Two days after the Super Bowl and one day before National Signing Day in February 2019, Carmen Bricillo received a call from a number that he neither had saved nor recognized. Given the timing, Youngstown State’s offensive line coach assumed it was a high school prospect checking in.

“I thought it was a recruiting call,” Bricillo said. “And it was Josh McDaniels.”

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McDaniels, then the Patriots offensive coordinator, had just collected his sixth Super Bowl ring in a win over the Rams. He heard about Bricillo through New England tight ends coach Nick Caley, who worked with him as an assistant coach at Akron. Once he was given the green light from Patriots coach Bill Belichick, McDaniels called to offer Bricillo a position as an offensive coaching assistant. Bricillo, a college assistant for 14 years who had never coached in the NFL, readily accepted.

Bricillo couldn’t have walked into a more stable situation. Belichick was in his 18th season with the Patriots, McDaniels his 15th, offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia, who Bricillo would learn directly under, was in his 19th season in his position and the O-line was largely composed of players who’d been in the system for years. Bricillo was promoted to co-offensive line coach in 2020 and took over the position group when Scarnecchia retired in 2021.

When McDaniels called Bricillo this February — three years after their first phone conversation — the circumstances were much different. The Raiders hired McDaniels as their head coach, and he wanted Bricillo to come with him as his O-line coach. It was a new team, new staff and a new offensive line room that was largely the same unit that had struggled the previous season and featured just one player — journeyman Jermaine Eluemunor — who was familiar with the system. But, once again, Bricillo welcomed it.

“It was eye-opening for sure in that you felt like you were coaching 15 rookies,” Bricillo said. “We were installing an entirely new system of terminology and concepts and techniques. It’s been fun to see us grow as a group and as a unit.”

There was no way that Bricillo, 46, could’ve anticipated the breadth of the burden he would carry this season. Due to a blend of injuries and performance, the Raiders have fielded 16 different O-line combinations through 14 games with several players lining up at multiple positions. The unit has been in constant rotation in practices and games for eight months, stretching to the start of OTAs in April. And, despite those uniquely challenging circumstances, Bricillo has managed to construct a functional unit.

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“Just showing the belief in us. He knows every single guy in our room is willing to go out there and play balls to the wall and do whatever it takes to help this team win,” Eluemunor said last week. “He’s always making sure we’re all on point and ready to go.”

In pass protection, the Raiders have been decent: They’re 25th in pressure rate allowed, sixth in sack rate allowed and tied for 11th in quarterback hits allowed, according to TruMedia. On the ground, they’ve been elite: fifth in yards per carry, fourth in rushing success rate and sixth in expected points added per rush. Bricillo, assistant offensive line coach Cam Clemmons and the players deserve a ton of praise for generating those results through adverse conditions.

“Credit Carmen and Cam; I think they’ve done a tremendous job,” McDaniels said Monday. “They don’t flinch when things like that happen, and they got to do extra work to prepare our group to get ready to go. And then credit goes to our guys up front. I mean, offensive linemen are resilient by nature. … I think that they deserve a lot of credit for being able to get in there and just compete and give our guys a chance. That’s what their job is, is to give the skill group an opportunity to make some plays, whether it’s run or pass. And by and large this year, they have done that.”

Jerry Schmitt, then Duquesne’s offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, was walking off the practice field in the spring of 1995 with head coach Greg Gattuso when their conversation shifted to the makeup of the O-line. Schmitt was adamant that Bricillo, who didn’t play at all as a freshman and took a redshirt year, would be their starting center in the fall.

“He thought I was nuts,” Schmitt said in a phone interview this summer. “Carmen was not necessarily the most physical-looking specimen. He was short. He had some weight on him that probably could’ve been cut. You look at some guys now and he wasn’t that muscle-bound type player, but he was highly intelligent. He had great hands. He made all the calls. He was the coach on the field for the offensive linemen.”

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Bricillo not only went on to start that year but earned back-to-back first-team All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference honors and helped Duquesne win consecutive MAAC championships. While limited physically, his mental aptitude allowed him to become an irreplaceable piece. He didn’t know it at the time, but his process to pull that off laid the foundation for his transition into coaching.

“Well, first off, I would say that I think my intelligence helped me overcome my lack of ability,” Bricillo said with a laugh. “I remember feeling early on that once you owned the playbook and your assignments and what you were supposed to do and what your adjacent players were supposed to do, then it came down to you could see the bigger picture and you could see nuance and subtlety and you could play with instinct. One of the things that I’m big with, with my players on — even now here with the Raiders — is the ability to anticipate versus the ability to react.”

Elite athletes are able to react quicker than others, but it takes their game to another level when they know what’s coming. Bricillo relied on that skill as a player and, after graduating in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, it didn’t take him long to get the urge to want to teach others. He went to work at his family’s business in his hometown of Shelocta, Pa., for a couple years, but in 2004 he became an assistant coach at Indiana Area High School in Chevy Chase Heights, Pa. He quickly realized he liked one job more than the other.

“I remember I was with a few of the coaches,” Bricillo said, “and I thought, ‘What am I doing? I love this.’”

Bricillo reached out to Schmitt. He was the head coach at Westminster at the time, but he was set to replace Gattuso as the head coach at Duquesne in 2005. Once it was official, Schmitt offered Bricillo a role as a graduate assistant focused on the offensive line. Bricillo’s plan was merely to earn his degree before returning to the high school level to coach and teach, but he excelled at the college level.

“He was awesome,” Schmitt said. “Because he knew the system. … He knew what I expected. So, he was able to utilize that to learn his preparations against college defenses and train his guys. He’s got a great personality. He relates well with the kids. So, he grew as a person. And I understood that he had a chance to move to bigger and better things.”

That only took one year. In 2006, Akron hired Bricillo as a GA, which was significant because he had the opportunity to move up from the FCS to the FBS level. He went on to become an offensive assistant at Illinois but, seeking more responsibility, he moved back down to the FCS level to become the offensive line coach at Youngstown State in 2010. He remained for nine seasons before his big break came with the Patriots.

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“He dove in at the ground level, which I loved,” McDaniels said in July. “He was an offensive line coach in college football and came to us and he was at the bottom of the totem pole. He was breaking film down and learning a brand-new language after many, many years of doing it in a different way. And that’s a humbling experience, especially when — I mean, I did it when I was 23 years old — he did it when he was in his mid-40s. And so, there’s an element of a sacrifice there.”

Bricillo viewed the opportunity to learn from Scarnecchia, widely regarded as one of the best offensive line coaches ever, as a privilege. The tedious nature of the work that was required along the way didn’t bother him.

“I already had some level of experience … more often than not, though, it was, ‘What the hell was I thinking? I can’t believe I ever thought to do it like this,’” Bricillo said. “Whether it was a technique or a scheme or just a manner in which you want to handle one of your players in a personal setting. Just that opportunity to watch him operate truly has been invaluable.”

Bricillo also learned from the players. Then-Patriots offensive linemen Shaq Mason, David Andrews, Ted Karras and James Ferentz, among others, had far more experience in the system than he did, and he sought their insight.

“You can’t be afraid as a coach to listen to a player and ask them how they see something and what they’re trying to achieve and how they want to go about doing it,” Bricillo said. “A lot of times, their ideas are going to be better than yours. Or, if not, then you got to explain the why a little bit and get the job done.”

As open as Bricillo is to feedback, there wasn’t going to be any slack cut when it came to work. The Raiders had longer practices than in prior years, instilled punishment for mistakes and stayed outside in intense heat for the majority of their sessions this offseason even though they have an indoor facility. In addition to team meetings and film sessions, Bricillo mandated that the offensive line start to meet as a group daily once scheduled team activities were over to get extra work in.

“I’ve always had a saying that I think applies, which is, ‘Doing just what’s expected isn’t enough,’” Bricillo said. “They bought into that philosophy and that approach and, if they’re doing extra on their own, that’s great. That’s why we’ve been able to just continue to slowly get better as the season’s gone on here.”

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There was no guarantee that players would respond well. Key returning offensive lineman such as left tackle Kolton Miller, center Andre James and even Eluemunor were high on former line coach Tom Cable and the previous staff, and such a demanding request from a newcomer could’ve turned them off. Instead, they leaned into it.

“He brings a good vibe, man,” James said in September. “He’s a very detailed guy. He doesn’t let little things slip. He brings a really good energy every day. And he likes to get after it. He’s going to demand the most out of you. As an offensive lineman, you want that; you want that as a player to push you.”

Every lineman except Miller was tasked with learning multiple positions and found themselves moving in and out of the starting lineup during practices. Whether it was veterans like James and Eluemunor or rookies like guard Dylan Parham and offensive tackle Thayer Munford Jr. didn’t matter.

“Just pushing each other along and trying to make sure we get right mentally and really have one heartbeat,” Miller said in September. “That’s what you need as an O-line: Just be one heartbeat with everyone doing their job.”

The linemen also just naturally grew more comfortable lining up alongside different players. Eventually, it started to feel more natural in games.

“It really comes together because one thing that we really are taught is to over-communicate,” Parham said in September. “So, it doesn’t matter, really, who you have besides you; we’re all supposed to be talking at the same time. As long as we continue to communicate with one another, it makes it easier. Because if somebody sees something that the other person may not see, you give him that extra step and he’ll be able to play that much faster.”

At some point, the intention was to find some level of continuity within the starting lineup. That happened in Week 5 when they landed on the five-man unit of Miller at left tackle, Parham at left guard, James at center, Alex Bars at right guard and Eluemunor at right tackle. That’s not a lineup that would’ve looked great on paper before the season, but they actually played pretty well together.

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“I think we’ve rewarded the people that have played the most consistently and done the things that we’re asking them to do the best, and we continue to do that,” McDaniels said this month. “And I think now we’ve kind of settled into a five that hopefully we can stay with.”

Unfortunately for the Raiders, that’s been disrupted. Bars went down with a knee injury against the Rams and Parham also suffered a knee injury Sunday against the Patriots. They released guards John Simpson and Lester Cotton Sr., so they’re down to Jordan Meredith at left guard and Hroniss Grasu at right guard. The O-line understandably took a step back last week with that configuration, and that’ll hinder the offense’s ability to have success in the final three games of the season if it continues, but the progress the O-line showed this year still holds value.

“These guys take their job seriously,” Bricillo said. “They really do a tremendous job of studying the opponents, and it shows. So, between knowledge of their opponent and honing their craft and their techniques, I like to think we’ve seen some improvement throughout the year.”

In all likelihood, the Raiders won’t be making the playoffs this year. There are several personnel decisions that’ll go toward determining if they can avoid that outcome next season — the future of quarterback Derek Carr, the need for help at all three levels of the defense and more — but the offensive line is surely one of the biggest. Miller has continued to play at a high level, Parham has already shown he can a competent starter on the interior offensive line, James has had improved consistency, Bars has been a pretty good run blocker, Eluemunor has broken through as a reliable starter and Munford has the look of a future starter. It’s a group that believes it will only trend up with more time together.

“I definitely feel like we have a lot of potential,” Parham said last week. “Obviously, the thing with the offensive line is just the consistency in who you’re playing with. Combinations, pass blocking, communication, I feel like everything is just tied into just how well you know the group that you’re working with. It’ll be a blessing if we can continue to play together, but we just have to see what the plan is and how everything works out.”

There may be multiple changes along the O-line. The Raiders could move on from James, slide Parham over to center and add help at guard. They may also feel they need an upgrade at right tackle. How that all plays out remains to be seen, but what we do know is that Bricillo will be in charge of making the group work. Based on the early returns, he’s shown he’s capable.

“There’s some talent in the room, for sure, and they work hard and they’re smart. So, the sky’s the limit, but you’re not going to get there by just rolling the ball out,” Bricillo said. “We just got to continue to work and concentrate on our process. I think it’s a room that enjoys coming to work together. They enjoy each other’s company. There’s a tight bond within the room, and that then reflects on how they work on the field and in the weight room and then in the classroom even when the coaching staff’s not around. They’re positive, they’re hard workers and they’re talented. It’s a high standard.

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“We just got to keep getting better.”

(Top photo of Carmen Bricillo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)