Oregon’s offensive line is in a similar position to where it was three years ago, having to replace four starters from a heralded group that was a pillar of the offense the year before.
Alex Forsyth, T.J. Bass, Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, Ryan Walk and Steven Jones had the unenviable task of replacing Jake Hanson, Shane Lemieux, Calvin Throckmorton, Brady Aiello and Dallas Warmack and later Penei Sewell. Yet the Ducks had the best offensive line in the Pac-12, allowed the fewest sacks in the country last season and paved the way for a top 20 offense in nearly every statistic.
Who was going to take over at center after Hanson was the biggest question facing the group entering the 2020 offseason, which Forsyth more than solidified over the past three years. Now the question resurfaces and it’ll be up to Marcus Harper II and Jackson Powers-Johnson to compete to be the next starting center for the Ducks, make the protection calls on the field and snap the ball to Bo Nix.
“Center is a lot harder than people think,” said Harper, who was the center with the first-team offense early during Thursday’s practice. “I played center a couple of times last year just in practice from here and there. It’s a different feel. You’re the second quarterback of the offense. The O-line kind of runs through you; you got to know everything ins and outs and you also got to assert you dominance while also getting the ball to the quarterback consistently. That’s been my biggest growing pain right now, but I’m going to get to it.”
Harper took 711 offensive snaps last season, all at left guard. Powers-Johnson, who was with the second team on Thursday, played 44 of his 400 snaps at center last season. While it’s far too early in spring to know how the offensive line will look in the fall, they’re each in line to have significant roles, whether it be at center or guard.
When last season ended Harper recognized he had to step into a bigger role and show the rest of the offensive line group that he was ready for that responsibility and met with Nix to start the process of being on the same page with the veteran quarterback on the field.
“I had to get the comfortability and assurance from the guys around me that hey like, I was going to take that role into being a leader and I really had to show them that I was going to do that before I stepped in with Bo,” Harper said. “Then when I did that, then me and Bo started talking schematics and everything like that.”
With Harper and Powers-Johnson back, Jones returning for a sixth season and transfers Junior Angilau and Ajani Cornelius, the Ducks have significant game experience on the line. Sophomores Josh Conerly Jr. and Dave Iuli were with the first team on Thursday, showing how highly they’re though of and where some of the depth is being stretched early this spring while Angilau is limited while recovering from the injury that forced him to miss last season while at Texas.
Oregon has several months to determine its new starting five and who will be the new starting center, but asking anyone to do everything Forsyth did is unrealistic. He spent the most time of any offensive lineman, if not any player on the team, watching film and at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex and was capable of calling full play audibles in games. No college team can expect a new starter to do that.
“Ultimately, you let your players do what they’re able to do and you don’t limit what their abilities are,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “So Alex had grown over time to a guy that can make those calls, could make changes, identify things. We’re not there yet. We don’t have that necessarily yet, but that comes with experience. So the more experience we get, the more we can create opportunities for players to take advantage of what’s in their tool belt.”
Just as Forsyth felt the onus to replace Hanson, Harper knows he’s among those who will be tasked with upholding what’s become the standard of offensive line play at Oregon.
“I was under Forsyth’s wing for three years and I still talk to him as much as I can,” Harper said. “It’s all about reps and watching film. That’s one thing that man did, that man for sure worked. I put in work, so stuff will happen. I don’t want people to make it seem like Forsyth’s gone, this offensive line is going to deteriorate just because he’s not there. I got some areas to improve in and so does everybody on this offensive line and this whole team. That’s what I’m going to focus on the entirety of spring and fall camp and we’re going to see what happens after the season.”
