The revelation of Monmouth football’s rebuilt offensive line has been the foundation for the team’s success through the first month of the season. And even among the oft-overlooked position group, the contributions are impossible to ignore. The Hawks are tied for fewest sacks allowed in the country among teams that have played five games, allowing just two.
But how did the Hawks, who lost four out of their five starters from the 2025 offensive line that finished as a top five group in the FCS, reload the unit to remain one of the best in the country? The answer is an encapsulation of the football program’s past, present, and future.
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“I’d say 20 years ago, I was a five for five. I kind of believed in that,” Monmouth offensive line coach Brian Gabriel said, referring to the traditional philosophy that five offensive linemen should play the entirety of a game’s snaps. “I feel like in this day and age, I need to get guys ready. There’s not a huge drop off. (We’re) a little older—seniors, juniors, guys that have been in the program for a while. It’s just a benefit to our offense to get more guys ready.”
The core of the offensive line is another developmental success story built on patience, as four of the team’s five starters have been with the program for the entirety of their college careers. But two contrasting additions in the transfer portal have been catalysts for this year’s evolution.
At any given practice, redshirt freshman Brady O’Hara is impossible to miss. The 6-foot-7 and 300-pound transfer from Penn State stands out even among the Hawks’ sizable group of lineman, and he really pops when the former high school tight end has a chance to show the rare foot quickness that has made him a mainstay of the group’s deeper rotation.
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“Penn State actually reached out to me like junior year, they said they were gonna transition me to offensive line,” O’Hara said. “I kind of shied away from it for a while. And then I thought about it with my family. I was like, this is actually the right move for me because as a tackle, I’ll be able to be more fast and athletic. And honestly, I wish I made the transition sooner. I’ve loved offensive line. I completely love it. I like it here cause Coach Gabe truly shows how to work and get better.”
While one key addition has taken the fast track to learning a new position, it was another transfer’s wealth of experience at multiple spots on the offensive line that made him one of the most anticipated additions across the entire FCS. Reed Collins was a three-year starter at Lafayette with experience at guard and tackle. He’s become Monmouth’s Swiss Army knife on the line that can play anywhere.
“I really like what we do rotating guys on the line,” Collins said. “I feel like the rotation Coach Gabe puts in, it’s really effective. Each guy’s getting to move around, different pieces of the puzzle. Always keeping guys fresh, ready to go. I kind of did that a little bit during my time at Lafayette my sophomore year—kind of rotating in, moving around a lot. So I feel like our system works really well here.”
Those two additions joined a polished group with tackles Matt Fries and Josh Duran plus guards Collin Goetter and Michael Petito. Redshirt senior center Kevin Shriner is the lone returning starter from last year, and anchors the group once again this year. Fries began his career in the Big Ten at Illinois in 2022 before joining Monmouth, and the other four players have been staples in the program leading up to starting roles this fall.
The collection of players with a variety of different journeys makes for an interesting inflection point for Monmouth. Fifth-year players like Shriner began their careers during the team’s first season in the CAA. Half-a-decade later, the Hawks are a force in the conference with a talent pipeline that rivals their league peers. The advantages are twofold with this year’s approach.
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“The other thing is injuries occur. And the more guys you play, you’re mitigating injuries because they’re taking less reps,” Gabriel said. “And the second (string players) are more prepared to play.”
But the lines between starters and second stringers is blurred in a good way for the Hawks. The tackle rotation consists of Fries and Duran primarily with O’Hara rotating in significantly. Collectively, they play either tackle spot. With their seven-man rotation that can even be expanded to eight or nine in certain games, Monmouth has became a prominent example of one of the most recent evolutions of football broadly. NFL first round draft picks like Francis Mauigoa, Max Iheanachor, and Caleb Lomu all entered into rotational situations as rookies and were valued for their versatility.
For Monmouth, there is no disputing the strong early returns. With no sacks allowed over the past two weeks and 318 rushing yards over the two wins, they’ve hit the ground running with the new approach.
“It really just started with the bond of the guys. We all help each other get better,” O’Hara said. “Josh can play both right and left, Me and Fries can play right and left, and it’s a pretty good dynamic we’ve had the past few weeks.”
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The consistency in pass protection has impressively outshined the quality work in the rushing attack. One of the team’s two sacks allowed came against FBS opponent Western Michigan, and the other against Sacred Heart was more of a coverage sack. The fast track of O’Hara has been an x-factor.
“There is a reason that he got recruited at a very high level out of high school. He is still learning the position and that’s the thing about Brady, he might have the most tools of any guy in the group,” Gabriel said. “He can be an elite tackle for us. So we’re just seeing growth there. Josh Duran has really stepped up and really played well. Matt Fries really played well. So that’s a three-man—three-monster tackle position right now.”
Collins has the ability to play tackle as well, but has mostly worked inside at guard along with Petito and Goetter. The interchangeability of that offensive line has provided an interesting wrinkle against opposing defenses, creating variation even as the Monmouth offense has used pretty conventional offensive looks throughout the first five games.
“We’re doing a decent job in protection. We’re finding ways to run the ball,” Gabriel said. “Hopefully we can find ways to continue to run the ball and continue to grow as a unit.”
This weekend’s matchup against Towson could be a chance for the team to produce a signature performance offensively. It’s been a steady upward trajectory for the offensive line, honing more conventional run looks with a heavy dose of zone blocking and the occasion power or counter look sprinkled in. Superb execution of those straightforward concepts will be the impetus for more creative and novel looks in the future.
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A strong showing on Saturday would be the perfect end to the unit’s first chapter going into the bye week, marking the midway point in the regular season. But with high-stakes games looming in October and November, the best is yet to come for the Monmouth offensive line.
“Our offense is very versatile. We’ve got a lot of cool tricks up our sleeve going into each week,” Collins said. “I like running simple plays, complicated play. It kind of all works together. We work at it very intensely. We feel prepared for every situation. So it’s very exciting.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth football O-Line, rebuilt with innovation and depth, sits atop the FCS
