Behold! Football season is nigh!

Believe it or not, mere weeks separate us between now and the start of fall camp for the Oregon Ducks. As preseason camp fast approaches, we at WFOD will be rolling out a series of previews to help fully prepare you for the upcoming season.

Wednesday marks the continuation of our Fall Camp Questions series, which aims to address the most pressing questions surrounding each position group in the build up to the 2018 campaign.

Today’s question…

Which O-line newcomer will make the biggest impact in 2018?

The Oregon offensive line is good – real good.

Yes, all-world offensive tackle Tyrell Crosby is graduated and gone to the NFL after he was selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions this past April. However, even despite the loss of one of the best offensive linemen in school history, the Ducks return the likes of Shane Lemieux, Calvin Throckmorton, Jake Hanson, and Brady Aiello – four players with 89 combined starts and 96 combined overall appearances over their collective careers at Oregon.

Even better, all four players are redshirt juniors.

In fact, there isn’t a single senior offensive lineman on the roster, meaning the Ducks couple proven experience with tremendous depth, boasting perhaps the most stable unit of any on the entire roster. And given head coach Mario Cristobal’s track record as one of the nation’s best molders of exceptional offensive line play, it’s fairly safe to assume that the offensive trenches at Oregon are in steady hands for years to come.

If you need proof, look no further than the work he did assembling the group of offensive linemen in the Ducks’ 2018 recruiting class. In total, Cristobal was able to ink five highly-touted guys who collectively average 332.8 pounds and stand a shade under 6-foot-6.

The group’s headliner is Penei Sewell; a five-star prospect who resisted strong recruiting pitches from the likes of USC and Alabama in order to take his football career to new heights in Eugene. He is joined by four-star prospects Steven Jones and Dawson Jaramillo, as well as three-star prospects Justin Johnson and Christopher Randazzo.

Though Cristobal didn’t stop there.

In May, the former four-year Alabama assistant added a player to the Oregon roster that he formally recruited to Tuscaloosa in Dallas Warmack. The younger brother of former unanimous All-American and current Philadelphia Eagle Chance Warmack, Dallas arrives in Eugene as the rare grad transfer who has two years of eligibility remaining. After appearing in 16 games between his freshman and sophomore years at Alabama, Warmack redshirted last season and will be ready to compete for a starting job next to Aiello, Hanson, Throckmorton, and Lemieux when fall camp opens in August.

WFOD’s Prediction:

One thing is certain, Cristobal, and offensive line assistants Alex Mirabal and Cody Woodiel, will have no shortage of options to choose from when they take the time to nail down their rotation before the Ducks’ season opener. The biggest opportunity on the board for one of the six newcomers along the offensive line will be at right guard, where the Ducks have little to no experienced veterans they can turn to to fill the void. The player with perhaps the early inside track at locking down the position is redshirt sophomore Jacob Capra, who appeared in six games (including one as a starter) last season. He’ll be pushed hard though by a handful of returning players, plus names like Sewell, Jones, and Warmack, who each have the ability to hold down a guard position with aplomb. This might prove to be the most difficult prediction to make of this entire series, but we’re going to side with Warmack’s experience and pedigree as the factors that allow him to make the biggest impact of all the offensive line newcomers in 2018.

Fall Camp Questions: Part I – Who backs up Justin Herbert?
Fall Camp Questions: Part II – Is Tony Brooks-James equipped to be Oregon’s lead back?
Fall Camp Questions: Part III – Will consistent difference-makers emerge at receiver?
Fall Camp Questions: Part IV – Is Jacob Breeland an All-Pac-12 level tight end?