Maybe not as a whole, but in parts over the last couple of years, they’ve taken their share of flak.

These days, Muskogee’s offensive linemen are feeling pretty good about themselves.  It’s a feeling that was reinforced during last week’s scrimmage action against Bixby and Sapulpa. Quarterback Victor Williams rushed for 161 and passed for 185 in what amounted to a half-game against each.

That’s 346 total yards by one player.

Scrimmages don’t count, but chalk this one up in the momentum department.

“I was running off instincts out there, but to make big plays you have to have a good line so I give them all the credit,” Williams said at the time.

The remark caught the attention of, among others, senior tackle Matt Rust, junior tackle Cody Heaton and junior center Dale Ford.

“He can find the holes when we open up and he makes (the defense) pay up. He’s got that kind of talent,” Heaton said. “A lot of guys who have that kind of talent will talk about how it was all him. But for him to recognize us like that, we’re honored.”

“He’s like a brother,” Rust said. “We want to watch his back.”

They’ll try to do that again tonight when the Roughers open the 2010 regular season at Indian Bowl against Sand Springs.  These three have started at least one season and have heard the critics, including those targeting last year’s 3-7 season and missed playoff opportunity, the first since 2002.

“We weren’t consistent, that’s for sure,” said Ford, who was thrust into action as a guard last season and now starts as center. “On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best, we’d have a 2 one night and a 9 the next.”

Part of the problem last season, says Ford, was playing out of necessity rather than playing to fit.

“I thought I was too small to be a guard,” he said. “This year we’ve got bigger guards. I’m better suited at center.”

Those two are J.B. Clark, the master of Dr. Gott’s no sugar, no flour diet, who dropped 70-plus pounds off his 6-foot-1, 360-pound frame, and Dillon Rice, listed at 6-3, 260.  At the tackle spots, Heaton is listed at 6-4, 245 and Rust, who missed last season with a torn ACL, is 6-4, 265, according to team measurements.

Ford is 6-0, 245. Not bad but definitely the smaller package among those blocking for their quarterback.

“We’ve progressed so much over a year,” Ford said. “Me, Cody and Matt are more or less the leaders with the most experience. We’ve got two guys to make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to do and for the most part they already are but they’re still where we were as first-year players.”

Sandwiching them between these three is helpful, Heaton said.

“Between the three of us, we always see the defenses and we echo the calls back and forth to each other,” Heaton said. “If we hadn’t gone over it in practice or watched it on film, it didn’t come as easy. That’s not the case anymore. There’s a great deal of confidence up there.”

And rightfully so, said MHS coach Matt Hennesy.

“It’s been encouraging to see the development with all these young cats we threw in the fire,” Hennesy said. “Those guys up front have done a good job.”

With Kyler Harris questionable this week as a slot receiver who also fills in at a running back spot occasionally and the team’s projected starting tailback out for 6-8 weeks with a leg fracture, much of the offensive focus will be on Williams’ ability to make things happen.

Based on early results, there’s enough chemistry to make that happen.

“With him having that ability, we get our man blocked and he sees it, he can hit the hole and be gone,” Rust said. “And the way he reacts is appreciated. We’re building a real team this year and not a group that includes superstars. It’s a different atmosphere.”

Eventually, though, some options not involving Williams must open up. He was the running game last week. Sidtrell Grayson becomes the starter at tailback. Bradley McGee, his bruised shoulder OK after sitting out last week’s tune-ups, will get carries at fullback.

Wesley Starr, a junior, moves into the tight end spot occupied by Chris Sommers, who has a fractured growth plate in his hip. If Harris doesn’t go at his inside receiver spot, Delonn Puckett, a sophomore, will take over and will need to take on some of the load that Harris had going over 1,000 yards in total offense last season.

“They’re all brothers,” Rust said. “We’re going to go to work for all of them.”

Sand Springs at Muskogee

Radio: KXOJ FM 100.3, KBIX AM 1490

Last meeting: Muskogee 37, Sand Springs 29 (2009).

Series record: Muskogee leads, 19-0.

Notes: Only eight of the meetings have been decided by less than 20 points...Muskogee has won three of its last four season openers.

Also: Muskogee Quarterback Club will sell barbecue under the homeside bleachers as a fundraiser.