Josh Conerly Jr. still isn't getting enough love nationally
Don't look now, but Oregon football has yet another superstar on the offensive line.
Actually, you could argue that the Ducks have more than one, but Josh Conerly Jr. is the big name up front and he's gearing up for what could be his last season in Eugene before taking that NFL leap following the 2024 campaign.
Conerly has everything that scouts are looking for in terms of size, potential, quick feet, and strength. He's a rare breed on the offensive line and he's one of the best at the left tackle position in college football. And yet he's somehow overlooked more than he should be.
In fact, when preseason All-Big Ten teams were released, he was only a second-teamer while his teammate and fellow tackle Ajani Cornelius was a first-team selection.
Cornelius deserved first-team honors, but I have a hard time seeing a world where Conerly doesn't make the first team and then subsequently get selected in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
On top of that, he was excluded from the Outland Trophy watch list. Somehow a preseason All-Big Ten honoree is being excluded from a list of 75 linemen? How?
Speaking of the draft, Conerly hasn't been on any first-round draft board which I also think is a crime because he's the total package and I can see him being picked in the first round next spring. He's built to be the next great Oregon offensive lineman and the former five-star is going to prove that this season as he joins the Big Ten.
Watch his stock take off over the course of the next couple of months and watch him follow in the footsteps of Penei Sewell as the next great to represent the Ducks in the NFL on the offensive line.
Not many programs have churned out NFL talent in the trenches like Oregon recently:
2020: Shane Lemieux (fifth round, Giants), Jake Hanson (sixth round, Packers)
2021: Penei Sewell (No. 7 overall, Lions)
2023: Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu (sixth round, Ravens), Alex Forsyth (seventh round, Broncos)
2024: Jackson Powers-Johnson (second round, Raiders)
We're going to be able to add in Conerly as a first-rounder in 2025 along with Cornelius potentially in the first two days of next year's draft to that list.
If you're an elite offensive line prospect, why wouldn't you choose Oregon?