The Oregon Ducks are just a few weeks away from their annual spring football game, which will mark the end of the 2025 spring season. It's been a busy spring, as the Ducks usher in a new era of young players at several positions.
One position group that will look a lot different in 2025 is Oregon's defensive line. All three of the 2024 Ducks' starting D-linemen have graduated, with Derrick Harmon, Jordan Burch, and possibly Jamaree Caldwell expected to be drafted later this month. D-line recruiting has been a focus since Dan Lanning came to Oregon three years ago, and next season, we'll start to see the fruits of those efforts.
After Oregon's Thursday practice, Ducks D-line coach Tony Tuioti weighed in on the progress of several of the Ducks' youngest D-linemen, first highlighting Tionne Gray's progress as an interior defensive lineman.
"Tionne Gray is a big, powerful man," Tuioti said. "He's all of 6-foot-6 and 345 pounds. He's a guy who can command four hands, and when you're looking for a defensive lineman in the run game, especially in this conference, you want to have big bodies who can take on double-teams and be able to play combination blocks. I'm really excited about what he's able to do."
Gray is a former 3-star recruit and redshirt freshman who, like Tuioti, mentioned, brings valuable size down the middle of the line. He came to the Ducks in the class of 2024, along with top-40 recruit Aydin Breland, who Tuioti also highlighted as a high performer this spring.
"Aydin Breland has been doing a really good job for us," Tuioti said. "He's been playing defensive end and sliding down to defensive tackle, like we did with Brandon Dorlus. Very similar, but he's longer and he's all of 295. He's been able to show up for us a lot. He's a guy who can play on the edge in the run game on first and second down and then slide him inside on third down. He can take advantage of lesser athletes at that guard position because he definitely can rush."
"Towards the end of the season, Aydin Breland was probably our best interior pass rusher."
Breland played in five games for the Ducks last season but preserved his redshirt option, making him a freshman in 2025. Tuioti also had praise for sophomore D-linemen Jericho Johnson and Ashton Porter and mentioned that they will be impactful for Oregon this fall.
Since 2022, Lanning and Tuioti's first season in Eugene, the Ducks have had strong defensive line play, but 2025 will be the first year Oregon's D-line will be made up entirely of their high school recruits. Another player who's expected to make a big impact from the Ducks' D-line this season is A'Mauri Washington, who is also a homegrown Lanning recruit.
As of now, less than a week before the spring transfer portal opens, no one in the Ducks' D-line room has starting experience for the first time in the Lanning era. That lack of experience will raise some questions, but with how talented the group is, they have all the potential to succeed.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Young D-linemen standing out for Oregon ...
