Three key Oregon interior OL storylines ahead of fall camp 2023

Fall camp is just around the corner for the Oregon Ducks ahead of Dan Lanning’s second season at the helm of the program.

After a 10-3 finish in 2022, Lanning and his staff went to work this offseason overhauling the Ducks’ roster to fit their vision. Oregon will welcome a 30-player signing class that ranked eighth nationally, and it has also added 14 players by way of the transfer portal.

It goes without saying that the 2023 version of Lanning’s Ducks will look vastly different than the 2022 iteration.

As we inch closer to August, the ScoopDuck staff has identified three prominent storylines regarding each of Oregon’s position groups.

Next up, the interior offensive linemen.

The starting center battle

With longtime starter Alex Forsyth headed for the NFL, Oregon has a pair of juniors competing to become its next starting center.

Marcus Harper and Jackson Powers-Johnson are each in the mix to start at either center or guard in 2023. Harper excelled as the Ducks’ starting left guard after Steven Jones went down with an injury early last season. Powers-Johnson, meanwhile, thrived as a sixth man of sorts for the Ducks and played 350 snaps at right guard and 44 at center.

His PFF overall grade of 84.1 was the third-best among all Oregon offensive players.

Both Harper and Powers-Johnson spent time splitting reps at guard and center during spring ball, and both are going to be integral figures along the offensive front in 2023 — regardless of where they line up.

But Harper suffered an arm injury in late April and was held out of the Ducks’ spring game. It’s unclear if he will be full-go for the start of fall camp.

The depth at the guard spots

Oregon will have at least four starting-caliber players competing for two starting guard spots in August.

Steven Jones is back for his sixth college season after losing most of the 2022 campaign to injury. Whoever doesn’t win the starting center job between Harper and Powers-Johnson will push for playing time at one of the guard spots, too.

Additionally, former Texas starter Junior Angilau and former East Carolina starter Nishad Strother both transferred into the program during the offseason. Aingilau was worth the Ducks during spring ball but was hindered by injury. Strother did not announce his transfer decision until May, and figures to slot in at left guard after starting there each of the past three seasons for ECU.

Long story short: Oregon is going to have an abundance of quality options at the guard spots. It’s arguably the deepest unit on the roster.

What about the underclassmen?

Oregon’s past two signing classes have featured a pair of 4-star interior offensive line signees: Dave Iuli (2022) and Iapani Laloulu (2023).

Iuli had some bright moments during his true freshman season — particularly in pass-blocking scenarios — and played the third-most snaps among Oregon offensive true freshmen. Laloulu was the No. 352 overall recruit in his class and drew some notable praise from teammates throughout the spring. He could potentially help the Ducks at guard or center.

As previously mentioned, though, Oregon has a bit of a log jam at the interior offensive line spots. Iuli and Laloulu will need to impress during fall camp if they hope to carve out consistent playing time in 2023.

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