Ten games into our season, guess who Pro Football Focus grades as the best player on the entire roster? Drake Nugent. Who saw that coming? Absolutely nobody. In a year in which fans rightfully criticize the trenches on both sides of the ball, Nugent needs to get his due. Dude is balling in his first season as a starter after facing the tall task of replacing one of the best run blockers in school history, if not conference history. To put into perspective here are the top 30 offensive linemen in the Pac-12 with their years listed to show how truly impressive Nugent is (and even how impressive Rouse and Bragg are):
1. Kellen Diesch (Arizona State) - 6th year
2. TJ Bass (Oregon) - 4th year
3. Braeden Daniels (Utah) - 4th year
4. Andrew Vorhees (USC) - 5th year
5. Nathan Eldridge (Oregon State) - 6th year
6. Brett Neilon (USC) - 5th year
7. Sean Rhyan (UCLA) - 3rd year
8. Joshua Gray (Oregon State) - 4th year
9. Brandon Kipper (Oregon State) - 5th year
10. Ryan Walk (Oregon) - 5th year
11. Alec Anderson (UCLA) - 4th year
12. Abraham Lucas (Washington State) - 5th year
13. Nous Keobounnam (Oregon State) - 6th year
14. Drake Nugent (Stanford) - 3rd year
15. Paul Grattan Jr. (UCLA) - 6th year
16. Bamidele Olaseni (Utah) - 4th year
17. Jaxson Kirkland (Washington) - 5th year
17. Matthew Cindric (Cal) - 4th year
19. Ben Scott (Arizona State) - 3rd year
19. Luke Wattenberg (Washington) - 6th year
21. Kary Kutsch (Colorado) - 5th year
22. Liam Ryan (Washington State) - 6th year
23. Liam Jimmons (USC) - 6th year
24. Ben Coleman (Cal) - 3rd year
25. LaDarius Henderson (Arizona State) - 3rd year
26. Walter Rouse (Stanford) - 3rd year
27. Valentino Daltoso (Cal) - 6th year
28. Branson Bragg (Stanford) - 3rd year
29. Josh McCauley (Arizona) - 6th year
30. Colby Pursell (Colorado) - 6th year
As context on this, there are 56 offensive linemen in the Pac-12 with 400+ snaps. Some observations on this:
* This is an illustration of what I'm always screaming about: offensive line is all about age and Stanford can't compete there when we have gap years or poor retention at the position. Period, end of story. Heffernan has done absolutely nothing wrong. He just inherited a room that should have had Drew Dalman, Walker Little, Foster Sarell, Devery Hamilton, and one or two never-recruited-but-should-have-been 2018 recruits and instead had ZERO of those guys. Heffernan had an impossible task. I mean, really, look at the above and think on it for a second. A third of the good linemen in the Pac-12 are SIXTH year players and 77 percent of them are fourth, fifth, or sixth year players and Stanford has ZERO fourth/fifth/sixth year linemen.
* Truth be told, every single one of our top six offensive linemen can make a good case for being ahead of schedule. Stanford has three of the top seven first, second, or third year linemen in the conference. Nugent, Rouse, and Bragg are WAY ahead of schedule. They all look like future superstars......if they stay at Stanford as long as players stay at other schools. The problem is linemen don't stay at Stanford for fifth and sixth years.
* Nugent is an absolute megastar in the making. Among every first, second, or third year linemen in the conference Nugent is the second best.
This post was meant to be a straight-up ode to Nugent. I really think it's remarkable that among all 2019, 2020, and 2021 recruits he's #2 in the conference. But as I got deeper into the data it just made me want to scream about our offensive line pipeline. Again. So many of us screamed about this in 2000 when Willingham neglected to recruit the position. And again in 2001. And then when Stanford predictably sucked on offense as a result in 2004, 2005, and 2006. And then again in 2018 when Shaw and Bloomgren repeated the sins of the past. We deserve everything that has come to us in 2021.
Neither talent nor coaching is the most important variable for what makes an offensive line good. It is having 23 year old men getting to block 19 and 20 year olds. If I can know and scream this for 20 years David Shaw should know it. He has no defense for his performance or excuse for a disappointing offensive line when it's something that amateur me has talked about for two decades.
1. Kellen Diesch (Arizona State) - 6th year
2. TJ Bass (Oregon) - 4th year
3. Braeden Daniels (Utah) - 4th year
4. Andrew Vorhees (USC) - 5th year
5. Nathan Eldridge (Oregon State) - 6th year
6. Brett Neilon (USC) - 5th year
7. Sean Rhyan (UCLA) - 3rd year
8. Joshua Gray (Oregon State) - 4th year
9. Brandon Kipper (Oregon State) - 5th year
10. Ryan Walk (Oregon) - 5th year
11. Alec Anderson (UCLA) - 4th year
12. Abraham Lucas (Washington State) - 5th year
13. Nous Keobounnam (Oregon State) - 6th year
14. Drake Nugent (Stanford) - 3rd year
15. Paul Grattan Jr. (UCLA) - 6th year
16. Bamidele Olaseni (Utah) - 4th year
17. Jaxson Kirkland (Washington) - 5th year
17. Matthew Cindric (Cal) - 4th year
19. Ben Scott (Arizona State) - 3rd year
19. Luke Wattenberg (Washington) - 6th year
21. Kary Kutsch (Colorado) - 5th year
22. Liam Ryan (Washington State) - 6th year
23. Liam Jimmons (USC) - 6th year
24. Ben Coleman (Cal) - 3rd year
25. LaDarius Henderson (Arizona State) - 3rd year
26. Walter Rouse (Stanford) - 3rd year
27. Valentino Daltoso (Cal) - 6th year
28. Branson Bragg (Stanford) - 3rd year
29. Josh McCauley (Arizona) - 6th year
30. Colby Pursell (Colorado) - 6th year
As context on this, there are 56 offensive linemen in the Pac-12 with 400+ snaps. Some observations on this:
* This is an illustration of what I'm always screaming about: offensive line is all about age and Stanford can't compete there when we have gap years or poor retention at the position. Period, end of story. Heffernan has done absolutely nothing wrong. He just inherited a room that should have had Drew Dalman, Walker Little, Foster Sarell, Devery Hamilton, and one or two never-recruited-but-should-have-been 2018 recruits and instead had ZERO of those guys. Heffernan had an impossible task. I mean, really, look at the above and think on it for a second. A third of the good linemen in the Pac-12 are SIXTH year players and 77 percent of them are fourth, fifth, or sixth year players and Stanford has ZERO fourth/fifth/sixth year linemen.
* Truth be told, every single one of our top six offensive linemen can make a good case for being ahead of schedule. Stanford has three of the top seven first, second, or third year linemen in the conference. Nugent, Rouse, and Bragg are WAY ahead of schedule. They all look like future superstars......if they stay at Stanford as long as players stay at other schools. The problem is linemen don't stay at Stanford for fifth and sixth years.
* Nugent is an absolute megastar in the making. Among every first, second, or third year linemen in the conference Nugent is the second best.
This post was meant to be a straight-up ode to Nugent. I really think it's remarkable that among all 2019, 2020, and 2021 recruits he's #2 in the conference. But as I got deeper into the data it just made me want to scream about our offensive line pipeline. Again. So many of us screamed about this in 2000 when Willingham neglected to recruit the position. And again in 2001. And then when Stanford predictably sucked on offense as a result in 2004, 2005, and 2006. And then again in 2018 when Shaw and Bloomgren repeated the sins of the past. We deserve everything that has come to us in 2021.
Neither talent nor coaching is the most important variable for what makes an offensive line good. It is having 23 year old men getting to block 19 and 20 year olds. If I can know and scream this for 20 years David Shaw should know it. He has no defense for his performance or excuse for a disappointing offensive line when it's something that amateur me has talked about for two decades.
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