Georgia Tech offensive line wants the pressure

On Monday afternoon, Errin Joe didn’t like the way Bryan Chamberlain was stretching before Georgia Tech’s practice. So, Tech’s right tackle brought his 307 pounds to bear upon Chamberlain, the Yellow Jackets’ left tackle.

“We ended up wrestling for a good three minutes until they told us to break it up,” Joe said.

They are frequent squabbling partners. With the linemen needing to hit weight targets, Chamblerlain likes to throw Joe under the bus within earshot of coach Paul Johnson or offensive line coach Mike Sewak.

“He’ll say, ‘Hey, man, how were those cheesecakes yesterday?’” Joe said, even if, and perhaps especially if, he ate nothing of the sort.

When the offense for the No. 16 Yellow Jackets lines up Thursday night in their season opener against Alcorn State at Bobby Dodd Stadium, it will do so behind the wall of safety provided by these two bookend goofballs and the three young men between them, guards Trey Braun and Shamire Devine and center Freddie Burden. They call themselves “the Militia.” When not hectoring one another or further establishing the reputation that offensive linemen are often the brightest members of a football team, they are assigned to provide protection and daylight for the team’s most important asset (quarterback Justin Thomas) and dependably serve an inexperienced set of skill-position players.

“We believe that, as we go, the team goes, and it drives everybody,” Burden said. “We feel like all the pressure’s on us.”

Chamberlain, Braun, Burden and Joe were all starters for Tech’s 11-win team in 2014, pieces of an offense that set school records for yards per carry, rushing yards per game and total rushing yards. They’ve lost All-American Shaquille Mason to the NFL, but Devine is, in Johnson’s estimation, as talented an offensive lineman as Tech has had in his tenure.

The group, which has a goal to finish No. 1 in rushing yards per game for the second year in a row, is well-suited to wear those expectations.

“I think they understand that’s the role that they need to perform, because they’ve been in games, they’ve been in big games and they’ve won in big games,” Sewak said.

Bouts with No. 9 Georgia, No. 10 Florida State, No. 11 Notre Dame and No. 12 Clemson won’t materialize until later, not to mention the entirety of the ACC schedule. But the play of the Tech offensive front, an athletic and physical group, will be critical. Mistakes and uneven play are almost inevitable with an offense fraught with freshmen and first-time starters.

A line that can be counted on to provide Thomas with creases in the running game and comfort in the passing game, alleys for the B-backs and clean space for the A-backs will provide margin against the errors.

“At Georgia Tech, especially under coach Johnson, it runs through the o-line,” Joe said. “You have to set the tone as an o-line from snap one.”

Doing the dirty work for Thomas, the offense’s game-changing pilot, might rank at the top.

“Justin needs a crease, one crease, and he’s gone,” Burden said. “We just have to give him the opportunity.”

They are an intriguing bunch. Braun earned a mechanical-engineering degree in December, is now in the MBA program and got married in January. Joe also earned his literature, media and communication diploma in December and is now going for a second degree in economics. Devine can build computers from used parts.

“We’re trying to get him out of the house a little more and hanging out with the guys,” Burden said of Devine.

Burden has a leadership-by-example mentality and, among other things, a taste for a particular chicken-wing chain.