Oregon Football DL Preview: Kayvon Thibodeaux, All-American
The current status of College Football be damned, I’m writing previews at every single position for 2020. I’ve done the whole offense, and now I’m starting up with the defense. Let’s take a deeper look at the line.
Call me a homer. Call it hyperbole. You can call an article like this whatever you want to call it, but the 2020 Oregon Ducks will have one of the scariest defensive lines—on one of the scariest defenses—in the conference, and there’s no number of desperate Twitter threads about Washington’s Joe Tryon being superior* that will convince me, or anyone else, otherwise.
*I considered linking a thread to a few of the KT/Tryon arguments I’ve seen circulating on the inter-webs into this article, but they truly aren’t worth amplifying here. They’re mostly just full of speculation about future stats, and highlights of almost-sacks. Just please believe me when I tell you that those threads are out there, and yes, they are as bonkers as they sound.
Now back to the Ducks.
I’ll get into the player-by-player breakdowns, but I just want to start all this by saying three names:
Faoliu. Scott. Thibodeaux.
Whether I just listed off Oregon’s starting d-line or the 2020 All-Pac-12 Team, only time will tell, but either way that list should strike fear into offensive linemen across the country.
Now, that should definitely be the ceiling for homerism, but I don’t have any idea where my floor is, so my patented sunshine-pumping might just continue.
Defensive Tackle
The stellar Drayton Carlberg is gone at defensive tackle, along with Gary Baker. Carlberg's contribution to the team wasn’t as much about productivity as it was about consistency.
He belongs to the same graduating class as Herbie and Troy Dye, all of them sticking with the program since the Dark Times of 2016. Losing that kind of leadership is never not significant.
Drayton’s departure leaves the official DT1 spot open, but it seems really silly to say a sentence like, “junior Austin Faoliu will step into the number one spot at defensive tackle.”
And it feels silly to say because it is silly to say.
It might surprise a lot of Duck fans to hear that Faoliu led the entire defensive line group in tackles back in 2019, with 39 total. He racked up those numbers all while sharing time with Carlberg, as well as the young Brandon Dorlus at the end of the year.
Dorlus was expected to keep a redshirt status throughout the first half of last season, but ended up burning it by making more appearances in the last few games—even racking up 5 total tackles, including a sack.
He missed a few of the limited Spring practices with illness, so now that there won’t be any more Spring ball to speak of, Dorlus’ in-game experience from 2019 will be that much more important as the young gun steps into the two-deep spot behind Faoliu’s Final Form.
Unlike Dorlus, freshman Sua’ava Poti managed to retain his redshirt throughout 2019, and now Poti and freshman/winter-enrollee Jake Shipley will both look to make 2020 a year of scout team work and development at that defensive tackle spot.
Nose Guard
Fan favorite and self-proclaimed “Fat Mac,” Jordon Scott, wisely decided to return for his senior season at the nose guard position, and it will be interesting to see how he can make his last big on-field evolution over the course of such a weird offseason.
Scott had such a breakout sophomore campaign—especially in terms of run defense—and although 2019 wasn’t necessarily a drop off, I’m not entirely sure it was a seismic improvement, either.
A lot of scouts have fairly asked if Jordon can add a strong pass rush to his stout run-stopping ability.
Defensive coordinator Andy Avalos’ approach to defensive line admittedly demands that the nose guard makes a mess of the interior. Tying up blockers and allowing edge rushers to get into the backfield. In that regard, Scott has executed his job to perfection.
But in the few moments we’ve gotten to see his backup, Popo Aumavae, Ducks fans have seen that it is absolutely possible for that position to wreak havoc behind the line of scrimmage, forcing negative yardage plays.
If Scott can find just a bit more speed to compliment his strength, he’ll surely make that leap from good to great.
Speaking of Popo, The Phenom:
— 50 (@PopoAumavae) May 16, 2020
Sure, I made a joke earlier about using Twitter threads to claim that, “player x is better than player y,” but this isn’t even meant as an argument of superiority. It’s meant to get you all pumped about a dude who might just be the most overlooked athlete on the entire Oregon roster.
Aumavae is the perfect curveball to go to work behind Scott.
Can you imagine how demoralizing it would be to be an opposing center or guard, getting worn down by Jordon’s size for a whole first half of football, and then Joe Salave’a rotates in a fresh human cannonball like Popo Aumavae?
Scott and Aumavae’s 2020 season will be defined by how they work together. They each make the other more dangerous than either would be on their own. Constantly forcing opponents to prepare for every possible way that a nose guard could ever kill you.
When I said, “Faoliu. Scott. Thibodeaux,” earlier, please forgive me for not making it clearer that, “Aumavae,” is 100% the next name on that list.
Redshirt freshmen Kristian Williams and the former four-star Keyon Ware-Hudson both saw very limited time in 2019, and will face a sizable depth chart blockage in front of them, but that’s not to say that in-game rotation—or nightmare injury scenarios—wouldn’t see them called upon to step up.
Williams sat out with some illness during parts of the shortened Spring ball, but Ware-Hudson’s spotlight already shines bright, and he’ll get his chances to prove his worth soon enough.
Sione Kava was the only departure at nose guard from 2019, and sophomore Miguel Nevarez has yet to rack up a, “game-played,” stat as a Duck, but with Scott entering his senior year, and Popo wading towards dangerous, “Breakout-Junior-Season-Peak-Draft-Stock,” territory, the 2021 depth chart may turn towards its youth sooner than anticipated.
Defensive End
The great Gus Cumberlander is gone from the defensive end, but his midseason injury essentially gave us a preview of what a post-Cumberlander world would look like.
And I think it looks pretty good.
As many of you already know, Kayvon Thibodeaux took mainstream college football by storm at the end of last year. Not only did he join Brady Breeze as one of Kirk Herbstreit’s favorite players, but he finished up his insane freshman year with a freshman program record 9 sacks, 14 TFL, and a nation-leading 7 sacks in the fourth quarter.
I could keep listing accolades but GoDucks already did that for us:
KT accolades. C/O GoDucks dot com
KT is just getting started with his world conquest, that’s well-documented. He’ll compete for national accolades, All-American teams, and NFL Draft scouts everywhere.
He is fast and lean, with considerable strength despite his lankier build. He absolutely proved that he could handle big boy offensive lines in 2019 with the likes of USC, Utah, and Wisconsin, but Ohio State is a whole new beast. In pursuit of that next level power, KT will find himself in socially-distant weight rooms throughout the summer with one thing on his mind: Break The Buckeyes.
The presumed back up on the edge will be the young Andrew Faoliu. The sophomore certainly won’t be looked at to do the kind of things that his big brother does this year, but along with Austin’s lifelong mentorship, he gets another year to learn and compete day-after-day with a generational talent like Kayvon right next to him.
And Winter enrollee Bradyn Swinson will be yet another young guy that will gain so much valuable experience by growing as a player in the same room as KT.
A rising tide lifts all boats, etc.
As you can see, my completely unbiased opinion is that the defense is on the rise in Eugene, and it all starts up front.
Go Ducks.