2024 Gophers Position Previews: Offensive Line

September's coming soon, so it is once again time to start thinking about football. Ski-U-Blog will analyze every position group on the Gophers' roster: starters, depth, and potential future contributors. This is the fourth and final post covering the offense, which will look at Minnesota's experienced offensive line.

Likely Starters

Aireontae Ersery should be the Gophers' next Day 2 pick in the NFL Draft next April. He enters the season in high regard, having made the media's all-conference first team a year ago and earning the fourth-highest rating among offensive linemen in EA Sports' College Football video game. Ersery, Darius Taylor, and Dragan Kesich are the three Gophers outside observers agree are among the best in the Big Ten at their position — if not the best.

The key for Ersery is how well he moves his 330-pound frame. Run blocking and pass protection start from the ground up. That means having both a strong base to move people off the ball or fend off bull rushers, and quick feet. Ersery has both. Whether on the back side or the play side, he is a superb reach blocker, stepping across the face of a defensive lineman to cut off the path to the ballcarrier:

And Ersery can keep in front of speed rushers trying to break past him, maintaining a pocket into which his quarterback can step.

That combination of size and athleticism, combined with the smarts to pick up late rushers and pass off a defender to a teammate, is what makes Ersery a pro prospect.

Tyler Cooper might not be a pro prospect but is solidly Minnesota's third-best offensive lineman. By Pro Football Focus' pressure rate, Cooper was one of the better pass protecting interior linemen in the country, ranking 40th out of 511 guards and centers facing 100 or more pressure opportunities. This lines up with the tape. Cooper is no bulldozer or majestic puller, and from time to time he could be a little more aware of stunts — which admittedly could be a center and quarterback issue — but when engaged with a defensive tackle, he does not get overpowered. He is a trustworthy sixth-year guard who will hold his ground.

Minnesota's top three centers from last season are all gone. Nathan Boe and Karter Shaw ran out of eligibility, and walk-on Jackson Ruschmeyer left the program after completing his degree. Line coach Brian Callahan and the Gophers' staff might have considered bringing in a transfer to start but settled on moving Greg Johnson into the middle.

As a true freshman, Johnson was a passable college guard with promise but plenty of room to grow. At times, he was just outmatched by bigger, stronger, and faster defenders. While every offensive lineman gets caught leaning every once in a while, Johnson was especially vulnerable to quick pass rush moves that left him punching at air. As a run blocker, he mostly held his own.

Johnson's move to center is not as straightforward as scooching a few feet to his right. Especially as a second-year player, it will be a challenge for him to read opposing fronts, call out protections, and execute the snap with 330-pound nose tackles in front of him. Johnson played the position early in high school, but it is a demanding job. He is one of the keys to this year's offense improving.

Quinn Carroll bounced between right guard and right tackle for much of last spring and preseason, only to spend the entire season at tackle. Once again, it looks like Carroll may play guard.

As was the case a year ago, he plays with power in the run game but gives up too many pressures to play on the outside. While Carroll is better than the alternatives at right tackle, his best position is probably guard. The situation has changed as well, since rather than figuring out which of Carroll and Martes Lewis plays inside and which plays outside, there is a third option at tackle.

Lewis is Minnesota's largest returning starter from last year and the one with the least job security. He can have trouble holding his blocks, not because of a lack of strength — though you'd like to see such a big player dominate more — but a lack of quickness. Shiftier players can shake him after a good initial push, and Lewis does not always hand off his man in time to handle a looper. Sometimes, he just gets beaten too easily, even after taking a good first couple of steps.

This is not to call Lewis a bad player — most of the time, he does fine, and his anchor is a plus — but his flaws were enough for Minnesota to bring in a transfer to compete with him for the right tackle job.

That transfer is Aluma Nkele from UTEP. Nkele is a 380-pound titan that went to junior college before joining the Miners for two seasons, starting four games in 2023. Curiously, his problems are not unlike Lewis'. There are times when Nkele looks too big, when he struggles to keep his feet active in protection or stands too tall when trying to move a defender. In these moments, he looks ill-equipped to take on the edge rushers of the Big Ten.

But in other moments, Nkele reminds you that he is a Division I athlete, and he can fire off the ball, climb to the linebackers faster than any human his size should, and use that size to get the job done.

I am unsure that Nkele can immediately step into the lineup and keep his place for a full season, since jumping from the worst conference in FBS to the second-best is no small change. He would be suited to a rotational role.

Before seeing what the beat reporters can offer from the start of camp, I think that the right side stays the same as last year: Lewis keeps his place at guard, with Carroll at tackle. If Nkele — or even redshirt freshman Phillip Daniels — beats Lewis in camp, Carroll would naturally start at guard instead.

Key Backups

The Gophers had good injury luck in 2023, only missing Cooper for a couple of games. They never got a big enough lead to put in their backups for garbage time, either. As a result, their depth remains untested.

Jerome Williams will probably start on the interior of the offensive line once Cooper and Carroll depart. The former blue-chipper from Osseo didn't play a down last season but has the necessary size, strength, and meanness to take a big role in the future. He would probably be in the mix to rotate in at the goal line and in blowouts, but Williams is dealing with an injury at the start of fall camp. He has warmed up with the centers before games and could be the top backup to Johnson when healthy.

Redshirt junior Jackson Hunter appeared for one offensive snap last season, as an extra blocker in one of Minnesota's heavy personnel groupings. The same goes for redshirt freshman Ashton Beers. These two have minimal college playing experience but are the nominal second string at guard.

At tackle, Daniels and redshirt sophomores Spencer Alvarez and Tony Nelson will compete to move higher up the depth chart and show they can start after Ersery graduates. The three of them have never played a snap of college football.

Notables Unlikely to Contribute

Since 2005, only three times has the state of Wisconsin's composite No. 1 recruit signed with a school other than Wisconsin: 2013 tight end A.J. Natter, who went to Nebraska; 2016 tackle Ben Bredeson, who went to Michigan; and 2024 tackle Nathan Roy, who is now a Golden Gopher. Roy is the sixth-highest-rated Minnesota signee overall in 247Sports' database and the highest-rated lineman. While it's worth noting that the Badgers signed two 4-star tackles in their 2024 class (including Irondale's Emerson Mandell, the second-highest-rated recruit in Minnesota) and that Roy is not a born-and-bred Wisconsinite, his commitment counts as a symbolic victory for P.J. Fleck's staff.

Roy's most eye-catching trait is his mobility. He is an ideal lead blocker on the perimeter, can get in the way of linebackers as he climbs to the second level off of double teams, and can reach an edge defender's outside shoulder. While his effortless pancakes are comedic, they also show off how Roy fires off the ball, maintains decent pad level, and ruthlessly finishes his blocks. He has to prove he can do anything like that in the Big Ten, but he is a legitimate blue-chip prospect that could step into the starting five as soon as next year.

Kansas native Brett Carroll, the Gophers' other signee up front, played tackle and center in high school and projects somewhere along the interior. His highlights display surprising quickness and flashes of casual violence that impress, and unlike Roy, Carroll has enough weight on his frame already. I see a player with the physical tools to start once he polishes his game for a while against people his own size.