College Football

USC, Oregon, UCLA, Washington beefing up in anticipation of physical Big Ten play

Updated Aug. 8, 2024 5:34 p.m. ET

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Michael Cohen

College Football and College Basketball Writer

INDIANAPOLIS — The involuntary response from USC quarterback Miller Moss to a question about the ever-increasing size of his offensive line was equal parts laughter and smile, the latter so wide that his eyes narrowed to a squint. Moss, the Trojans' presumed starter, is himself relatively lithe. He's listed on the team's website as being 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, though it certainly looked like one, if not both, of those measurements might be a touch generous when Moss addressed reporters at Big Ten Media Days last month.

How does he feel about the concerted effort from USC's offensive line to add muscle and mass ahead of the 2024 campaign, the school's first as a member of its more ruggedly inclined league? He loves it. 

"It makes me feel safer back there," Moss said. "So I'm excited to see those guys just keep getting bigger."

As Moss' head coach, Lincoln Riley, explained to reporters later that same day, the roster construction efforts at USC are rooted in a multi-pronged approach: to assemble a team capable of competing with, and beating, the kinds of teams the Trojans will face on an annual basis in the Big Ten; and then to harness that potential league success into the legitimate pursuit of national championships "every single year."

For USC and fellow conference newcomers UCLA, Oregon and Washington, all of whom left the Pac-12 for monetarily greener pastures, accomplishing those goals will involve varying levels of adjustment when entering a league known for its girth and gruffness in the trenches, two traits that most often reveal themselves in the form of run-heavy offenses. The defending national champions from Michigan, whose starting tailback, Blake Corum, rushed for 27 touchdowns last fall alone, once ran the ball on 32 consecutive plays to preserve a dominant road win over Penn State. 

And the Wolverines were not alone. Eleven teams from the Big Ten ran the ball at least 400 times last season compared to just seven such teams from the Pac-12. Ten teams from the Big Ten ranked among the top 100 nationally in power success rate, an advanced metric that tracks the percentage of short-yardage running plays resulting in first downs or touchdowns, compared to only three such teams from the Pac-12. And over the last five full seasons of college football — excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign — teams from the Big Ten have averaged 41.4 more rush attempts per season than those from the now-disintegrated Pac-12. 

"Just looking at where we were last year and obviously where we need to be in the Big Ten," said USC offensive lineman Jonah Monheim, who added 15 pounds to his 6-5, 300-plus pound frame this offseason, "as an O-line, there's been a big emphasis made on gaining weight from our strength staff and our nutrition staff. I think we've done a good job as a collective of adding some muscle, adding some pounds behind the scenes."

When expanded to USC's whole roster, the short-term implementation of that strategy has resulted in more than 1,450 pounds gained since the 2023 campaign ended, according to an article published by ESPN last week. Riley told reporters at Lucas Oil Stadium that the team's defensive linemen alone had added more than 300 pounds through the first two months of the offseason program.

While strength and conditioning regimens and dietary science will continue to play integral roles for the Big Ten newcomers in 2024, the era in which coaches had three or four seasons, sometimes five, to physically develop players is all but gone with the advent of the transfer portal. Fewer and fewer underclassmen want to wait their turn when the allure of immediate playing time somewhere else — and the potential payday that might come with it — are dangled during multiple transfer windows each year. For coaches, the result is an even greater emphasis on recruiting high school athletes who will arrive in the Big Ten with enough size and strength to compete much sooner than later. 

"The way that recruiting has turned," Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said, "it's probably made it where projections are something you would maybe do less. And when it comes to a recruiting standpoint, those guys that were projections before might now become portal guys [down the road], as opposed to guys that you think you can develop pretty quick."

Dan Lanning explains how Oregon is preparing to play in the new Big Ten

To understand the pace and scope of these potential body-type changes for the four incoming Big Ten schools, FOX Sports analyzed years of high school recruiting data along the offensive and defensive lines. For Oregon and Washington, whose impending arrival wasn't announced until Aug. 4, 2023, the average heights and weights of prospects from the three most recent recruiting classes (2024 to 2026) were compared to values from the five previous classes (2019 to 2023). For USC and UCLA, whose eventual transition to the Big Ten was first reported on June 30, 2022, prospects from their four most recent recruiting classes (2023 to 2026) were compared to the five classes prior to conference realignment news (2018 to 2022). All measurements and recruiting rankings came from the 247Sports Composite. 

Here are the results for each school through Aug. 5: 

Oregon

Offensive tackle

• Commitments from 2024-present (five): 78.3 inches; 319 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (10): 77.5 inches; 295 pounds

Interior offensive line

• Commitments from 2024-present (two): 76.5 inches; 290 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (eight): 75.6 inches; 306 pounds

Defensive line

• Commitments from 2024-present (six): 76.2 inches; 302 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (17): 75.7 inches; 284 pounds

Edge rushers

• Commitments from 2024-present (three): 76.7 inches; 242 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (10): 76.1 inches; 236 pounds

Noteworthy trends: There appears to be a conscious effort from Oregon to begin recruiting significantly bigger bodies at both offensive tackle and the interior defensive line, changes that have largely corresponded with the school's timeline for acceptance into the Big Ten and the burgeoning tenure of Lanning. 

Four of the five offensive tackles who committed or signed with the Ducks in their last three recruiting classes weighed at least 300 pounds before finishing high school. And only one of those five players measured less than 6 feet 6 inches tall. The average weight for the Ducks' most recent tackle commitments and signees is 26 pounds per player heavier than the previous five classes. This includes the mountainous freshman JacQawn McRoy (6-8, 365 pounds), who was the No. 156 overall prospect and No. 13 tackle in the 2024 recruiting cycle. An Alabama native, McRoy chose Oregon over additional scholarship offers from Miami, LSU, Florida, Clemson, Ole Miss and Colorado, among others. 

That narrative holds true along the interior defensive line as well, where five of Oregon's six most recent commitments and signees weighed at least 285 pounds. The standout specimens were four-star prospect Jericho Johnson (6-2 ½, 366 pounds), who was the No. 161 overall player and the No. 23 defensive lineman in the 2024 cycle, and four-star prospect Tionne Gray (6-6, 295 pounds), who was the No. 420 overall prospect and No. 46 defensive lineman in the same class. The average weight among defensive line signees and commitments has increased nearly 20 pounds per player. 

"For us, it really doesn't change how we recruit, you know," Lanning said, "or what I feel like you have to have to be successful to win. Certainly we might see some of that [power style in the Big Ten], but I think also people discredit, maybe, what we saw at Utah and Oregon State and some of the programs that already play 21- and 12-personnel. 

"I believe in a format that is winning football and what kind of players you need to win football games. And that will definitely matter at the end of the year. So we want to recruit size, we want to recruit speed, and it's not just because of the conference that we're in."

[Read more: Lamborghinis, Uncle Phil and inflatable ducks: Inside Oregon's induction into the Big Ten]

Washington

Offensive tackle

• Commitments from 2024-present (four): 77.8 inches; 293 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (12): 77.8 inches; 295 pounds

Interior offensive line

• Commitments from 2024-present (two): 77 inches; 300 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (five): 74.8 inches; 292 pounds

Defensive line

• Commitments from 2024-present (three): 75.3 inches; 280 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (17): 74.8 inches; 293 pounds

Edge rushers

• Commitments from 2024-present (two): 77 inches; 228 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (six): 75.5 inches; 230 pounds

Noteworthy trends: The amount of coaching turnover at Washington during the period of time analyzed for this study made patterns more challenging to discern for the Huskies. Former head coach Chris Petersen stepped down following the 2019 season. His replacement, Jimmy Lake, lasted less than two full seasons before getting fired amid a cloud of issues both on and off the field. Interim coach Bob Gregory oversaw the final three games in 2021 but wasn't retained when new head coach Kalen DeBoer arrived from Fresno State. DeBoer's brief tenure in Seattle was among the most successful two-year periods in program history, culminating in a trip to the national championship game last January, but Alabama lured him away once Nick Saban retired. Now the job belongs to Jedd Fisch, whom the Huskies pulled from Arizona following a 10-3 campaign with the Wildcats in 2023.

Though the sample size with Fisch at the helm is small, the desire to add larger frames along the offensive and defensive lines is clear. The average height among players in Washington's two most recent recruiting classes — the 2024 class that Fisch rushed to compile amid a late-carousel hire and the 2025 class he and his staff are still building — was taller than the preceding five classes at three of the four positions examined by FOX Sports. On the interior of the offensive line, where the Huskies have two Californians committed for the 2025 cycle, an average height of 77 inches per player represents a significant uptick from the 74.8-inch average for that position from 2019-23. The jewel of the group is four-star prospect Champ Taulealea from California, a 6-4, 325-pound recruit who is rated the No. 325 overall player and No. 19 interior lineman in the country. 

And at edge rusher, where the Huskies have two commits for 2025, an identical average height of 77 inches represents an increase of 1.5 inches per player from the six edge rushers who joined the program over the previous five cycles. That tandem is led by three-star prospect Devin Hyde, a 6-5, 225-pound recruit who is rated the No. 1,050 overall prospect and No. 79 edge rusher in the country. 

"I love big, you know?" Fisch said. "That's a big part of our program. We want to be big. We are going to do everything we can to get big. We recruit big anyway. That's our philosophy. We like to play with two-gappers. We like to play with guys that understand and have great clarity in terms of their gap control. They have the size that can take on big offensive linemen. Our offensive linemen, we like guys that can play in the National Football League. Remember, we're going to always recruit guys that can play in the NFL. The NFL doesn't like small. 

"So it has not changed our philosophy, my recruiting philosophy, whether I was at Arizona, Michigan, UCLA or here. We have four of five starting linemen from [my time at] UCLA [who] are all in the NFL right now. Four out of our five [offensive linemen from my time] at Michigan are in the NFL. And we just had a first-round pick left tackle [at Arizona]. So we're going to be big [at Washington], and that's our mentality."

USC

Offensive tackle

• Commitments from 2023-present (five): 79 inches; 301 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (11): 77.7 inches; 302 pounds

Interior offensive line

• Commitments from 2023-present (eight): 75.8 inches; 300 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (two): 74 inches; 285 pounds

Defensive line

• Commitments from 2023-present (seven): 75.2 inches; 268 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (seven): 74.6 inches; 288 pounds

Edge rushers

• Commitments from 2023-present (four): 76.3 inches; 240 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (four): 76.3 inches; 246 pounds

Noteworthy trends: The most interesting recruiting shift under head coach Lincoln Riley, who enters his third season at USC, is the decision to prioritize interior offensive linemen relative to the final few years of former coach Clay Helton's tenure. From 2018-22, the Trojans only signed two high school prospects who played on the interior, headlined by four-star center Justin Dedich. Instead, Helton and his staff leaned almost exclusively on offensive tackle recruiting and then shifted those players to other positions along the line. They signed 11 offensive tackles during that span, including six in the 2020 cycle alone. One of those players, Monheim, will be USC's starting center this fall.

Riley has built his offensive lines differently, relying more recently on a balanced approach between interior linemen and offensive tackles. The Trojans have signed or earned commitments from eight interior linemen in the last three recruiting classes, from 2023-25, and three of those players were listed at more than 300 pounds before finishing high school. Three-star prospects Alani Noa (6-4, 320 pounds) and Amos Talalele (6-5, 330 pounds), both of whom were members of Riley's 2023 recruiting class, are the biggest of the bunch. All five offensive tackles signed or committed to USC since news of the Big Ten move was made official, exceed the average height of every tackle the Trojans signed in the preceding five classes combined.

Recruiting on the opposite side of the ball is now overseen by new defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn, who held the same position at UCLA last season and cut his teeth as an assistant with five different NFL franchises. He's introducing an aggressive 3-4 system that necessitates much bigger bodies at the point of attack. Four-star prospect Jide Abasiri (6-5, 290 pounds) of Minnesota is a prime example. Abasiri, who was the No. 351 overall prospect and the No. 44 defensive lineman in the 2024 recruiting cycle, decommitted from the Gophers and flipped to USC two weeks after Lynn took the job.  

"The defensive line [bulking up] was probably more in response to the scheme change and the style," Riley said. "But I don't want to say that playing in this league wasn't a factor. The defensive line was more drastic, right? It was more [like] you're trying to turn, you know, 285-pound bodies into guys that are now 310. We're talking about some big jumps. 

"The O-line, yes, we wanted to get bigger. I don't know that there was anybody where we were like, ‘All right, he's just gotta go crazy,' or we were way far away. Some of it is we're gonna play with a few young guys ... that just physically needed that regardless of where we were playing. But no, we are bigger. The numbers would suggest right now that we're probably a bit bigger, probably a bit stronger than we've been up there in the past."

[Read more: USC QB Miller Moss ready to lead Trojans after bucking trend in transfer portal era]

UCLA

Offensive tackle

• Commitments from 2023-present (four): 78.3 inches; 297 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (11): 76.8 inches; 278 pounds

Interior offensive line

• Commitments from 2023-present (two): 77.5 inches; 310 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (four): 75.8 inches; 285 pounds

Defensive line

• Commitments from 2023-present (three): 76 inches; 270 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (eight): 75.3 inches; 293 pounds

Edge rushers

• Commitments from 2023-present (two): 76.5 inches; 225 pounds
• Signees from previous five classes (six): 76.3 inches; 235 pounds

Noteworthy trends: Even though DeShaun Foster wasn't hired as UCLA's head coach until Feb. 12, long after the coaching carousel typically lurches to a halt, his familiarity with the program as an ex-Bruin himself and the running backs coach under Chip Kelly for the preceding seven seasons allowed him to maintain a sense of continuity among the players. None of the prospects in the school's 2024 recruiting class decommitted following Kelly's departure to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State. And only five players on the UCLA roster entered the transfer portal after Foster was elevated to head coach. 

Considering the combined recruiting efforts of Kelly and Foster, it seems clear the Bruins are trying to get significantly bigger along the offensive line. The three offensive tackles who have signed or committed to the Bruins in the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes have an average weight of 297 pounds, some 20 pounds heavier than the 11 offensive tackles added to the program from 2018-22. Four-star prospect Marquise Thorpe-Taylor (6-5, 315 pounds), who was the No. 547 overall player and the No. 42 offensive tackle in the 2024 cycle, has the kind of frame Foster, who was an All-American tailback at UCLA, is coveting. 

The increases in height and weight are similar along the interior of the offensive line, where the last two prospects signed or committed to the Bruins — Tavake Tuikolovatu (6-6, 300 pounds, 2023) and Nehemiah Johnson (6-5, 320 pounds, 320 pounds) — dwarf most of the guards and centers added by UCLA during the early stages of Kelly's tenure. Their average weight of 310 pounds is more than 25 pounds per player heavier than the four interior linemen signed from 2018-21. 

"Most definitely," Foster said when asked if moving to the Big Ten influences the body types he wants to recruit. "Because it's changing, you know? You're playing different ball now. A lot more teams are probably going to be 12-, 13-, maybe even 14-heavy [in terms of personnel groupings that rely on extra linemen and tight ends]. 

"So you've gotta prepare for that. And that's the recruiting aspect that has to change with it."

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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Michael Cohen