Pac-10 Position Breakdown: Offensive Line – Oregon Ducks
Comments (11) Oregon’s spot alongside USC and Cal in preseason conference rankings is one of the biggest debates of this offseason. With an electric and innovative offense still led by Jeremiah Masoli, Legarrette Blount, and Ed Dickson, a fast and athletic defense, and three very important conference games all coming at home (USC, Cal, OSU), it’s easy to see why some are picking this Oregon team to do some serious damage this fall.
On the other hand, the Ducks have a lot of areas that need to be addressed personnel-wise, and none is much bigger than the offensive line. Oregon won’t be re-tooling the offensive line this season; they will be almost completely rebuilding it.
Losing three important depth linemen in Jacob Hucko (10 games), Jon Teague (7) and Jeff Kendall (12; 7 starts) is a serious blow, but it will be largely overshadowed by the loss of three key starters that are all currently on NFL rosters. C Max Unger (49th overall pick by Seattle), LT Fenuki Tupou (5th round pick by Philadelphia), and RG Mark Lewis (signed by Miami) were all excellent contributors last year, and leave huge shoes to fill for this year’s team.
For Oregon’s spread-option attack to succeed again in 2009, the Ducks will need a lot of new faces in the starting role to step up right away and pick up where their predecessors left off.
The offensive line sets for the snap
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