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2022 Mountain West Football Top 50: #24, Air Force OT Everett Smalley

The Falcons’ top offensive lineman lands a spot on our preseason list of Mountain West football’s best players.

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He’ll be happy to run you over.

Seeing what an offensive lineman does well isn’t always easy for the average college football fan. You’re so accustomed to following the ball that the footwork, balance, and power required to play in the trenches often passes us by in the blink of an eye, and if everything goes right you hardly notice.

That makes the contributions of one Everett Smalley, the next player on our annual countdown of the conference’s top performers, particularly important. The Air Force offensive tackle got his first extended audition with 12 starts and, pun intended, ran with it along with the rest of the Falcons’ typically strong option running game.

Not only was he part of a Diesels unit that was nominated for the Joe Moore Award as the nation’s best offensive line, he helped Air Force finish 13th among all FBS teams in line yards per carry and 4th in stuff rate allowed by racking up a 87.9 Pro Football Focus overall grade that not only earned him the #1 spot among all Mountain West tackles, but was the 12th-best among all FBS tackles.

Somehow, though, that didn’t merit the Tampa, Florida native even a postseason honorable mention on the all-Mountain West team last December. With another year like the one he just had, however, there won’t be much room for doubt that Smalley is the best offensive tackle anywhere in the conference.

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