LORMAN &8212; The only thing Alcorn coaches knew about Jermaine Pruitt was he stood 6-3, weighed 365 pounds and did a pretty good job as an offensive lineman in junior college.

He came recommended by a guy named Marcus Dent, who played with Alcorn offensive line coach Michael Ellis. So they brought him in sight unseen, allowed him to walk on and found out quickly no one exaggerated on his stats.

So everyone took to him quickly and even game him a nickname.

Pork Chop.

&8220;It was probably one of those skill people,&8221; Pruitt said of the author.

But he caught on early, nailed down the starting center job and joined up with an offensive line that&8217;s been the key to just about everything the Braves have done on offense this season.

This year&8217;s offensive line may be the best Alcorn has had in recent years. It&8217;s allowed the running game to reach new heights and a true freshman quarterback to grow and mature without having to run for his life.

&8220;They&8217;ve stepped up to the challenge,&8221; Ellis said. &8220;I think it has a lot to do with the addition of Jermaine Pruitt and Bronson Carvalho. They&8217;re what you consider football guys who eat it up with a passion. With the others, the togetherness I&8217;ve really been working on the last four years has really come together. That&8217;s what makes them special.&8221;

It&8217;s been a combination of the two additions and three holdovers from last season that has made everything go. The Braves are on the verge of producing a 1,000-yard rusher in their final regular season game Saturday against Grambling and have led the SWAC all season in sacks allowed.

The front five all go 300 pounds or better. But it&8217;s more than size. With Carvalho at tackle, Todd Johnson or Justin Telemaque at guard, Pruitt at center, Seymour at guard and Jonathan Lowe at tackle, that&8217;s well over a ton of offensive linemen.

But that&8217;s also a hard-working, communicative bunch that&8217;s gotten the job done each Saturday.

&8220;I don&8217;t know if it&8217;s the biggest line, but certainly based on what we&8217;ve done with the running game, we&8217;ve been very effective as far as blocking,&8221; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said. &8220;They&8217;ve all been there when we needed them to be there as far as leadership on the offensive line and making the kind of calls they need to make.&8221;

But the story won&8217;t end Saturday afternoon after the Grambling game. Lowe and Seymour are the only seniors up front, and there&8217;s sizeable freshmen coming up who will come up and vie for playing time.

This year&8217;s group, however, may have set a new standard.

&8220;Every week we put the game on our shoulders,&8221; Lowe said. &8220;That&8217;s what we do, and hopefully that&8217;s what they&8217;re going to do.&8221;

The new guys

There was so much potential for problems back in the spring. The Braves had to fill one hole from last year, were inconsistent down the stretch in 2004, didn&8217;t have much depth coming into the season and needed a full-time center.

And then they pinned their hopes on a walk-on whom they had never seen.

But Pruitt, who sat out 2004 after two seasons at Itawamba Community College, didn&8217;t play like one. He arrived with thoughts of playing tackle, but he quickly moved to center to allow Lowe to play tackle full time.

&8220;I was used to the system and came in and worked hard during the spring and before the season,&8221; Pruitt said. &8220;I came up during both summer sessions and worked real hard. It just clicked real good, and I started playing ball. They were about to put me at tackle, but Coach Ellis tried me out at center. They thought I would be better at center.&8221;

And the gamble on a player who never visited the campus worked out for the best. For the first time maybe in his career, Lowe has been able to play one position and stick with it.

Others have, too, and that&8217;s been part of the reason for their success.

&8220;We hadn&8217;t seen any tape on him,&8221; Ellis said. &8220;Just his size alone was intriguing. His passion for the game &8212; that&8217;s a difference in a lot of guys. He loves the sport so much it&8217;s almost like a drug to him. He sat out, came in, lost 30-40 pounds and hasn&8217;t missed a play &8212; practice or game.&8221;

Carvalho (6-2, 312) was in a similar position to Pruitt after he sat out last season. The Hawaii native, however, stepped in to play tackle and hasn&8217;t budged from the position.

The returners

Lowe (6-3, 3-5) was the guy coaches pinned a ton of responsibilities on with the offense prior to the season. But as the season went on, the fifth-year senior who spent the summer working on his master&8217;s degree at the University of Missouri took on other duties.

He was the guy everyone looked to on the offense and even the team. And he knows how an offensive line should work.

&8220;I just try to be a leader by example,&8221; said Lowe, who earned first team All-SWAC honors. &8220;I do what I can for the guys off the field and on the field. We&8217;re all just tight-knit and close-knit, and I just try to do everything right. We just hang out off the field, and that&8217;s big. We didn&8217;t have that with the lines in the past.&8221;

The camaraderie was there from last year with Lowe, Telemaque, Johnson and Seymour, but this season they&8217;ve taken it to a new level. And the results have shown on the field &8212; the Braves have allowed a conference-low 12 sacks this season after giving up 27 last season.

&8220;The last three years we&8217;ve given up 12 in the first five games,&8221; Ellis said. &8220;They&8217;ve stepped up to every challenge thrown at them this year. I can&8217;t speak highly enough of them and making me look like a genius.&8221;

Telemaque and Johnson have rotated at that one guard spot with Seymour at the other. But Lowe has been the glue up front, even helping Tony Hobson with signals from the sidelines on play calling.

They helped open holes for Jeremy McCoy and Michael Shepherd, protect a young quarterback and make an entire unit go. And like any other good offensive line, you think they get any of the credit?

Nope.

&8220;The light&8217;s going to shine on you, but it&8217;s not going to be bright,&8221; Ellis said. &8220;It&8217;s the unknown glory, but they&8217;re almost like the quarterback on the field. They take pride in what they do.&8221;