As we continue our preview of the 2023 college football season in the Pac-12 conference, we are going to shift our focus from individual teams to individual positions. The last several weeks have been spent picking apart each school out west, finding where they improved the most over the offseason, and identifying what realistic expectations should be for them going forward.
You can see them all here: Arizona Wildcats — Arizona State Sun Devils — California Golden Bears — Colorado Buffaloes — Oregon State Beavers — Stanford Cardinal — UCLA Bruins — USC Trojans — Utah Utes — Washington Huskies — Washington State Cougars
Now, we’re going to look at position groups as a whole in the conference. Whether it’s a quarterback or a linebacker, a punter or a safety, there are dozens of highly talented players out west. We want to go through them all, position group by position group, and highlight some of the most important names that fans should know at each spot.
Quarterbacks — Wide Receivers — Running Backs — Tight Ends — Offensive Line
On Monday, I looked at the big boys up front, specifically, the best the Pac-12 has to offer down in the offensive trenches. Now, I’ll examine their opponents. The Pac-12 has just as much to offer in terms of pass-rushers and run-stoppers as it does protectors, and the amount of talent on both sides of the ball should make for fun battles on the line of scrimmage all year.
An interesting thing about this group is that it seems that the best defensive linemen are concentrated on a select few teams. Part of the reason for that may be that as a defensive lineman, you often need high-quality teammates to have high production yourself. If you don’t, the opposing offensive line will double- and triple-team you, reducing your value.
Here are my picks for the highest-impact defensive linemen in the 2023 Pac-12.