“Coach Crook has emphasized the basics of drive blocking an opponent, being able to accelerate our feet and push the defender back,” Smith said. “In the passing game, he’s emphasized the use of our hands and moving our feet, not allowing the defender to ‘open the door’ to the quarterback.”

But despite the experience, a couple of new offensive twists have introduced new schemes for everyone.

“Basically the only thing different this year is we knew with [quarterback Neil] Rose ‘03’s injuries we had to keep a very tight pocket, but this year we might be running a couple more plays designed to get [junior quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick] out of the pocket,” Bakken said.

And through minor injuries and new schemes, Crook has done everything in his power to prepare the men up front to carry their share of the load.

“Coach Murphy and Coach Crook both believe that the offensive line should be an aggressive, dominating group that can win or lose the game based on our play,” Smith said.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.