Oregon Freshman Offensive Lineman Josh Conerly Making a Case for Early Snaps

Lanning has picked up on a strong mentality from the five-star offensive tackle recruit.

Author:
Graham Metzker
Publish date:
Aug 26, 2022 7:58 PM EDT

When the Oregon Ducks secured the commitment of five-star offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr. in April, it was a huge win on multiple levels.

It was a win over Pac-12 rival USC, who looked to be in the lead for the best offensive tackle of the 2022 recruiting class. It was a win over Washington, who again forfeited the best recruit from their state to the Ducks. It was even a win over Miami, who was in the mix for Conerly due to a connection with Alex Mirabal that transferred over to Coral Gables.

But most importantly, it was a win for Oregon because they got the eighth-best recruit in Oregon program history (per 247) enrolled in time for the 2022-23 season. And Dan Lanning is already liking what he sees.

"I think Josh is gonna be a really good player for the Ducks," Lanning said after Thursday's practice. "I think he's gonna be a phenomenal player for us."

In an offseason that saw the Ducks bring in big names from the transfer portal like Bo Nix and Christian Gonzalez, as well as another top-20 recruiting class in 2022, Conerly still may have the most hype out of this season's new Ducks .

But hype alone isn't enough for Lanning. When talking about practices, Lanning always emphasizes the role of a strong mentality and the winning ideals he's trying to teach his team.

And it seems like Conerly has responded perfectly to Lanning's style of coaching.

"He's shown that he has a worker's mentality, he has a growth mindset," said Lanning. "When his time comes, I think he'll be prepared for it. And that could be relatively soon. We'll see."

Duck fans will certainly be excited about potentially getting to see Conerly on the field at Autzen Stadium soon. Maybe even as a true frehsman. But the Ducks still boast one of the nation's best, and most experienced offensive lines going into the 2022 season.

One of Lanning's first and most significant moves as Head Coach was to ensure that Oregon's senior offensive linemen would be returning after Mario Cristobal's departure.

The core of Alex Forsyth, Ryan Walk, Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, Steven Jones and T.J. Bass all announced together that they would "run it back" for their final seasons on the team.

Lanning complimented the offensive line talent by replacing former O-Line coach Mirabal with Adrian Klemm, who he plucked from the ranks with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Add to that a strong offensive line haul in the 2022 class, made up of Conerly, Dave Iuli, Michael Wooten, and Kawika Rogers, and Lanning has the Ducks set up for continued success on the offensive line.

The Oregon offensive line last season, while extremely talented, suffered continued injuries along with the rest of the team.

Hopefully Oregon won't have the same concerns this season, but if they do it's good to hear Lanning speak about his star freshman in such high regard.