Oregon State Spring Football Recap: Offensive Line

Like man position groups in our spring recap, the offensive line group was vastly different than the group we've come to know quite well over the past few seasons.

Graduated are the likes of multi-year starters Jake Levengood and Heneli Bloomfield, while Taliese Fuaga became the 14th overall pick in the NFL Draft to the New Orleans Saints.

The Beavers also saw starter Tanner Miller seek the transfer portal and land at Michigan State, opening up another starting spot.

However, amidst all the player graduation and movement, OL Joshua Gray became the lone starting holdover, announcing in early January that he would be returning to Corvallis for his final season. Gray had received NFL feedback that he's projected more as a guard at the next level, so expect OSU's most seasoned and experienced OL to shift to one of the guard spots this season.

New offensive line coach Kyle DeVan also didn't waste any time with acquiring reinforcements from the transfer portal, adding a pair of Colorado transfers in Van Wells and Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan.

Wells hit the ground running as he was on campus for the start of spring and all but locked up the starting center position, handling nearly all the snaps during spring. Christian-Lichtenhan will arrive in June, but it's widely expected that he will also slot into one of the starting tackle spots with extensive experience.

So when you combine the two Colorado additions with Gray, all of a sudden the Beavers have a solid amount of experience just between those three guys. Assuming that Lichtenhan takes the RT spot, Wells at center, and Gray moves to one of the guard spots (his NFL projected position), the crux of the line begins to show.

Another starting position will almost assuredly go to 2023 OL "sixth man" Grant Starck. The Springfield (OR) native was the go-to next man up in every spot except for center when injuries occurred in '23, and I think he'll take the next step and likely lock down the RG spot.