6 spring football questions we have about the Pac-12

Spring football is upon us, and here is part four of a week-long series on big spring questions for each league. Today, it’s the Pac-12.

There are four new coaches (at Oregon, USC, Washington and Washington State) and 14 new coordinators in the Pac-12. New coaches obviously mean questions, but we’re bypassing questions about new coach “fits” because those are too easy. And questions about what is going on at Arizona State are sort of low-hanging fruit, too. We’re trying to go deeper.

With those caveats, here are our biggest questions about the Pac-12. We looked at the SEC on Wednesday, the Big Ten on Thursday and the ACC on Friday, and will look at the Big 12 on Monday and the Group of 5 and independent ranks Tuesday.

Oregon: Will Bo Nix be the starting QB?

The skinny: Bo Nix’s first game in college was against Oregon, as he guided Auburn to a last-second win over the Ducks in 2019. Now Nix presumably will finish his college career at Oregon. Nix was a mixed bag at Auburn. He did some damage with his legs, completed some big passes and always played hard. But he also made a lot of mistakes, was inconsistent and struggled with accuracy. And forget being inconsistent from week to week; he often was inconsistent from one drive to the next. In some respects, he never made marked improvement from his freshman season; interestingly, his coordinator this season will be the same guy it was in 2019 (Kenny Dillingham). The holdovers to watch are Ty Thompson (a four-star 2021 signee) and Jay Butterfield (a four-star 2020 signee). Thompson is a highly touted dual-threat guy; the 6-foot-6 Butterfield has a big arm and is more of a dropback guy. Thompson was an On3 Consensus national top-40 recruit and played in three games last season. Butterfield was an On3 Consensus national top-175 recruit and played in one game in 2021. Oregon went after Butterfield, who led his high school team to a California state title in 2019, after D.J. Uiagalelei chose Clemson over the Ducks. His dad, Mark, was a starting quarterback at Stanford in the 1990s.

Stanford: Who will be RB1?

The skinny: The Cardinal rushing attack has been anemic the past four seasons; Stanford averaged just 104.8 yards per game (and a measly 3.59 yards per carry) over the 43 games in that span. Yes, a lot of that is spotty line play. But a lack of explosiveness at running back is another reason, and there is ample reason to worry about the rushing attack this spring. The top two rushers from last season are gone (Nathaniel Peat to Missouri, Austin Jones to USC), and the leading returning rusher is E.J. Smith (Emmitt’s son), who has rushed for 133 yards in two seasons. Casey Filkins, who rushed for 44 yards on 11 carries last season, also returns. Stanford did sign On3 Consensus four-star RB Arlen Harris, but he won’t arrive on campus until the summer. It could be another long season on the ground on The Farm.

UCLA: Who will step up at receiver?

The skinny: QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson is back for his fifth season as the starter, and 1,000-yard rusher Zach Charbonnet joins him; that means the Bruins should be fine on the ground even with a rebuilt line. UCLA ran the ball on 60.7 percent of its plays from scrimmage last season, and that doesn’t figure to change. Still, on the 40 percent of plays that aren’t runs, to whom will Thompson-Robinson be throwing? WR Kyle Philips, the leading receiver, turned pro; the same with underrated TE Greg Dulcich. The leading returning receiver is Charbonnet, who had 24 catches. The leading returning receivers are Kazmeir Allen and Kam Brown, who had 17 catches apiece. Michael Ezeike, who had three receptions, is the only tight end on the roster who had a catch last season. The go-to receiver almost certainly will be Duke transfer Jake Bobo. He had 74 receptions for the Blue Devils last season. But he is most decidedly not a deep threat, as his catches went for 774 yards and one TD. How soon can he get on the same page with Thompson-Robinson? One positive for Bobo: After having played for David Cutcliffe, he should have zero problems grasping any offense.

USC: How soon can all the new offensive pieces get comfortable?

The skinny: Goodness, new coach Lincoln Riley and his staff did yeoman work in the transfer portal, and it should transform what had become a stagnant offense. First, of course, is the arrival of QB Caleb Williams, who was the most sought-after player in the portal. His knowledge of and familiarity with Riley’s offense means he can hit the ground running (and throwing). But there are other transfers who should make immediate impacts, too: running backs Travis Dye (Oregon) and Austin Jones (Stanford), wide receivers Terrell Bynum (Washington), Brenden Rice (Colorado) and Mario Williams (Oklahoma) and offensive tackle Bobby Haskins (Virginia). All are starting-caliber players. Dye is the fifth-leading rusher in Oregon history and has run over and around Pac-12 defenses already. Bynum is a proven Pac-12 talent, and he’ll finally be playing in a legitimate offense. The same goes for Rice. Mario Williams has an extremely high ceiling and, as with Caleb Williams, already knows this offense. And Haskins was a two-year starter at left tackle for the Cavaliers. That is a lot of new faces, for sure. But watching them get acclimated will make for an entertaining spring at USC. (An aside: Caleb Williams’ arrival means the Pac-12 now has three of the top six quarterbacks from the 2021 recruiting class; Washington’s Sam Huard and Oregon’s Ty Thompson are the other two.)

Utah: Who takes Devin Lloyd’s place?

The skinny: Lloyd was both the physical and emotional leader of the defense last season, but now he’s off to the NFL after leading Utah in tackle for three consecutive seasons. The Utes also lost starting linebacker Nephi Sewell to the NFL draft, meaning the most experienced returnees at the position are Karene Reid (10 games and five starts as a freshman last season) and Hayden Furey (22 career games, with five starts). The Utes added Mohamoud Diabate via the transfer portal; Diabate had 89 tackles for Florida last season. But while Lloyd was a two-time first-team All-Pac-12 selection and an All-American last season, Diabate was … well, he was the second-leading tackler on a mediocre Gators defense. And he’s not nearly as physical as Lloyd. Three-star freshman LB Justin Medlock, a one-time Miami commitment from Texas, has enrolled early and will go through spring. The jewel of the Utes’ recruiting class was On3 Consensus four-star LB Lander Barton, but he doesn’t arrive until the summer. The key this spring is to get Diabate acclimated and for some young linebackers to make noticeable strides, all the while knowing that Lloyd is going to be next-to-impossible to replace.

Washington: How much improvement can the offense make?

The skinny: Hoo, boy, the Huskies’ offense was a mess last season. Washington struggled to run, struggled to pass and struggled to score. New coach Kalen DeBoer brought his Fresno State offensive coordinator with him; thus, if nothing else, the passing game will look vastly different because unlike the Huskies, Fresno State was competent (mighty successful, even) when it threw the ball last season. Two-year starting quarterback Dylan Morris returns, but the coaching staff eagerly welcomed in Indiana QB Michael Penix Jr. from the transfer portal. When healthy, Penix is an effective passer who can throw the deep ball. But the “when healthy” qualifier is big. Penix opened three seasons as IU’s starter — but he started just 17 games. He suffered a torn ACL as a true freshman in 2018, a shoulder injury in ’19, another ACL tear in ’20 and another shoulder injury in 2021. He was 12-5 as a starter for the Hoosiers, and was a captain in 2020 and ’21. (One more thing with Penix: DeBoer was Indiana’s OC in 2019, and Washington’s new tight ends coach is Nick Sheridan, who was Indiana’s OC the past two seasons.) A question: Was Morris limited by the offense or did Morris limit the offense? There’s also former five-star recruit Sam Huard, who saw significant time in just one game last season — the finale against Washington State, when he threw four picks. The receiving corps has a few pieces in place with Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze, but depth is a huge concern. The top two rushers are gone, but there actually appears to be some talent at running back with holdovers Cam Davis, Richard Newton and Emeka Megwa and New Mexico transfer Aaron Dumas. Finally, the line was expected to be the best in the Pac-12 in 2021 but instead was a mess. The talent is there for a big-time rebound. But it all starts this spring with the staff change and (presumably) the imagination that will be shown after last season’s offense had none.