How NC State's O-line became the 'Band of Brothers' — and what it means
NC State offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford does not usually call his blockers the offensive line. He calls them the ‘Band of Brothers’ — or B.O.B.s for short — and that’s also how the players like to refer to the group.
Although he originally came up with the idea while coaching at Appalachian State, the nickname has such a deep meaning tied to playing up front that the former NFL blocker brought the term with him to Raleigh when he arrived prior to last season.
Ledford’s wife’s brother-in-law was a Green Beret, the special operations force in the U.S. Army. The coach would routinely ask him about the training and brotherhood the unit is known for, trying to find tips he could carry over onto the football field. The military man obliged with information, but he also suggested that Ledford watch the Band of Brothers miniseries, a 10-part HBO war drama that ran in 2001.
The comparisons between war and football are often clichéd and some could even argue overused, so Ledford treads carefully. The coach was hooked on the show immediately, though, and it was hard for him to not see the parallels between the battle field and what happens in the gridiron trenches.
“A lot of those relationships are similar — but we don’t give the ultimate sacrifice like those guys do fighting for our country, who I’m very thankful for,” he said. “I just saw how what those guys went through forged those relationships, and you could easily carry that over to the football field with my guys.
“To me, with the offensive line, it has to be five guys really playing as one. They have to know each other inside and out. You’ve got to know somebody has got my back. You’ve got to know ‘He’s going to be here on this play.’ It’s important to have those relationships and what I always talk about is none of us are related through blood, but through the things we are doing. It’s as if we’re true brothers.
“That’s the whole thing about the Band of Brothers, it’s putting guys beside you, in front of you and behind you, in front of you. It’s being very unselfish and doing what’s for the betterment of the group, not the betterment of yourself.”
Ledford has showed players clips from the miniseries, but doesn’t stop there with trying to get his guys trying to buy in to the mentality. In addition to the coach's preferred nomenclature, each lineman has a Band of Brothers bracelet. Their undershirts for games have ‘Band Of Brothers’ written on the back. NC State’s director of creative media, Tyler McEntire, has even mocked up movie posters featuring the B.O.B.s — which, of course, never focus on a singular player but the unit as a whole.
The group also spends copious amounts of time together — for football-related activities around the Murphy Center and down time outside of it. The big men are usually one of the last position groups off the practice field, and senior guard Tony Adams credits Ledford and strength and conditioning coach Dantonio Burnette for overhauling the approach within the group.
“Band of Brothers is one thing we’ve always been keying on since Coach Ledford got here,” he said. “It’s created the type of culture in our room where it’s only about the people in the room.
"We make sure that every day we’re here for our brothers, we play hard for our brothers and make sure there’s nothing else stopping us.”
Ledford played defensive line at East Carolina from 1995-97 and was even a starter there before switching to the other side of the ball prior to his senior year and then playing in the NFL as an offensive lineman. He knows better than anybody that playing along the offensive front is different than anything else. The group is more reliant on teamwork than any other position, which is why he feels the military comparison is so apt.
“To me, that’s what I try to get them to understand — we’re special,” he said. “Playing on an offensive line with those other four guys — that’s special now and [so are] those relationships I had with all of those guys.
“I want those guys to feel that, and I think that’s a way I can get them to identify themselves as being an elite group, being something elite on the team, like this team needs us, they need the B.O.B.s.”
Following the loss of NC State’s first 1,000-yard rusher in 13 years, Matthew Dayes, the Pack needs its Band of Brothers stronger than ever. The coach believes that they are exactly that, thanks to the off-field relationships carrying over between the white lines. It also doesn't hurt that the position returns what he considers four-and-a-half starters, after sixth man Terronne Prescod, a redshirt junior, started three games and saw action from scrimmage in all but one 2016 contest.
“The beauty of it is the guys knowing what the standard is that we want,” Ledford explained. “It’s not coming in and getting those standards set; now it’s just about them upholding them, and then you see the older guys holding the younger guys to that standard. It’s a pleasure to see.
“We’ve got a really good group. It’s not only those [older] guys … our guys are really, really tight right now.”
Adams pointed out that with nearly everyone back from last year, it could be the closest group of players he's been around.
“I just love them to death,” Adams added. “I’m going to be here for my boys; they’re going to be at my wedding, everything like that. We’re real excited and one thing we understand as a group is it’s on us, so we’ve got to make sure we’re all together in everything we do.”
The transformation from an offensive line to the Band of Brothers is complete, and the first battle is quickly approaching Sept. 2 against South Carolina in Charlotte. Like any army, the Pack will only be as strong as its front line — and the B.O.B.s welcome the challenge of leading the way like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
“It’s the culture that goes into making a winning type of team,” Adams concluded. “[Ledford and Burnette] have changed the culture since we’ve been here. That’s why our work ethic is so strong because they wanted to implement that into us. We want to just win. We’ve been here for too long to be going through what we’ve been going through. We want to have that big win, those big couple of wins — double-digit wins, championship-type wins.
“We all have a common goal to win a championship. That’s the only thing we’ve set our eyes on, so everybody is working to get there.”
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