The Kansas City Star
June 17, 1999
Edition: METROPOLITAN
Section: ZONE/MIDTOWN
Page: 15

Metro Classic linemen are definitely worth watching
Author: JENNI CARLSON

We always ignore the linemen. We watch the strong-armed quarterback or the hard-hitting linebacker or the lightning-fast running back.
No more. At tonight's Metro Classic All-Star football game, which kicks off at 7:30 at the Blue Valley District Athletic Complex, we will pay attention to the linemen. We will watch them push and rush, stunt and grunt. We will reward them for the work they do.

After all, these lines don't consist of one, maybe two good linemen. They are stacked with some of the best big football players in the Kansas City area.

"Every time you're going up against somebody, it's going to be a good battle," Rockhurst defensive lineman Jim Root said. "Everybody is talented out here."

No kidding.

Six of the nine All-Metro first-team linemen will be playing.

Kansas got four of them - Shawnee Mission East's Karl Zubek, who won the Buck Buchanan Award in Kansas; Blue Valley Northwest's Tyler Hood; Lawrence Free State's Dijon Dillon, and Shawnee Mission West's Nate Bister. Missouri got two - Lee's Summit North's Justin Bowser, the Buchanan Award winner in Missouri, and Blue Springs' Geoff Bollinger.

But the talent on the line runs deeper than those six. Another nine All-Metro honorees are on the roster, and even if they weren't All-Metro, they were all-state, all-district or all-conference.

So with all that talent, practices have been a breeze. Right?

"We started out slow,'' Bollinger said. "Real slow."

That's not a knock on anyone's skill. Having a good line, you see, goes beyond just throwing four or five good linemen together.

"We just had to learn what everybody can do," Oak Park defensive lineman Casey Vokolek said, "what they're best at."

Playing on the line is sort of like performing ballet. (A strange image, for sure, but work with me here.) Everyone has to know where everyone else is going and what they're doing.

And sometimes it's the smallest of details.

"Some people come out low," Root said. "Some come out high."

Not being aware of intricacies such as those can be detrimental to the line, not to mention the linemen.

On average, the Missouri All-Stars' linemen are 6 feet, 2 1/2 inches tall and weigh 246 pounds while the Kansas linemen are 6-2 and 251. With that much weight flying around, it can get a little dangerous.

"Big Stephen," Bollinger said, referring to Blue Springs South's Stephen Steffes, who is 6-5 and 290, "stepped on my feet a couple of times today."
Most linemen, whether they are in high school, college or the professional ranks, must work together for quite some time before all of the kinks are ironed out. Even after months of practice, the linemen still drill together every day.

The All-Stars have been practicing for only a week and a half, so there is bound to be a little confusion, maybe even a few bumbles during tonight's game. But for the most part, these linemen are ready to impress.

"Everybody has started to learn what (the other linemen) can do," Belton offensive lineman Andy Bandstra said. "There's a lot of skill out here."

Copyright 1999 The Kansas City Star Co.