Georgia Tech's offensive line will be moving in a new direction this season: forward.

The team that led the ACC in rushing last season with a lot of trapping, pulling and misdirection plans to block with more power than trickery in 2008.

It's a huge change that starts even before the snap, with the linemen leaning forward in their stances this spring after putting more weight on their legs than on their hands in the past. They keep their legs closer together now, too, trading the stability they used to get from a wider base for more sprinter-out-of-the-blocks speed.

The next point of emphasis: Driving forward the instant the ball is snapped.

"Get off the ball!" tackles coach Todd Spencer has shouted over and over again in spring practice.

The first step is forward, and the second and third steps usually are, too. The idea, in football jargon, is to "establish a new line of scrimmage" as far downfield as possible from where the ball was snapped.

"We don't go sideways," Tech coach Paul Johnson said.

It is, literally, a straightforward method.

"Firing forward every play, run, pass, firing forward," junior Jason Hill said.

It's anybody's guess which players will be firing forward on the first snap of the season Aug. 28 against Jacksonville State. Even Andrew Gardner, who has started three seasons at tackle, has been approached about trying his hand at guard, guards and centers coach Mike Sewak said.

Dan Voss, who started seven games last season, could end up at center or guard. Cord Howard and A.J. Smith, who both played the other tackle spot last season, are injured. Howard (foot) is missing the whole spring. Smith (elbow) practiced the first week before aggravating an injury that bothered him most of last season. Johnson said he didn't know if and when Smith would be able to return to practice.

Smith, 6 feet 7, 299 pounds, was working at guard before he got hurt. So was Hill, who also used to be a tackle. He's 6-4, 310 pounds, which is huge for a guard, but that fits Tech's new offense.

"It's a better idea than having bigger tackles," Sewak said. "Those [guards] are the guys who are going to establish the fullback [dive play]. You want a little bigger body in at guard."

Big fullbacks and tight ends often become tackles in Johnson's scheme.

Enter David Brown, who has been practicing at No. 1 tackle opposite Gardner. Brown made his biggest contributions last season as a blocking tight end, though he also has been a defensive lineman and an offensive tackle. At 6-3, 271, he'll have to use every bit of his quickness and strength to stay ahead of redshirt freshmen Clyde Yandell (6-5, 296) and Nick Claytor (6-6, 304) on the depth chart.

"I just try to be as fast off the ball and as explosive as I can," said Brown, adding that he is excited about the way the change in coaching staffs and schemes plays to his strengths. The techniques this spring, he said, remind him of the get-up-the-field style he used to be taught on defense.

For the linemen, the ideas behind Tech's new offense aren't that complicated.

"You're not influence blocking. You're not trying to trick, and you're not trying to angle them," Sewak said. "You're just going to come off and try to be physical."