To the untrained eye, there is little nuance to offensive and defensive line play on the football field.

Certainly, if you don’t know what to look for, action in the trenches can look like nothing more than big guys repeatedly crashing together while the smaller players dash and dart around them.

Nothing can be further than the truth, however, and that’s why a couple of members of the Calgary Stampeders coaching staff are putting on a Big Man Camp to teach the finer points of line play.

“We’re teaching them the basic fundamentals of offensive and defensive line play,” said offensive line coach Pat DelMonaco. “Our focus is playing the run and playing the pass on the d-line and then run-blocking and pass protection on the offensive line.”

A former college offensive lineman himself, DelMonaco shoots down the notion that quarterback is the only position that can benefit from technique refinement and teaching.

“That’s a misconception,” he said. “It’s all about learning how to play the position properly in both cases.”

The inaugural edition of Big Man Camp features midget-age-group players as well as members of the Calgary Colts juniors. Virtually all the camp participants play on both sides of the ball and DelMonaco and defensive line coach Corey Mace serve as the on-field professors for 80-minute on-field sessions.

That’s followed by a film session in the Stamps meeting rooms where the young giants review video of their drills as well as clips of Stamps players doing the very same drills and how they apply the learned technique in games.

Each participant gets a pair of manuals — one for each side of the ball — to take notes in and keep for future reference. On the final day of the four-day camp, Stamps linebackers and strength and conditioning coach Brent Monson conducted a weight-room demonstration with another take-home document outlining a suggested lifting routine for linemen.

Very early into the camp, the instructors could see results.

“Corey and I were talking about how from Day 1 to Day 2 how much had changed and how so many of the players had improved,” said DelMonaco.

The plan is to make Big Man Camp an annual event.