"It all starts with the center": CMU offensive line looks to sixth-year senior for leadership
Junior center Jamezz Kimbrough kneels in the end zone before CMU's season opener against Ohio on Nov. 4 in Kelly/Shorts Stadium. The Chippewas won 30-27.
Touting a high-powered passing attack and the nation’s best rushing attack, Central Michigan football relied heavily on its offensive line in 2021.
However, with tackles Luke Goedeke and Bernhard Raimann moving on to the NFL the Chippewas are retooling under first-year offensive line coach William Vlachos.
“Offensive line-wise, we got a lot of bodies in the room, like 21 guys right now in my room,” Vlachos said. “Most I've ever been around I think.”
While depth will help fill the holes left behind by Goedeke and Raimann, Vlachos said senior center Jamezz Kimbrough has cemented himself as the unit’s leader.
“It all starts with the center, upfront,” Vlachos said. “Jamezz Kimbrough, he’s the train conductor, if you will, and gets everybody on the same page. He's played a lot of football, really sharp, savvy, experienced-football player, and a great leader.”
Hailing from Homewood, Illinois, Kimbrough started all 13 games in 2021 for CMU. But as he enters his sixth season in Maroon and Gold, Kimbrough has been an asset for Vlachos in his first season.
“Jamezz may be as good a leader as I have ever been around on any team, I've been on, coached, been a part of, whatever,” Vlachos said. “Jamezz is the real deal. I think Jamezz has a rare ability to connect with all different types of people in the locker room. He's very special in that regard, in addition to being a special football player.
“When it comes to football, he knows everything there is to know about anything we want to put in. He’s a tremendous crutch for me, relative to how things have been coached in the past… Can't say enough good things about the guy.”
While roster turnover is a way of life in college football, junior right guard Tyden Ferris has been alongside Kimbrough the entire way.
“I've been with Jamezz the whole time, as center-guard, we've always been next to each other,” Ferris said. “It's been just great being by him. I have my full trust in him. I think he's got his full trust in me. And I think that's inseparable. It's one of the strongest things we can have together, just to know that every time we do play, we can count on each other.”
Returners Key for Interior
Although the CMU passing attack ranked near the top of the Mid-American Conference in 2021, Ferris entered the off-season ready to add new tools to his game.
"In the off-season I've worked a lot on my pass sets," Ferris said. "Before I might have leaned a little bit or I used more of my head and everything. But, I've really worked just to be more patient with my sets and my strike and I have a lot more confidence in the passing game. But yet also, I have the confidence and the stubbornness for the run game, where I feel like I can physically dominate the opponent that's across from me and put my will upon them.”
After showing versatility for an injury-riddled line last season, Deiyantei Powell-Woods enters 2022 as the starting left guard.
“Powell-Woods is another guy right now playing next to (Kimbrough) at guard, but a guy that could probably play any position on the line,” Vlachos said. “He’s had an outstanding camp.”
Despite being locked in as a starter, Powell-Woods takes pride in being an asset anywhere he is needed.
“Coach V brings up swing value all the time and how good that is to have at the next level,” Powell-Woods said. “Being able to just hop in anywhere I'm needed, and help out the team any way I can, I do take a lot of pride in that.”
Young tackles shine in camp
With Goedeke and Raimann deep in training camp with their respective NFL teams, sophomore Brayden Swartout and redshirt freshman Davis Heinzen are tasked with bookending the CMU offensive line.
Fall camp has allowed Vlachos to find out how his young offensive tackles deal with challenges.
“At tackle right now we got two young bucks in there that haven't played a lot but have shown some promise,” Vlachos said. "They are certainly taking their lumps a little bit through training camp with some of the better rushers that we've got, but it will only make them better for the fall.”
Even through adversity, Heinzen and Swartout have stood out to Ferris throughout camp.
“The two young guys that have really impressed me a lot are both of our tackles,” Ferris said. “They're both very young players, but they've just locked in, and they're doing everything they can every day to be a better football player. And they're really getting a solid starting spot on this team.”
Swartout will be CMU’s starting right tackle. The Essexville native appeared in five games during the 2021 season, making his first start in the Chippewas Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl victory over Washington State.
Hailing from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Heinzen will begin the 2022 season at left tackle. He will make his first career start when CMU faces off with Oklahoma on Sept. 1 at 7 p.m.
“Our right tackle, we've nicknamed him ‘Buzz,’ just he's a quieter guy, but he's really good,” Ferris said. “He's just confident. It's been great playing next to him every single day. He has been coming a long way. Same thing with our left tackle Davis Heinzen.”
