The Fat Boy Club
November 18, 2002 | Football
Nov. 18, 2002
By Gretchen Kiker, Texas Tech Media Relations
The Red Raiders set many goals for the 2002 football season, but having one of the largest offensive lines in college football was not one of them. A recent poll done this year by the University of Houston sports information office ranked the Texas Tech O-line as the second largest in the nation. At the time, the five starters 290-pound Toby Cecil, 310-pound Casey Keck, 325-pound Daniel Loper, 337-pound Rex Richards and 337-pound Jon Rodriguez combined for an average weight of 319.8 pounds. Fresno State was ranked first in the poll, tipping the scales at 320 pounds.
Like the wide receivers, nicknamed AFROS (America's Finest Receivers on Saturday), the offensive line needed a name of their own. Richards, the senior out of Midland, Texas, came up with the idea for the Fat Boy Club.
"The receivers, they all have their shirts, so we had to come up with our own shirts and the Fat Boy Club kind of fit us," Cecil, the junior left guard from Richardson, Texas, said.
While a couple of the Red Raiders have gained a considerable amount of weight since last spring, All-Big 12 right guard Richards accredits their size to a good off-season.
"I think we are the same size body fat wise, but we had a really good off-season," said Richards "We gained a lot of muscle and we are a much bigger offensive line than we were last year. We've kept our feet, we are real fast and we've got a lot of strength. As a guard I've played at 299 and now I play at about 337 pounds and I definitely feel that I'm a better lineman than I've ever been."
Don't let the weight of these guys fool you; their size has given them a significant advantage over their competition.
"I think our weight gives us an edge over other teams because even though we weigh so much we still try to be as agile as possible," Loper, a sophomore left tackle from Houston, Texas, said.
This solid group of linesmen has paved the way for the Red Raider offense thus far, allowing them to average 469.8 yards per game and 4,228 total yards. The total offense ranks number one in the Big 12 and sixth in the NCAA. The Texas Tech O-line has allowed senior quarterback Kliff Kingsbury to be the national leader in touchdown passes, completions, attempts and passing yards.
"We take pride in not letting Kliff get hit and when we do that he gets records. All of his school records that he has comes from us doing our job first," Keck, the junior right tackle from San Antonio, Texas, said.
Cecil, who has been a Red Raider for three years, takes pride in what he and the offensive line do. "The glory we get is seeing Kliff stay clean and having a good game. How well the rest of the team does reflects on us, so that's what we like to see."
So far this season has proved to be challenging for the Red Raiders, facing nationally ranked Ohio State, North Carolina State, Texas A&M, Iowa State and Colorado.
"I think the toughest game we have played was definitely North Carolina State just because of the outcome," Loper said. "The toughest games we have yet to come are all of them, we just have to take one week at a time." The remainder of the schedule doesn't get any easier, ranking as the country's fifth-strongest with only Southern California, Florida State, Stanford and North Carolina having tougher schedules.
Although these unsung heroes may not get all the glory on the field, their impact does not go unnoticed.
"The O-line has really come together and it's really fun to play behind them. I see them getting better and better each game," said Kingsbury.