When the Marion football team takes over on offense this fall, it will do so behind Class 6A's top offensive line. That's what longtime Arkansas high school football publication Hooten's Arkansas Football thinks, at least. Marion's front five has the sort of accolades you might expect from an elite grouping. For starters, there are starters returning. All five of them, in fact, with the two other players who played a ton of snaps up front waiting in reserve. There are also accolades. Seniors Carter Benton and Aqeelo Allen earned all-conference nods a season ago. At the same time, coaches believe that senior Jermaine Davis and juniors Carius Curne and Charlie Cantrell are bound for similar consideration this fall. If you're a recruiting guru then you already know that Allen owns an offer from Arkansas-Pine Bluff as well as many of the in-state D2 schools. Those same schools continue to evaluate Benton, while Curne has a chance to be one of the top recruits in the whole state next year after he earned D1 offers this spring from Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Methodist, and Memphis. Seniors Johnny Miller and Austin Watson each started multiple games up front in 2022 and graded out well. Added all together, it's likely the most experienced offensive line Marion has had since the school started playing football in 1947. “Right up there with quarterback, playing offensive line is the most difficult position in football to get comfortable at,” said third-year Marion coach Lance Clark. “It's a hard and thankless spot. It requires you to do your job, as well as everyone else doing their job, in order for it to work. What it means to have them all returning is they have that familiarity with one another, and they communicate well as a unit. We have a lot of guys on our football team that we are excited about this year, but being so experienced up front will be a major catalyst for how good we can be.” Benton, Allen, and Davis will all see a plethora of reps this season up front, and those four seniors each offer different abilities and personality types. Benton's journey actually began when he starred for the junior varsity as a freshman, a rare situation that saw him competing against upperclassmen rather than anchoring the ninth-grade team's offensive front. He earned a job at right tackle as a sophomore, where he started all 13 games that fall as the Pats advanced to a second consecutive state semifinal. He started Marion's 2022 season opener at right tackle before bumping inside to center in Week 2 and an arm injury shifted him to left guard for the remainder of the season, where he likely lines up again as a senior. “Carter's versatility opens up a lot of options for us,” said Clark. “This is a guy who has started at every spot up front for us and he's played them all really well. We'd feel good about him playing any spot that we need. He'll play guard for us this year, but I think he has a really high ceiling as a collegiate center because he's big, strong, and he can snap the crap out of the ball.” Allen routinely dominated as a sophomore tackle at Class 2A Earle, and he didn't transfer to Marion until late July 2022. Once he arrived in north Crittenden County, Allen focused primarily on defense before Marion coaches shuffled the offensive line during the team's bye week, which followed a 21-10 loss in the season-opener at Wynne. The shuffle landed Allen at right tackle, where he started the final 10 games of 2022 and “in a lot of ways was our best lineman last year,” said the coach. “He's a big kid, but he moves incredibly well for a bigger kid. He actually moves well for a kid much smaller. He's strong, he finishes blocks, and he can physically move you. He'll be a big-time guard in college, but we are at our best in high school when he's at tackle.” Davis emerged last summer at right guard and quickly proved to be a formidable and mobile blocker, particularly teaming with others up front on combo blocks. “J.D. Is incredibly consistent for us and he may be our best communicator up front,” said Clark. “He's got great feet, he's extremely athletic, and he just does a lot right for us. He's playing behind his pads better every day it seems like. We are really excited to have him back in the mix.” Curne is still relatively new to the offensive line after playing defense and even receiver as a younger player, but he earned the coveted left tackle slot last summer and started all but one game in 2022. The rising junior checked in for fall camp last week at six-foot-five inches and 310 pounds, which has earned him a lot of attention from major college football programs. “Carius last year was a better prospect than he was a football player,” said the coach. “That doesn't mean he can't play or anything like that, but the production didn't always match up with the idea of this Power 5 offensive lineman. That's not so anymore. He's learning to play the position, and how to improve his craft and technique. This year was the first time he's been in the weight room full-time, and that matters because he played last year at 275. Right now he's 310, but he looks the same. He's just stronger than he's ever been, and he's playing better than he ever has.” Cantrell looked like Marion's answer last fall at left guard in the preseason, playing well there in the Pats' first three games, but Benton's injury forced him and Benton to switch spots, and that's when Cantrell flourished. The junior bulked more than 30 pounds during the off-season and “you can tell he really wants it,” said Clark. “He plays with an edge, he loves getting under a defensive guy's skin. He meshes well with virtually every guy on our team. He's smart, dedicated, and hard-working. He makes you play to his speed because he goes hard all the time. A lot like Carius, Charlie's best football is in front of him.” While the starting five garners a lot of the headlines, Miller and Watson appeared in every game last season up front and filled in admirably. Miller actually paced the Pats in pancake blocks in 2022 from his guard slot, while Watson competed well at tackle. Miller will return to his super reserve role this season while Watson has impressed coaches so far in the off-season on defense. “Both of those guys have very important roles on this team,” said Clark. “Johnny has given us great effort when he's in there, but he has struggled to keep it up over two or three series, but we know what we're getting the first seven or eight snaps, and it's good. With Austin, we have so many proven guys on offense and much fewer proven guys on defense that we need to get a guy like him on the field someplace. He's strong, he's a senior, and he's a good teammate.” Marion opens its 2023 season with its annual benefit scrimmage on Friday, August 18 at home against Maumelle. The Pats officially kick off the new season on Friday, August 25 against old Class AAAA East rival Wynne at 7 p.m. at home.