25 former college football players destined to be future head coaches

11. Orlando Pace, former Ohio State offensive tackle

If you have a statistic invented just for you, there could be a chance that you could at least coach that position. When former Ohio State All-American offensive tackle Orlando Pace was making a Heisman push the Buckeyes popularized the term “pancake block” and turned it into a statistic.

Though Ohio State did not coin the term, they used it to identify a statistic. Since offensive linemen do not carry stats like other positions, the pancake block was used to quantify how dominant Pace was as a blocker.

In case you are not familiar with the term. A pancake is when an offensive lineman flattens a defender without holding or wrestling them to the ground. Pace was a rare combination of herculean strength and elite athleticism.

Pace is one of the greatest offensive linemen for this reason. Today’s offensive linemen are more in the mold of Pace. They are big, strong and athletic. Many offensive linemen who play today were multi-sport stars just like Pace was in Sandusky, Ohio.

That’s what made Pace so special. There have been plenty of strong offensive linemen. There have been plenty of technical marvels. Pace is one of the very few who were elite at both. This is what would make Pace a fantastic mentor for the modern offensive lineman.