Ducks Attack Message Board Forum

I thought it was slightly odd that Mario Cristobal and Alex Mirabal have recruited 3 classes of offensive lineman to Oregon, yet Cristobal and Mirabal are dipping into the JUCO ranks for a lineman this year. Looking at the depth chart, next year's offensive line starters (without TJ Bass) looks like:

Penei Sewell (LT)
Alex Forsyth (LG)
Ryan Walk (C)
Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu (RG)
Steven Jones (RT)

Rotation:
Jonah Tauanu'u (tackle)
Justin Johnson (guard)
Dawson Jaramillo (center)

There are a couple other potential contributors (Chris Randazzo will be in year 3, Sam Poutasi in year 5) but the graduation of 7 lineman and the transfers of Jacob Capra and Cody Shear will leave this position group paper thin in talent and experience. An instant contributor like TJ Bass makes a lot more sense after taking a step back to look at it.

We are losing a huge amount of OL after this year. So going JC route makes sense. It's an exceptional year how much talent we will lose.

MC has been very clear that that will recruit top tier O and D linemen at all costs. By going the JUCO rout with a scholarship or two can help offset a mass exodus at one position group because they are seniors in the future when the cycle repeats. This is a perfect case when the previous staff (Mark Helfrich) inability to recruit properly still effects the new HC 3 years later.

It's also a terrible year for talent on OL in the West.

I think my issue is that I'm surprised Cristobal hasn't replenished the well in 3 years to replace the Exodus of guys in this senior class.

StevensTechU wrote:I think my issue is that I'm surprised Cristobal hasn't replenished the well in 3 years to replace the Exodus of guys in this senior class.

That's sort of a product of Helfrich's poor roster construction and the high turnover from having multiple HCs in the past 3-4 years. MC was able to get a couple guys in the 2017 class on short-notice, had a nice haul for the 2018 class, and got a couple in the 2019 class that should contribute soon. What really hurts is that they have no OL left from the 2016 class, all of whom transferred or medically retired.

greenyellow wrote:

StevensTechU wrote:I think my issue is that I'm surprised Cristobal hasn't replenished the well in 3 years to replace the Exodus of guys in this senior class.

That's sort of a product of Helfrich's poor roster construction and the high turnover from having multiple HCs in the past 3-4 years. MC was able to get a couple guys in the 2017 class on short-notice, had a nice haul for the 2018 class, and got a couple in the 2019 class that should contribute soon. What really hurts is that they have no OL left from the 2016 class, all of whom transferred or medically retired.

Yea.... I don't think you can blame Helfrich (and Steve Greatwood). They handed off some really stellar offensive linemen that had 3 years of eligibility. If we're really scrutinizing things, I'd say the choices to offer scholarships to George Moore and Dallas Warmack -- expanding the size of this senior class -- instead of younger guys, and letting Capra and Shear go, were very questionable.

Adding Moore and Warmack only increased the size of SR class by one over the original 2015 OL class as Zach Okun medically retired a year or two ago. Capra and Shear were getting passed up (due in large part to recurring injury problems that kept them from improving) by the younger guys so they decided to transfer to schools they could actually get playing time at.

Warmack was well worth it and Moore was the top rated JC OLinemen, he was worth taking a stab on.

I agree, I think the OL situation is due to the nose dive Helf had, the debacle known a Willie and the attrition that followed. This seems to be a must year for a very experienced Duck team.

I'm with Stevenstechu on this. Greatwood left Oregon absolutely loaded. 5 Sophomores with starting experience plus a future NFL tackle for a year. In college that's a huge amount of time to recruit and develop talent behind them. Its also a huge factor in Slick and Mario being able to finish above .500 in the last 2 years.

lukeyrid13 wrote:Warmack was well worth it and Moore was the top rated JC OLinemen, he was worth taking a stab on.

This^

And this year's OL group is a little thin. I think we'll be OK. We may take a small hit next year, but we've been recruiting solid at OL.

Helfrich OL recruits from his last year in control of recruiting, 2015: Throckmorton, Lemieux, Carlberg, Hanson, Aiello (plus Jacob Breeland at TE). That's 80% of this year's starting O-line, plus a guy that now starts on the D-line. Blaming Helfrich for depth issues is mind-numbingly ridiculous. I remember Cristobal back in early 2017 praising the O-line he inherited from Greatwood. We have had three recruiting classes since then. Whatever depth issues there are with the O-line has little to do with Helfrich, who was fired in November of 2016. In fact, at least a couple of Helfrich recruits on the O-line are about eight months from getting drafted into the NFL. Maybe they will end up playing for Helfrich again in Chicago.

Helf was a disaster from the time he went to DP, yes a DC, but those season were brutal on the Ducks reputation...... at least he was smart enough to bring in Holk! That helped....... then slick pulled his crap, three solid years of Ducks nose dive did not help recruiting, that's on Helf.

StevensTechU wrote:I thought it was slightly odd that Mario Cristobal and Alex Mirabal have recruited 3 classes of offensive lineman to Oregon, yet Cristobal and Mirabal are dipping into the JUCO ranks for a lineman this year. Looking at the depth chart, next year's offensive line starters (without TJ Bass) looks like:

Penei Sewell (LT)
Alex Forsyth (LG)
Ryan Walk (C)
Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu (RG)
Steven Jones (RT)

Rotation:
Jonah Tauanu'u (tackle)
Justin Johnson (guard)
Dawson Jaramillo (center)

There are a couple other potential contributors (Chris Randazzo will be in year 3, Sam Poutasi in year 5) but the graduation of 7 lineman and the transfers of Jacob Capra and Cody Shear will leave this position group paper thin in talent and experience. An instant contributor like TJ Bass makes a lot more sense after taking a step back to look at it.

Forsyth will be the starting center most likely. Sala, Jones, Sewell, and Jonah are all elite recruits with at least year in the program. For as much as we're losing, Mario has done a great job.

Sometimes you end up with unbalanced classes at certain positions, it's not an exact science.