays at Buffalo Wild Wings are a weekly tradition (and competition). During the offseason, Zerblis, Bennett, Golditch and Christian Montes go fishing together, sitting in belly boats, reeling in trout.

“If I told you where, I’d have to kill you,” Bennett said.

A true angler.

It takes a clever personality to play on the line. A self-depreciating humor. A selfless attitude. CSU coach Mike Bobo said he never could have done it.

You’re an anonymous player, a member of a group of five wearing the unpopular jersey numbers. Screw up and let the quarterback get sacked and you get yelled at.

Who really wants to play that position?

"O-line is all I've ever known," said Zerblis, who grew up Grayson, Georgia, watching the game from the perspective of offensive line.

If they ever made a movie starring offensive linemen, he'd land the leading role, with his long-maned, full-bearded look he's rocked since high school (a couple seasons ago, former CSU quarterback Coleman Key tweeted a photo of Zerblis boarding the Rams' charter flight, with a caption that read "Sasquatch.").

"We're all just a bunch of big guys. We get each other. We've all played O-line for a long time. You just have fun with it," Zerblis said.

There can't be anything fun about sitting in a squat position 80 plays a game, getting your body twisted and head slapped and butted. Wrap up your opponent and that’s a holding penalty. Cup your fingers? Holding. Bring him to the ground? Holding. You’re the biggest guy on the field and you can’t even tackle anyone.

That’s fun?

"When you're little you always want to run the ball or throw it or whatever, but really, I could care less about that stuff," said Bennett, whose brother, Austin, played offensive line at Colorado Mesa. "I love it. I love doing my job. I love the physicality. I like that no one — unless they really know the game — no one really knows what's going on and what we're doing. No one knows you unless you mess up, so you try not to mess up."

OK, OK, we all love doing our job and contributing to the team, but there’s got to be a part of you that wishes you were the one scoring touchdowns and sprinting down the field, juking defenders, right?

“Oh sometimes I want to be that guy and think that would be cool. But whoever scores that touchdown, I really just want to be the first one to greet him and lift him in the air,” Golditch said. “I get enough joy out of hearing the crowd roar on a huge run or a huge pass.”

Those roars, they're validation of the grunt work these "big, fat kids" endure every play in the trenches. CSU doesn't average the 417 yards per game last season without these guys. And if the Rams return to a bowl game this season, it'll be Zerblis, Golditch, Bennett, Callender and Paul Thurston carrying them there.

Five "big, fat kids." An average weight of 302 pounds. And they have the starring role.

Xplore reporter Stephen Meyers covers the outdoors, recreation and sports for the Coloradoan. Follow him on Twitter @stemeyer or @XploreNoCo.