BamaOnLine.com - Column: A plug for Pendry

November 18, 2009

Christopher Walsh
BamaOnLine.com Senior Writer

The University of Alabama sports information department is gearing up for a very busy December, which will likely include a ton of traveling.

Places like Houston, Orlando and New York will be among the destinations, but not for recruiting or to fill any potential staff vacancies. Rather that's where some of the postseason awards announcements will be made.

This could be an exceptional, no, make that one-of-a-kind of year for potential hardware, with the Crimson Tide in the running for just about everything imaginable, and could conceivably bring home its first Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award (outstanding player), Walter Camp Award (player of the year), Bednarik Award (defensive player), Doak Walker Award (running back), Lou Groza Award (kicker), and Bronko Nagurski Award (defensive player).

That's on top of some trophies Alabama is already familiar with like the Butkus Award for linebacker of the year, which Derrick Thomas won in 1988 and Rolando McClain is favored to land.

But here's a suggestion for someone else, and a much-less glamorous honor, the Broyles Award for assistant coach of the year.
Joe Pendry.

The job he's done with this offensive line has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Go back to the beginning of the season, when the only award people thought the Tide might have a chance to win was the Fred Biletnikoff for best wide receiver. Alabama had to replace the Outland Trophy winner (outstanding interior lineman), an All-American center who doubled as a team captain and the right guard, not to mention the starting running back and quarterback.

Mark Ingram for the Heisman? Please. Lane Kiffin had a better chance of getting Christmas cards from the other Southeastern Conference coaches, especially with this unproven line.

"They get better every day, every week," Ingram said. "They go out and watch a ton of film. They've just done such a great job of gelling in the spring, fall camp and week-to-week here.

"I'm real proud of them and I wouldn't want to run behind anyone but those five guys, and the tight ends and receivers do a great job of blocking as well."

Take last week's 31-3 victory over Mississippi State, for example. Alabama gave up no sacks, had no turnovers and the offensive didn't draw a single yellow flag.

"The lack of penalties is obviously huge," quarterback Greg McElroy said. "No turnovers, and we also had a lot of explosive plays, which are really our three most important goals. We obviously executed well in those areas."

The previous week, the offense had two penalties, for intentional grounding in the end zone (for a safety) and too many men on the field.

"We've worked really hard on that the last few weeks, just procedure stuff," senior left guard Mike Johnson said. "Snap counts, little things like that to try to make sure we clarify what we're trying to do, especially in loud situations like that. Practice paid off."

The safety is the lone sack since the bye week, and overall Alabama has only given up nine all season. Only seven teams in the nation have done better, and in comparison the Tide defense has accumulated 28.

Meanwhile, Ingram needs just 87 yards to surpass Glen Coffee's 1,383 rushing yards of a year ago even though the line was originally portrayed as Johnson and a bunch of question marks.

"Those guys are so tight-knit, they're always doing things together," senior defensive end Lorenzo Washington said. "They're like a fist, you know what I'm saying?

"Then Coach Pendry, he's an incredible offensive line coach. They put together a great scheme."

As the line gelled the holding calls all but vanished along with the false starts. Left tackle James Carpenter hasn't had anyone blow past him in a while. Right tackle Drew Davis has been a rock. Right guard Barrett Jones has pulled as well as anyone in recent memory and William Vlachos has been more than steady.

Collectively, the unit has been so good that the players hardly get noticed during games, which is about the biggest compliment they can receive and a tribute to the job Pendry's done.

"Joe does a great job with our offensive line and he makes a great contribution to our entire staff in terms of his knowledge and experience," Coach Nick Saban said. "That's important, but I also think that everybody on the offensive staff does a good job of making a contribution. (Offensive coordinator Jim McElwain) has done a really job of implementing, making adjustments during the course of the year, fixing things when they got broke, being positive and making improvements that we needed to make."

The coach then mentioned the other offensive assistants, but then came back to his assistant head coach, who worked 19 years in the National Football League and is now helping stock it with quality players: "Joe's done a really good job with our offensive line in terms of developing, not just what's happening this year."

Next season it'll be expected, this time it wasn't. Consequently, Pendry should be listed when the Broyles finalists are announced at the end of the month.

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