PHX Reporter

There's no coaching manual that could have prepared Justin Frye for the past month. On January 19, Frye was finalizing his game plan for Ohio State's national championship appearance against Notre Dame. Exactly one month later, he answered questions as the Cardinals' new offensive line coach.

"It's been a blur," Frye stated. "It really came to a head last week when I walked in the building for the first time, kind of walking in and diving back into football and start watching tape and stuff. Just a range of emotions."

Frye is excited about earning his first NFL coaching job after spending 17 years at six different universities. His excitement remained as he watched film of the Cardinals' offensive line unit.

"There's an identity," Frye remarked. "Now you come in, you watch, you try to critique and clean up some things that weren't good. You scratch what itches and then you enhance and supplement what was really good. I'm jumping into this and learning the terminology and those things. But having an identity of who you are and what you're going to do and how you're going to do it, that breeds confidence and confidence breeds success."

Frye credited former offensive line coach Klayton Adams and coach Jonathan Gannon for building an offensive front that has enabled running back James Conner to achieve consecutive seasons with over 1,000 rushing yards.

After winning at Ohio State, Frye noted that championship teams have dominant offensive lines. He aims to build upon that with the Cardinals.

"When you press play and you watch, you want the physicality and the violence to be palpable," Frye explained. "The beauty of football is no matter the scheme, the tempo, the new rules, the new penalties or lack thereof, there's blocking and tackling. If you block them, then they can't tackle and they can't sack the quarterback. You have to do that with violence. There's no other way to do that."

He hopes to instill this mindset because "when they leave the field, after walking off the 53 and a third, no matter who you played, they know they played you," he said.

"I'm in it with them," Frye added. "That's the way it was when I was a college coach; it's got to be that way as a pro coach. There's a center, two guards, and two tackles; all five guys have to do their job. It's my job to make sure that I maximize who they are."

Frye's influence on the Cardinals' offensive line predates his arrival. Guard Jon Gaines II played under Frye at UCLA while Paris Johnson Jr., coached by Frye at Ohio State during his draft year by the Cardinals.

Johnson embodies Frye's philosophy, creating high excitement for sharing a position room again.

"(Johnson) was ecstatic," Frye said. "There was a little bit of tears, little bit of excitement. Having a good relationship with him before and then we get a chance to get back and work together and improve and grow together."