PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – After putting forth one of the top performances in Prairie View A&M football history last year, the Panther offensive line returns to the gridiron looking to pick up where they left off last season.
Under the direction of sixth-year offensive line coach Prince Pearson, the Panthers return a seasoned unit that loses only one starter from 2008. Last season, the line made history as they helped pave the way for the team to have a 1,000-yard rusher for the time in two decades along with providing maximum protection as they only allowed 17 sacks. In addition, Prairie View A&M also led the SWAC in rush offense and finished second in total offense. With an abundance of experience returning, Pearson can focus on details as opposed to spending a tremendous time on fundamentals.
“It helps out a lot as we don’t have to worry about a huge learning curve,” said Pearson. “The majority of the players here know what I expect out of them.”
After helping Prairie View achieve a 9-1 mark last year, Pearson’s goals for the 2009 season are simple.
“My biggest thing is making sure they’re playing harder than their opponent,” he said. “We also need to be consistent every week in our performance if we aspire to do what we did in 2008.”
As two-a-days slowly come to an end, Pearson said his linemen are ‘getting better each day and are working hard as a group’. Individually, redshirt freshman Langston Patterson took it a step further as he was rewarded with head coach Henry Frazier III’s signature “championship belt” several days ago for his performance at practice.
The Panthers had a single practice on Tuesday and will return to action on Wednesday with a set of three-a-days beginning at 8:30 a.m.
