More Than a Pass Blocker: Looking Back on Charles Cross' Recruitment and the Current Narrative

Charles Cross has seen a lot of time in the Air Raid offense, but he wasn't initially recruited to play in it.

Former Mississippi State offensive tackle Charles Cross is a player many analysts are split on ahead of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Some have him listed as high as the No. 1 overall pick while some have him outside of the top-10. The narrative surrounding Cross for those who are skeptical of him is the notion that he won't succeed as a run-blocker and that there are notable concerns for him in that area.

There's one piece of his career that seems to have been forgotten in this process -- his recruitment. Cross was not recruited specifically to play in the Air Raid offense. Joe Moorhead was the head coach at the time he committed to Mississippi State back in 2018 and held the same position during Cross' true freshman season in 2019.

Cross appeared in three games that year, ultimately seeing most of his live in-game reps under Head Coach Mike Leach and offensive line coach Mason Miller throughout the remainder of his college career.

That's where the stigma comes into play -- players from every position within the Air Raid offense are typically surrounded by a stigma. For running backs, it's that they "do everything but actually run the ball." For quarterbacks and wide receivers it's that "their numbers are inflated because of number of passing attempts."

For offensive linemen, because they play in a two-point stance with wider splits and do a lot of pass-blocking, it's the notion they can't run-block. That's awfully curious, considering Cross finished out the season with the fourth-highest run-blocking grade (87.2) among draft-eligible Power 5 offensive tackles in 2021, according to Pro Football Focus.

I spoke with Miller, who has successfully developed a number of standout offensive linemen, on the not-so-substantiated narrative that surrounds Cross.

"I think it's not true just because we don't run it 35 times per game," Miller said. "They're not paying Charles Cross to run power, they're paying him to not get their quarterback killed. He's put on film plenty of times that he can run-block."

While the numbers and film reflect that Charles can indeed block for the run, it also comes down to a mindset that he possesses -- and this isn't the first time Miller has had this narrative surround a player who was under him.

"Run-blocking is this," Miller said. "It's got to be a mentality and you either have it or you don't. Austin Corbett who played for me, they said that about, Abraham Lucas they've said that about... Corbett turned out to be a pretty good run-blocker in the NFL."

It will be interesting to see where Cross, a projected early first-round pick, lands later this month, but there shouldn't be any question surrounding his ability to do more than just pass-block at the next level.