Flames Feature: A Leader on the Line
10/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Editorial Note: This story served as the Flames Illustrated football game day program senior feature story for Liberty's home game against Bryant on Sept. 20. Mitch Hanson has been a staple on Liberty's offensive line, having started the last 30 games in a row. The 2013 Big South second-team all-conference and VaSID second-team all-state honoree has helped Liberty's offense rank No. 18 in the country in scoring average (36.1 points per game) and No. 33 in total offense (429.3 yards per game) in 2014.
You can argue that offensive line isn't a skill position to Mitch Hanson, but fair warning: you'll probably lose.
For one thing, the guard is quite skilled himself on the front. The senior started all of the Flames' games last season and is the team leader with 26 consecutive starts.
He helped Liberty set a program record in rushing touchdowns (36) and lead the Big South in passing efficiency (155.64) in 2013. Quarterback Josh Woodrum's record-setting play is made possible, it's easy to forget, in large part to the protection and time Hanson and the rest of his offensive linemen provide.
On the 2014 season thus far, Woodrum has converted Hanson and company's solid performances to pass the 5,000 career passing-yard mark and while being sacked just three times; including the Flames opening matchup against No. 23 North Carolina (FBS ranking).
For another, Hanson is intellectual by nature — coming into Liberty with an impressive 3.98 high school GPA and citing academics as a personal priority — and more than capable of holding his own in any given argument. You might even say he plans to make a career of it, given that the graduate school government major intends to begin law school next fall.
With a matter-of-fact demeanor and obvious thought, he makes a convincing case for the under-appreciated offensive linemen of the world.
"On the offensive line, there's a lot we look at that people don't realize," Hanson patiently explained. "We look at safety depth, to see if there's one too high or lower than another. We look at linebackers, because if they're leaning forward a bit it might be a tip-off that they're coming [at the line], or if the middle linebacker is higher than the other they might be doing a cross."
And so he continued, calmly listing off defensive positions and the tiny details that he looks for to anticipate their actions. From the side and degree to which cornerbacks shade receivers to the position of a defensive tackle's right foot, Hanson can infer a world of meaning in mere seconds.
"I'm extremely analytical," he said, stating the obvious. "I analyze everything, especially on the field and during film study. I look at everything, analyzing everything about players' positions and their stances and stuff like that."
The influence of his off-field smarts makes Hanson among the most reliable players on the field.
"He's a guy who can play every position across the front," offensive line coach Dennis Wagner asserted. "We've never asked him to play center, but he certainly could do that, and he has played right tackle, right guard, left guard and left tackle."
Perhaps more rare than his ability to play all those positions is his consent to do so.
"Mitch is a very good athlete, and he is smart, as we've already talked about," Wagner noted, "but his willingness and desire to always do what he's asked to do is wonderful. He never balks about moving from one position to another."
Because Hanson's knowledge goes beyond his immediate position to the line as a whole, he lends valuable leadership to the unit.
"I'd say just being a constant [is one of my strengths]," Hanson said. "I'm one of the more dependable guys on the team. People look to me as someone they can depend on knowing the answer. They'll ask me in the middle of a play, you know, ‘Hey, what should I do on this?' and they know that I can help them and know the answer."
"He makes a lot of calls," Wagner agreed. "[He is] just a very smart guy in the classroom and it absolutely carries over for him to the field."
In his final season with the Flames, Hanson aims for that carryover to take him further in his personal athletics career than ever before.
"It is his goal to repeat as an all-conference player this year, and he can certainly do that," Wagner confirmed.
Hanson earned Big South all-conference and VaSID all-state second team honors as a junior on the field. Off the field, he was honored for his work in the classroom when he was named to the Capital One Academic all-district team and the FCS ADA Academic all-star listing.
Unsurprisingly, Hanson is taking a detail-oriented and pragmatic approach to his all-conference aspirations this season, remaining steady and strong in his preexisting strengths and ironing out kinks along the way.
"This season I'm focused on trying to play with more of a base," he offered as an example, "not being over my toes, playing with more control but at the same time more aggressiveness. That's something I'm really trying to balance."
"Yeah, he's working on keeping his feet on the ground when he's in a run-blocking mode or even pass protection mode," Wagner noted. "When he steps, stepping on his whole foot, not just his toes — and getting his body weight forward. And he's made a lot of progress there."
But though Hanson admits that he has a tendency to overanalyze, he is quick to set his sights beyond the small points of his personal game to the goals of his team as a whole.
"I'd say the expectations are to win out [the Big South]," Hanson stated. "But [I expect] to see the team keep coming together and see us really take ownership of whatever path we take this season. The result of the season is a direct correlation to how the team comes together and how we control what we do."
To win another Big South Championship, the Flames will need to control and strengthen every possible detail of their game. With a leader like Hanson on the front lines, though, it's hard to argue that their odds are good.
By Ryley Rush, a freelance writer for Liberty Athletics
