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StumbleuponMIAMI FOOTBALL
Sutter has grown into solid offensive lineman
Primarily a basketball player in high school, Miami senior has been a big force up front.
Friday, October 03, 2008
OXFORD — There was a time when Steve Sutter probably would have laughed if someone had told him he would play college football.
And he might have been hysterical if informed that through four games of his senior season at Miami University, he would not only hold his own with four teammates who average more than 312 pounds per man on the offensive line, but have the highest overall blocking grade.
"We never had youth football at St. Henry," Sutter said of his hometown and school. "I almost never played football. My focus was basketball, but I gave football a shot because all my friends were going out for the football team.
"Football still wasn't my main focus until my junior year in high school when I started to get recruited more for football than for basketball," he said.
Sutter had an unusual career at St. Henry High School, a football powerhouse. Sutter never made it to the playoffs as a football player there, but did win a Division III state championship as a power forward/center on the basketball team.
When he arrived at Miami, he had no clue he would wind up on the interior offensive line, nor would he know for a couple years.
"I came in here as a tight end/defensive end," Sutter said. "I lasted almost a day. They switched me to defensive tackle."
Sutter's collegiate career changed when injuries struck in 2006 and the RedHawks found themselves desperately short of offensive linemen. He started eight games that season even though he was considered vastly underweight.
"I struggled to gain weight the first couple years," he said.
You wouldn't know it now.
Sutter, the tallest but still the lightest of Miami's interior linemen at 6-foot-6, 297 pounds, has started 17 consecutive games and eight times received a "championship performance" grade from his coaches, which means he completed at least 80 percent of his blocks while committing no penalties and allowing no sacks.
Sutter's grade this year of 85 percent is the highest on the team.
"I always feel I can play a little bit better, even if I grade out well," he said. "I'm my biggest critic. I want to be perfect. I don't really know if it's possible. I guess the Charleston Southern game is as close as I've gotten."
Despite Sutter's high performance, Miami's offense has struggled, scoring only seven touchdowns in four games, four of those touchdowns coming in the 38-27 victory over Charleston Southern.
"We've made progress, but there's still definitely room for improvement," he said. "One thing we've been doing is moving the ball a lot. We just haven't converted it into touchdowns."
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.
