University of Minnesota Athletics
Blocking The Way: Senior Steve Shidell
9/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
A notable factor that may easily go unnoticed throughout the complexity of the Gophers’ coaching change this past off-season was the effect it had on the Gopher players themselves. Players on both sides of the ball were asked to digest new systems, philosophies and coaching demeanors. The adjustments required by the players as the football climate has changed around them have placed an added demand of leadership from the players.
As a 2007 team captain, tackle Steve Shidell is one of the six Gophers that are meeting this challenge head-on this season. The 6-foot-5, 290-pound fifth-year senior from Coon Rapids, Minn., anchors the Minnesota offensive line this season while starting at left tackle. Shidell is a microcosm of what Gopher coaches hope will become a trend, having developed from a raw high school talent to a seasoned college football veteran. Shidell committed to becoming a Minnesota Golden Gopher soon after he attended a Minnesota football camp following his junior year of high school.
“I knew all along that I wanted to come to Minnesota, so when they offered me a scholarship at the camp, I accepted,” Shidell said. “I was really excited going into my senior year of high school, just being able to relax and to not really worry about where I was going to go to college. I could just focus on playing the game my senior year. It was nice not having to worry about the stuff that a lot of guys had to.”
Having achieved a sort of peace of mind after being granted a scholarship from the U,’ Shidell went on to a banner senior season, notching all-conference and All-State honors as well as being named to the all-metro squad by both KARE 11 and the Star Tribune. Shidell points to two mentors he had at Coon Rapids for both his high school successes and opportunity to play at the collegiate level.
“My head coach, Clayton Copple, and my offensive line coach, Kelly Scott, were both huge influences on my football career. Coach Scott really taught me a lot about the game starting my sophomore year and throughout my junior and senior season. He taught me all about what I had to do if I wanted to play the game at the next level,” Shidell said. “He was the one who really gave me a boost to get to that point where I received a scholarship from a school the caliber of the University of Minnesota.”
After redshirting his first season, Shidell quickly became a fixture on the offensive line, earning a starting role two games into his sophomore season. Now, Shidell downplays his important role leading Golden Gopher football into the Tim Brewster era.
“We are doing some things differently, but when it comes down to it, you still have to be able to execute on the field,” Shidell said. “With the changes, our team definitely has been forced to become closer.”
One unique change to the Gophers’ preparation for the 2007 season was a training camp on the campus of St. John’s University. Whether players were experiencing their first year wearing Maroon and Gold or their fifth, like Shidell, all were experiencing the retreat to Collegeville from campus in Minneapolis and the comfortable familiarity of the Gibson-Nagurski football practice facility for the first time.
“It was really good for the team and our chemistry.,” Shidell said. “The nice thing about St. John’s is that it gave us a chance to get really close as a team. We were up there without any TV’s or cell phones. We had a chance to just grow and to spend time with each other and learn more about each other and to gain that trust from one another. I think that was huge and will be a big benefit for us.”
In a fall camp that led the Gophers coaching staff to select a new quarterback and to work to define themselves as a team, the coaches were also detailing and streamlining the new system that would be unveiled at the beginning of the season.
Among these new changes was a shift in offensive scheme. Shidell and his fellow offensive linemates who had been weaned and developed in a system that boasted a downhill, zone blocking running scheme that has been the bread-and-butter for Minnesota football over the past decade and has produced current NFL players like Ben Hamilton, Mark Setterstrom, Greg Eslinger, Ben Utecht, Matt Spaeth, Laurence Maroney and Marion Barber III, among others.
Having played in each game the past two seasons, with the exception of last December’s Insight Bowl that he missed with a broken leg, Shidell has been an intricate part of an offense that has been the only one in the country to both run and pass for 2,000 yards in each of the past eight seasons (1996-2006). Shidell and the Minnesota offensive line are also one of only two programs in Big Ten history to open holes for a 1,000-yard rusher in each of those eight seasons and have allowed the fewest sacks by a Big Ten program in the past five years.
Shidell contends that the offensive philosophy adopted by coaches during his first four years of Minnesota football is not all that different from what he and his linemates are being asked to do out of offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar’s “spread coast” offense this season.
“We’ve always been asked to be athletic; both before and especially now. This is not an offense where you can just be 350 pounds and just sit there,” Shidell said. “We have gotten more of an opportunity to hone and develop our pass blocking skills since the new coaching staff has been here. Coach Brewster has talked about playing fast and aggressive with the whole team, and that also applies to us.”
At the notion that what Shidell and his offensive line are being asked to do is much different than their set of expectations last season, Shidell is quick to clarify:
“We are still a running offense. The coaches are always talking about balance. Just because we are a spread offense doesn’t mean we aren’t going to run the football,” Shidell said. “In college football, you have to be able to run the football. We are still a zone blocking team and I feel good about what the [old system] has taught us about being a good running team.”
Regardless of the success that Shidell has had on the football field, he manages to keep everything in perspective. In December, Shidell will graduate with a double major in Sociology: Law and Criminal Deviance and Communications Studies. The leadership attributes that led him to his captainship also extend to his off the field work and is a tribute to his modest, self-effacing approach to his game and his post-college plans. Although many of his former linemates have moved onto successful professional careers in the NFL, Shidell maintains a focus on all parts of his collegiate experience.
“Even though playing for Minnesota and everything that has happened is important, I will be extremely proud to walk away from the U’ with a degree,” Shidell said. “If a football opportunity comes along after college, that would be a great opportunity, but for now the plan is to start graduate school in the spring.”
Should Shidell apply the same attitude and aptitude to his future as he has during his time as a Gopher, the odds will be stacked in his favor.
