2025 Gophers Position Previews: Offensive Line

On the other side of this interminable heat, humidity, and rain is a precious thing in Minnesota: fall. To get you ready for it, Ski-U-Blog is again previewing this year's Gopher football team, one position group at a time. Next up: the offensive line.

Likely Starters

Though he will start at right guard, Marcellus Marshall could end up covering anywhere on the offensive line. He was a first-team All-MAC left tackle at Kent State in 2022; split 2023 at UCF between left guard, right guard, and right tackle; and even started a game at center for the Knights in 2024. Marshall is the ultimate utilityman.

He is not only flexible — not to mention durable — but reliable as well. Marshall does nothing spectacular, but he plays like a lineman with more than 2,000 college snaps under his belt. He does not make many mistakes, taking just two penalties all of last season. He rarely misses an assignment in protection and intelligently passes work to a teammate when a late rusher arrives. He effectively executed the many pulls in Gus Malzahn's complicated run game. He can make blocks in the open field and in the second level, a hard thing for many linemen to do. This all makes Marshall an extremely competent player.

For all the things he does right, there are admittedly few moments Marshall does them exceptionally. He holds his own more than he dominates. Though he was far from UCF's biggest problem against Florida last October, Marshall's performance that day suggested he might not be a match for the biggest lines on the schedule. He does a job wherever he is needed but does not elevate the unit as a whole. That still makes Marshall a valuable addition to this offensive line.

Another third-year player in his last season, Dylan Ray has plenty of experience as well. Unlike Marshall, though, Ray will be at a less familiar position, taking reps as the first-team right tackle entering camp. At Kentucky, he was primarily a left guard, where he started a dozen games over two years and, per Pro Football Focus, has taken roughly 85 percent of his career snaps.

Watching the four SEC games Ray played the most in last season — South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee — I get the impression Ray's move outside has less to do with his abilities as a pass protector than with accommodating the positional preferences of other members of the line. He also may lacks the power to stay inside. Ray held his blocks but seldom moved the line of scrimmage forward. While you can often live with stalemates up front, particularly against fronts like Georgia's, eventually the line needs to open a crease. Ray did not do much of that at guard.

He moves well enough that maybe matching up against edge rushers will be a better match in the run game. I am not sold on Ray's work as a pass blocker, though. As a whole, his work at Kentucky was just good enough to get by in a power conference but below the standard of a full-time starter. That is a difficult gap to close, especially when changing positions.

This group has a few members moving spots. Ashton Beers combined for nine starts between left and right guard, and now he moves over to center. Greg Johnson, after a year in the middle, goes back to left guard. These changes come after a very mixed season for the pair.

We'll start in pass protection. A regular problem for them was speed from opposing rushers. While Beers could hold up against a bull rush, his sets were a bit tall, and a tackle with decent moves could catch him leaning or put him on his heels.

At times, Johnson struggled to pick up loopers and delayed blitzes. In spots where he needed to hand off a rusher and pick up a new one, he was late or just never saw the threat.

As run blockers, the two come out to just average. Neither was a consistent difference-maker, getting some movement but not enough to spring big plays, and sometimes letting opposing linemen work their chest plates to prevent a gap from opening. Johnson is likely the better lead blocker, based on their work on screens. Beers can work his way up to the linebackers but will not always get his hands on them, and pulling on a counter play is hit or miss.

There is not much separating the two. If you want Beers' best game, watch him against Illinois. (Honorable mention goes to his admirable showing at the Big House.) Johnson was solid in Champaign, too, but even better in the win over Wisconsin. As they swap positions and enter their junior seasons, both Beers and Johnson will be trying to take the step up from mere adequacy and become impact players on the offensive line.

Though Johnson arrived to the U of M a well-regarded prospect, he did not carry the hype of Nathan Roy. Roy redshirted in 2024, getting a few mop-up snaps against Maryland and featuring in the second half of the bowl game. He showed in the latter that his kick slide was not quite to college standards yet, allowing a sack before getting pulled. Otherwise, Roy was not asked to do much and did not stand out.

Now, Roy has actual expectations. He doesn't have to be the monster he was at Mukwonago High School (Wisconsin) — some growing pains are in fact expected — but the edge rushers of the Big Ten will be a major challenge for Minnesota's new left tackle.

Key Backups

Redshirt sophomore Kahlee Tafai started four games down the stretch for Washington, all at left tackle, before transferring to Minnesota in December. While in the lineup, he showed some athleticism, good feet, and strength but never quite put it together down-to-down. In the Penn State game in particular, everything just seemed too fast for him.

Facing Abdul Carter in your second career start does not seem fun.

The good(-ish) news is that Tafai, while he was still not good against UCLA and Oregon, looked somewhat more settled. In time, he should turn his tools into more consistent play and start in 2026.

Aluma Nkele is still the biggest man on the team at 380 pounds, and Gophers still likely does not want to play him unless injuries require it or they need some extra beef in short-yardage. Nkele's size is an asset and a hindrance; it is hard for opponents to move him off the ball and hard for him to quickly move himself off the line.

Tony Nelson, from Tracy, has moved slowly up the depth chart and finally saw his first action last year, entering as an occasional spare lineman. If Johnson or Marshall goes down, Nelson will take over at one of the guard spots. Right now, he is on the right side but started on the left against Virginia Tech. He was benched for stretches of the second half in Charlotte — possibly as part of a planned rotation — but had his moments as a run blocker.

Potential Rotation Options

Jerome Williams joined the program as a well-regarded recruit two years ago but has not appeared in a game. In open practices and pregame warmups, he has appeared at left tackle, left guard, and center. Now a redshirt sophomore, he is unlikely to play meaningful snaps unless the Gophers use him in seven- or eight-man lines. If Williams makes a strong impression in practice, he could break into next year's starting five.

Notables Unlikely to Contribute

I still like redshirt freshman Brett Carroll long-term, but he is at best Plan C at center this season. With how many players on the roster have center flexibility, he could be lower. Expect him to be in the mix a couple years down the line.

Columbia Heights product Spencer Alvarez has never taken a snap for the Gophers in three seasons. He is nominally cover at tackle, but he will probably play as much as the younger linemen on the roster, such as guard Reese Tripp and tackle Jaden Ball (a Purdue transfer).

If past rosters listed online are to be believed, the 6-foot-7 Mark Handy is the first Gopher football player in at least 35 years to come from New Mexico. (If any program historian reading this can verify whether he is the first ever, I would love to know.) 247Sports projected Handy as an interior lineman, and during warmups at August's open practice, he was in the fifth center-quarterback pairing. Wherever he ends up, a guy as big and mobile as him can be an asset in the run game. Handy pushed around New Mexico high schoolers with ease, both as a football player and as a state champion wrestler, and will need to show he can stand up against Big Ten athletes before seeing the field.

On the subject of big men who can move: More than likely any other player on the roster, Daniel Shipp is a mystery. He missed his sophomore and junior seasons due to injuries, and video of him as a senior is scarce. The team put out a short highlight reel when he signed, but his Hudl page has exactly one play on it, and his lone full game on YouTube is useless due to lopsidedness and unintelligible camera direction. We can only tell that Shipp is long and athletic. It will be a while until we know what more he can be.

Video on Kaveon Lee is much more plentiful, and I liked what I saw. Another lean tackle, Lee has strong footwork maintaining the pocket, walling off defenders on the edge, and climbing off of double teams. He is not as much of a bully but shows some willingness to finish his blocks. While he has excellent lateral quickness, Lee does lean a little in pass protection and won't as easily catch up to college rushers who get a jump on him, especially after adding weight.

Nick Spence, by comparison, is a bully. He has a sudden first step and used it to routinely bury his opponents. His power and viciousness will be assets at guard.