With spring ball in the rearview, and the transfer portal closed, we\u2019re beginning to get an idea of what Oregon\u2019s depth chart might look like in 2023.<\/p>\n
Since the end of the 2022 regular season, Dan Lanning\u2019s program added 14 players via the portal while 30 former Ducks opted to seek opportunities elsewhere.<\/p>\n
As we near the start of fall camp, the ScoopDuck staff is taking an in-depth, position-by-position look at the Oregon roster.<\/p>\n
Next up, the defensive tackles and nose tackles. <\/p>\n
Previous Entries<\/strong><\/p>\n Quarterback<\/a><\/strong>Running Back<\/a><\/strong>X-Receiver<\/a><\/strong>Z-Reciever<\/a><\/strong>Slot Receiver<\/a><\/strong>Tight End<\/a><\/strong>Right Tackle<\/a><\/strong>Right Guard<\/a><\/strong>Center<\/a><\/strong>Left Guard<\/a><\/strong>Left Tackle<\/a><\/strong>Defensive End<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Oregon entered the spring stacked with quality depth along the defensive interior \u2014 despite losing a significant collection of talent. Jordon Riley (NFL Draft), Keanu Williams (transfer), Treven Ma\u2019ae (transfer), Maceal Afaese (medically retired), and Sir Mells (transfer) all departed the program during the offseason. <\/p>\n But Casey Rogers, Taki Taimani, and Keyon Ware-Hudson are all back after strong 2022 campaigns. All three will push for starting jobs at their respective positions in 2023. <\/p>\n Sophomore Ben Roberts was one of the Ducks\u2019 more impactful true freshmen last fall and could be poised for an uptick in playing time at nose tackle. Meanwhile, \u201923 signees Tevita Pome\u2019e and My\u2019Keil Gardner enrolled early and each had some bright moments during the spring. <\/p>\n The most significant development for Oregon along the defensive interior was the healthy return of Popo Aumavae. A first-team all-conference selection in 2021, Aumavae missed the entire 2022 season due to injury but was full-go throughout the spring. <\/p>\n Rogers played 441 snaps last season \u2014 the most among Oregon interior defensive linemen by a wide margin. The fifth-year senior was tremendous during his first season in Eugene and will likely lock down the starting defensive tackle role again next fall. <\/p>\n As long as Amauvae is fully healthy, it\u2019s hard to imagine a scenario where he doesn\u2019t see the majority of playing time at nose tackle. In 2021, he graded out as Pro Football Focus\u2019s top defensive lineman in the Pac-12. Fellow Duck Brandon Dorlus was the only DL in the conference who generated more quarterback pressures than Aumavae. <\/p>\n But Taimani could also be poised for a big second season in Eugene. He played through an ankle injury for much of last year and, while speaking with reporters this spring, expressed a desire to be a more consistent, productive player in 2023. <\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I didn\u2019t put my best foot forward coming to this university and doing what I wanted to do,\u201d Taimani said. \u201cI think that\u2019s part of the reason I came back \u2014 I feel like I have more to show. I\u2019m feeling a lot healthier, so hopefully I can keep getting treatment throughout the spring and the season and finally stay healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n Oregon\u2019s offseason addition of former South Carolina star EDGE could enable Dan Lanning and Tosh Lupoi to get creative with their lineups. <\/p>\n Burch will likely see playing time at both Jack linebacker and defensive end. While speaking with reporters this spring, defensive line coach Tony Tuioti hinted that Oregon could look to play Burch and star defensive end Brandon Dorlus along the defensive line simultaneously in order to exploit matchups. <\/p>\n \u201c(Burch) can play all that just like Dorlus can play a (five-technique), can play a (six-technique), can play a (nine-technique),\u201d Tuiori said. \u201cDorlus, he\u2019s got the position fix to slide in and be a three-technique and take advantage of less athletic guards. So we have the ability to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n While Rogers and Ware-Hudson are both quality options at defensive tackle, Oregon\u2019s ability to slide Dorlus there on occasion could be key. <\/p>\n The post Depth Chart Deep Dive: Oregon interior defensive linemen<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With spring ball in the rearview, and the transfer portal closed, we\u2019re beginning to get…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8933\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Spring Synopsis<\/h2>\n
Projected Starter<\/h2>\n
Other than injury, what can change?<\/h2>\n