ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

WACO, Texas -- It was hard to miss the Baylor offensive linemen at their opening practice Thursday afternoon.

Sixteen of the 17 Baylor offensive linemen had Mohawk haircuts Wednesday before the start of practice as a show of unity before the team's Sept. 5 opener at Wake Forest.

"We all went out and got our Mohawks yesterday," senior center J.D. Walton said. "The cohesiveness of our unit was huge. We did it and had fun with it."

His first glimpse of the tonsorial work on his scalp took some getting used to for Walton, who had never had a Mohawk haircut before his Wednesday's cut.

"I was shocked when we did it, but we went all the way," Walton said. "It was shocking, but hilarious because we all had it and we all looked the same."

Guard Stefan Huber was the only player exempt from the haircut. And he received dispensation for only a few days because he was returning home to Nederland, Texas, to serve as the best man in his older brother's wedding.

The linemen couldn't talk quarterback Robert Griffin into joining them with the hairstyle.

"There was no Mohawk for me because it was just an offensive line thing," Griffin said. "They looked good with it, but I didn't want to volunteer."

Baylor coach Art Briles also was chuckling as he saw the linemen wearing their new hairstyles at the first day of practice.

"Sometimes you want to draw attention to yourselves and sometimes you don't," Briles said. "I like the unity part of it. That's something these guys chose to do on their own and it's kind of what makes them unique.

"There's probably not many people walking up and down in their offices sporting the same haircut. That's what is kind of cool about football and (building) team unity."