Oregon Shuffling Pieces Along Offensive Line Ahead of Season-Opener
Oregon has become a team that’s nearly synonymous with strong offensive line play. After all, the Ducks were a finalist for the Joe Moore Award last year despite A’lique Terry being in just his first year as offensive line coach in Eugene.
Now the Ducks are nine days away from their season-opener against the Idaho Vandals and the coaching staff is shuffling pieces in the trenches in search of some answers.
They biggest question they’re trying to answer is what the starting lineup will look like after Indiana interior offensive line transfer Matthew Bedford sustained an injury in fall camp. Now he’s expected to be sideline “for a little bit” according to head coach Dan Lanning.
One of the scenario’s being explored is sliding sophomore Iapani ‘Poncho’ Laloulu to one of the guard spots, presumably right guard. While Laloulu had unofficially been tabbed the team’s projected starting center to replace Jackson Powers-Johnson, he logged 299 of his 413 offensive snaps at either guard spot last season, and he excelled.
If Laloulu does in fact play guard, the expectation is that junior Charlie Pickard could take over snapping duties in the mean time.
Lanning spoke highly of the Portland native following the team’s second scrimmage of fall camp and seemed to suggest that he’s ready for a bigger role should it come his way.
“Charlie’s a guy that does absolutely everything right in our program,” the Oregon head coach said on Saturday. “He’s worked his tail off for every opportunity he’s gotten.”
“He’s proven to be reliable and accountable. He’s been a guy that’s been in the system for a long time and he understands what we’re looking for and he’s gonna have a role with our team.”
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Offensive coordinator Will Stein doesn’t seem to be concerned about Oregon’s path forward, and that’s because of how the staff has managed practices and distributing opportunities this offseason.
“We’ve gotten a ton of reps since winter all the way up until now. I think we have a solid option up front and we won’t reveal that until we get out there. I like where we’re at. Our scrimmage on Saturday, I think we did a much better job of running the football, creating explosive passes. We’re right where we need to be and I’m looking forward to start really prepping for some games.”
Maybe Oregon is playing a game of musical chairs to find a solution. But that may not be a bad thing. Lanning’s staff has been here before.
“The way that we practice, we do musical chairs, we play with different lineups, we put guys who play tackle in at guard, just for position flex. You look at a like Steven Jones last year and what he did for us, provided flex at tackle and guard,” Stein said in reflection. “We cross-train our guys all the time. Not only on the O-Line, but wideouts and tight ends. I feel good with where we’re at.”
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With junior Dave Iuli also working back to 100%, senior Nishad Strother is another experienced player that’s in the mix for more snaps along Terry’s offensive line. He played in five games last season after transferring in from East Carolina and Stein echoed confidence in a bounce back.
“I feel good about Nishad along with a lot of other guys up front,” he said. ” It goes back to knowing what to do. When you practice against our defense who does a lot up front, sometimes it takes a little bit of time. He’s at a spot now where I think he feels really comfortable in what we’re doing, what we’re asking him to do and then allowing himself to play free and what we brought him here to do play physical.”
Oregon may not have its answer by the time game 1 kicks off, but a non-conference schedule that also features Boise State and Oregon State provides opportunities for fine-tuning while also being challenged by teams that are traditionally well-coached and that do more with less.
