How the Oregon Football Offensive Line has Grown This Offseason, in Fall Camp
In 2020, Oregon had the youngest offensive line in college football. Now in 2021, the defending Pac-12 champions return the entire starting unit, valuable backups, and inject a versatile, skilled group of freshmen from the program's historic 2021 recruiting class.
Throughout the offseason, coaches and players alike have continued to use one word to describe the offense line: growth. But how has the unit improved specifically? To answer that, you can start by turning to the man in charge of the group, Alex Mirabal.
Some of the positives he's noted in fall camp start with a major requirement to be successful at any level of football.
"An increase in physicality," Mirabal said of what he's seen from his group in fall camp. "An increase in the mentality that is necessary to deal with the challenges of playing football, of playing up front in the trenches."
A central component of the offseason growth has come from shuffling players around at a variety of positions. This directly aids in the creation of depth, as well as positionally flexibility and versatility.
"If you really truly preach competition, you gotta give those guys the opportunity to show themselves," he said.
Mirabal shouts out instructions during drills in fall camp.
Max Torres/Ducks Digest
Some players come to Eugene having made a name for themselves playing a specific position in high school. For Mirabal however, he's not married to the idea of any player staying in one position, that is until they crack the starting lineup.
He'll shuffle his players back and forth between the right and left sides, which helps them get comfortable playing in both right and left-handed stances. Similarly, the shuffling has given him a unit of 20 players that are all comfortable playing on either side of the line, and seven players that can play center. He says this is part of what fall camp is all about.
One player we've heard is making strides in fall camp is Logan Sagapolu. The Lehi, Utah native has spent a majority of his time at guard, and even got some run with the first-team offense last week.
Sagapolu at the Fiesta Bowl.
© Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
"Yesterday we put him with the one's for a little bit," Mirabal told reporters. "He hadn't been there. So we put him there. It's a jig saw puzzle."
Sagapolu's teammates echo the same sentiment of the coaching staff, singling him out as a player who has continued to sharpen his technique and skill set.
"I think one dude who has improved the most to me is Logan Sagapolu," Steven Jones said. "I've seen him this fall camp, he's been flying off the rock faster than I've seen him fly off the rock this whole entire time."
He's certainly gotten quicker, but what other parts of his game are more on par with the college level since his arrival, and how are we seeing it on the field?
"I think he's really kind of controlled his weight," Jones said."He's starting to be able to use his strength within his technique a lot better than last season. I think this offseason he made a big focus on working on his technique, his strike points, and his leverage and all that--now you can see in fall camp it's playing off completely. He's running through guys, driving his feet through blocks."
Last season, it was no secret the offensive line wasn't performing at the level Oregon has grown accustomed to in Mario Cristobal era. However, the seven games from a shortened COVID season have had an immeasurable value for this year's squad.
"Their eyes are a year older. Their understanding of what we do and how we do it is a year older," Mirabal said of how his group has grown.
Offensive firepower doesn't go anywhere without the offensive line. The moment the ball is snapped, there's a number of reads and decisions that have to be made in a matter of seconds. Stunts, bends, twists, fake blitzes--it's a lot to process. Fortunately for the Ducks, last year's experience will help the starting group slow the game down, which in turn allows them to play at a faster clip.
"That group has that one year under their belt, now they're processing things a lot faster," he said. "You can play a lot faster on the field, you can play a lot more physical, you can play with a lot more--being sure of what you're doing. That's kind of where I see a lot of that growth happening."
The veteran unit is almost sure to be the same come game day on September 4, but that doesn't mean there isn't competition nipping at their heels. With such a talented group, some may expect someone to make an early contribution similar to that of Outland Trophy winner Penei Sewell in his true freshman season.
However, Mirabal said there is a lot to learn before a player can truly compete for a larger role.
"A lot of guys say 'I wanna come in and compete,' and we say no no, that's the second step. The first step is knowing what to do, why to do it and how to do it. And then knowing what to do, why to do it and how to do it at a real real real real fast pace. Once you do that, then you can go and compete."
You hear things like this, and you understand why all four of the Ducks' freshmen offensive linemen enrolled early in some capacity, whether in the winter or in the spring. Only when a player has checked all those boxes can they truly compete.
Coaching a position with so many bodies is no small task, and Mirabal is hyper-focused on even the smallest details. Each and every practice, he writes out which player is playing with which unit of the offense (First, second, third, etc.) for every team drill.
All of his reasons for doing so can be traced back to versatility and being prepared for any situation they may face in a game.
"That's what I spend the most amount of time with during the course of a day," Mirabal said. "That consumes the most amount of my time, so I'm sure that when, if they have to be thrown in a game, that they've taken reps there."
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