A lot of the fanfare in college football is spent focusing on the skill positions, comparing which players are the best, and which teams have the most offensive firepower on Saturdays in the fall.
However, even the best quarterback can’t thrive if they’ve got no time to survive in the pocket and distribute the ball to his elite skill players. That’s why it’s always of the utmost importance to have a stout offensive line up front that can work as a unit and protect the passer while excelling at opening up holes on the line and giving your backs room to run.
This is where we need to give a big hat tip to Mario Cristobal, the former Oregon coach who departed after last season for the Miami Hurricanes. As a former national championship-winning lineman at Miami, Cristobal made a point to recruit hard on the OL during his time at Oregon, and he did a magnificent job of building up the talent level and giving the Ducks one of the better front units in the nation.
So while a lot of our coverage over the past couple of months has been praise for Dan Lanning and his staff, now is the time to show some thanks to Cristobal.
In ranking the best offensive lines in the nation going into the 2022 season, 247Sports recently listed the Oregon Ducks, noting the group that Cristobal left behind:
New head coach Dan Lanning and incoming offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham might label themselves ‘lucky’ inheriting an offensive line like this. Oregon gets four of five starters back from 2021, a group that’s both experienced and versatile. Alex Forsyth is the veteran leader at center of a senior-laden group. Steven Jones, T.J. Bass, Ryan Walk and Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu fill out the rest of the line, giving the Ducks a ton of familiarity between the five. Behind them are some depth options, including one of the top offensive tackles in the class of 2022, Josh Conerly.
Also of note, Oregon’s coaching change saw an intriguing name arrive on campus. Adrian Klemm was hired by Lanning as the Ducks’ new offensive line coach, run game coordinator and associate head coach after most recently coaching the position group for the Pittsburgh Steelers. There’s a lot to like here and this line could help Lanning contend in year one.
Of course, Lanning and his O-Line coach Adrian Klemm did a great job of building up the unit even more upon arrival. They were able to land a surprise commitment from 5-star OT Josh Conerly in 2022, one of the top-ranked OTs in the class.
How good the Ducks will be in 2022 is yet to be seen. There are a lot of questions to answer, such as how comfortable Lanning will be as a first-year head coach, and how explosive a new offense under Dillingham can prove to be. Regardless, it seems that Oregon can feel confident that they will be set to compete in the trenches from the very start.
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