Offensive Linemen

While many of the more high-profile high school football players spend the summer honing their skills and their competitive edge at 7-on-7 tournaments, linemen continue to toil away in anonymity in weight rooms and at camps and combines. For one day last month, however, the big guys took the main stage at the fourth annual Air It Out 7-on-7 and Big Man Competition in Bel Air. As their more nimble teammates played pass and catch, eight teams of big guys matched muscle at pushing a fire truck, tossing SUV tires and bench pressing 135 pounds.

Each morning, Monday through Friday, I'll hook you up with some reading material to skim through as you slug down coffee and slack off at the start of your workday -- that way I'll have an excuse to do the same at the start of mine. Running it back: Jeremy Guthrie allowed two runs in seven innings , but the offense let him down as the Orioles lost to Twins last night. ... Brian Matusz is getting healthier, but he is unsure of his return date . ... Luke Scott stands by his controversial comments about President Barack Obama . ... Road projects tied to the Baltimore Grand Prix have created a traffic nightmare downtown . Hitting the links: 1. Jim Palmer: Orioles starter Zach Britton knows he has to work at refining his craft [ MASN ]

Unofficially, the Ravens might as well call it their version of The Marshall Plan. Heading into the 2011 NFL draft, it's no secret Baltimore would like to beef up its offensive line, a unit that struggled at times last year to protect quarterback Joe Flacco and run the ball effectively in short yardage. And ideally, they'd do it by finding another gem like Marshal Yanda, whom the Ravens drafted out of Iowa in the third round of the 2007 draft. Yanda wasn't exactly a highly coveted prospect that year — 11 offensive linemen were selected before the Ravens grabbed him with the 86th pick.

Maryland introduced a football recruiting class Wednesday that is heavy on offensive linemen and includes a trio of promising receivers. The 20-member class was assembled even as one head coach was ousted and another hired. Randy Edsall's first class retained the bulk of players recruited by former coach Ralph Friedgen, who departed in December. "The biggest thing we wanted to do is keep that core intact," said Edsall, the former Connecticut coach. The class features five offensive linemen and a handful of recruits from the talent-rich immediate area.

There are times when Ravens receiver Derrick Mason can become a disruptive force, but hopefully he has brought this team and offense together after his postgame talk Sunday night. Mason can irritate team officials and teammates with his desire to have more passes thrown his way, but there isn't a Raven who can put a win or loss in better perspective than Mason. After the Ravens' disappointing 13-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday, Mason was critical of the offense, which had only 269 yards of total offense, and only three points in the second half.

Gabriel Ali-El Poly, running back, senior A slick runner in the Engineers' option offense, Ali-El (5 feet 9, 189 pounds) missed last season's finale with a shoulder injury — a huge loss after he ran for more than 1,200 yards and also had 400 yards receiving. Demond Brown Old Mill, running back, senior A transfer from Annapolis, Brown accounted for 45 percent of the Patriots offense last season, scoring 15 touchdowns and gaining 1,345 yards on 179 carries.

— Maybe in two weeks, we'll finally get to see the real Ravens offense. Hopefully, it wasn't on display Saturday night against the Washington Redskins, because the Ravens were out of sync and erratic. They were unpredictable, but not in a good way. When they should have been going downfield more on third-down situations, they ran short, clearing-out patterns. Quarterback Joe Flacco had problems delivering the ball early and didn't appear to have timing with his receivers because he was getting pressured a lot. There has been a lot of hype about this offense with the additions of receivers Anquan Boldin and Donte' Stallworth during the offseason, but there wasn't much explosion Saturday night.

LOS ANGELES - For someone as Winnebago wide, fearsome and scary as Alabama nose guard Terrence Cody, his most impressive numbers are height (6-foot-5) and weight (354 pounds) over tackles (25) and sacks (zero). Cody is actually down from 410 pounds. During a high school game in Fort Myers, Fla., he landed on tailback Noel Devine, now a star at West Virginia, prompting Devine to vomit. Cody can tell you funny big-man stories, such as trying to shimmy into an airplane lavatory.

If the Ravens' offensive linemen are seeking compliments for their performance in Sunday's 17-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, they're not expecting any from their coaches or even themselves. Despite surrendering no sacks and paving the way for the offense to rush for 229 yards - the sixth most in franchise history - the offensive line shrugged off any temptation to gloat. "It's a start," right offensive tackle Adam Terry said. "We've got to do it next week and the week after that in order to say that's what we're about.

"An offensive player is permitted to block an opponent by contacting him with his head, shoulders, hands, and/or outer surface of the forearm, or with any other part of his body. A blocker may use his arms, or open or closed hands, to contact an opponent on or outside the opponent's frame (the body of an opponent below the neck that is presented to the blocker). If a blocker's arms or hands are outside an opponent's frame, it is a foul if the blocker materially restricts him. The blocker immediately must work to bring his hands inside the opponent's frame, and as the play develops, the blocker is permitted to work for and maintain his position against an opponent, provided that he does not illegally clip or illegally push from behind."