• Originally published July 10, 2008 at 12:53 a.m., updated July 10, 2008 at 12:53 a.m.

GANADO – Blake Schlueter has had more trouble getting bigger than better.

Schlueter has tried just about everything this summer to add to his 280-pound frame to little or no avail.

Schlueter rarely pushes food away from the table and he has even gone so far as to set his alarm clock at two-hour intervals in an attempt to consume extra calories.

But the effort has largely gone for naught, partly because of genetics and a good deal because of the amount of time Schlueter spends in the weight room and running.

Schuleter’s inability to gain weight has done nothing to diminish expectations for the Ganado graduate’s senior season at TCU.

Schuleter is on the watch list for the Rimington Trophy, awarded to the nation’s top center, and was a member of Texas Football magazine’s preseason All-Texas College Team.

“It’s great to get things like that,” said Schlueter, who spent the July 4th holiday at home before returning to Fort Worth on Sunday for a team meeting. “It motivates me somewhat because it reminds me how good I’m supposed to be. It just reinforces the fact that people are expecting me to do well. They have high expectations not just for me but for us as an offensive line and an offensive unit. I feel very fortunate to be on the list and get the recognition that I’m getting, but I feel it puts me as a face, especially offensively for TCU and I feel like I have to go out and show everybody what we’re trying to prove.”

Schlueter was a second-team All-Mountain Conference West Conference selection last season after starting every game at center but one when he was injured.

Schlueter was second on the team in knockdown blocks and overall blocking grade. He expects to do even better this season since he lacks only one class to earn his degree in communication studies with a minor in social work and will have more time to concentrate on football.

“As we go into the season, I have a couple of personal goals,” Schlueter said. “I don’t want to give up any sacks and I want to have above 90 to 95 percent grading. I just want to be a more consistent player out there. I want to be able to dominate my blocks. I want to be able to get all the correct blocks, make all the right calls and make sure everybody’s doing the right thing.”

Schlueter is proud to have been part of TCU’s emergence on the national scene, but he was disappointed with last season when the Horned Frogs finished 8-5 and 4-4 in conference play.

“It started off in two-a-days,” Schlueter said. “We had a lot of public and some internal things that just weren’t getting right. They were distractions that really at the time I didn’t realize that they would be such issues. A lot of things just kind of threw us off and then we lost early in the season and it kind of all just snowballed. It was hard to gain back what we had lost early in the season.”

Schlueter is determined not to let similar distractions occur this season. Schlueter will be one of the players representing TCU at Mountain West Conference media days in Las Vegas and the Horned Frogs open the season with a conference game at New Mexico on Aug. 30.

“Coming in as a freshman the seniors kind of teach you how you should act and carry yourself and the route we’re trying to take, the school and the team,” Schlueter said. “Every year we’ve had a great group of upperclassmen kind of leading us and now that it’s our turn, I understand where we’re trying go as a team. I will do my best to teach the underclassmen we want to keep the road going and keep progressing and becoming a bigger name school or team. I think we all have the same goal in mind. We want TCU to become the same big name that people respect.”

Schlueter knows the better TCU performs this season, the more he will get noticed, increasing his chances of playing in the NFL.

“As I was going through my career my main goals were I wanted to get a great education, graduate and I just wanted to be the best that I could be for the team at my level,” Schlueter said. “I’m one class short of graduating and finishing that goal and I still want to be the best college center I can be, if not the best. That’s what I strive to be every day. I want the team to be the best team it can be. I want to do everything I can to help that. Playing professional football is a goal of mine past all that. It’s something I’m definitely going to give a shot.”

Mike Forman is a sports writer for the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6588 or mforman@vicad.com, or comment on this column at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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