Northwestern 2021 Season Preview: Offensive Line

Fourth in a series of Northwestern position-by-position breakdowns going into the 2021 season.

Offense: Quarterbacks | Running Backs l Receivers

Northwestern entered the 2020 season with one of the more experienced offensive lines in the Big Ten. With four starters coming back, they were ready to lead the Purple back into the prime.

Then, COVID hit, and after it was decided that the teams would play a season, the Wildcats’ best offensive lineman, Rashawn Slater, chose not to, focusing on his health and prepping for a pro career. It paid off for No. 70, working himself to the 13th overall pick and the Los Angeles Chargers in April’s NFL Draft. That made him the third-highest ranked Northwestern player taken since the NFL merger in 1967.

And, like they say, when one door closes, another one opens. And this was like a bay window, as freshman Peter Skoronski stepped in, manned the incredibly important left tackle, or backside protector, position, and earned himself All-Big Ten and freshman All-American honors.

Though Pro Football Focus (PFF) had Northwestern's O-Line ranked 78th overall at the end of 2020, this collaborative crew worked together to help run through the West unbeaten and bring the Wildcats their second division title in three years. Surely there’s room to grow, but they return, arguably, their top two linemen in Skoronski and two-year starter, Sam Gerak. And these two play the two most important positions on the line, left tackle and center, respectively, so we see this as a great starting point, looking ahead to 2021.

The #TrenchCats were remarkable at protecting the quarterback in passing situations last season. When throwing the ball on obvious passing downs -- second- or third-and-long -- the Purple Wall was ninth nationally, allowing just a 2.9% sack rate. Overall, they yielded a 4.5% sack rate (29th in the NCAA), allowing just 1.4 per game (24th). NU averaged 31 passes an outing, so these numbers proved to be pretty impressive.

Ironically, Northwestern fared worse when throwing on standard downs, or common run downs (first down and/or second- or third-and-short), allowing sacks more frequently and rankinng 78th nationally.

They also created nearly three yards of separation from the line of scrimmage on typical passing downs. What this means is that the O-Line did a good job of moving the defensive front out of the way on run plays, when they had a slight psychological and schematic advantage. If this doesn’t happen when the defense is expecting a pass, what chance does a team have on downs when the run is clearly the better option?

In all, the front wall helped improve the passing game by limiting the sacks and giving quarterback Peyton Ramsey, on average, more time to actually go through his progressions and find a suitable option, which he did, 61 percent of the time.

While the O-Line passing down stats were much improved, the rush offense numbers weren’t great. But let’s remember that the Wildcats didn’t really find a steady running back until the seventh game, their regular season finale against Illinois. They averaged 2.22 yards of separation from the line of scrimmage, what Football Outsiders (FO) calls “line yards.” This number was 120th (out of 127) in the country; like we said, not great. This put a lot of the onus on the backs to break tackles or burst past them, and their lack of explosion at that position made this quite difficult. The opportunity rate for their backs runs, when the O-Line did it’s job and went for over four yards, was just 40.8%, good for 118th nationally.

On standard downs, when Northwestern was expected to run, they averaged even less: 2.16 line yards of separation (119th nationally). They were stuffed, at or behind the line of scrimmage, once every five run plays (22%), and the rate at which they gained a first down on third- or fourth-down and less than three (what FO dubs the Power Success Rate) was just 63%, ranking 96th in the country.

Again, we remind you that a lack of productivity from the RBs was much to blame for this, so try not to read too much into these numbers.

The line should be aided by a couple of capable backs (possibly more) to carry out their responsibilities, so NU's rush numbers should -- and need to be -- better. Why? Because that will ultimately make the passing game more effective.

If we see such improvement in the run game, it will be on the shoulders of this group up front, and it will confirm their efficacy. We expect the left side of the line to be stout, but their biggest weakness was on that right side interior last season. If they can plug up that leak, quarterback Ryan Hilinski should get the needed time to sift through his progressions, which will be important, as the Wildcat receivers have proven to be a bit slower in creating separation.

There appears to be a lot of competitive depth, as head coach Pat Fitzgerald and third-year OL Coach Kurt Anderson have recruited this position well and show loyalty only to the concept of “next-man-up”/“best-man-up.”

Collectively, this appears to be a position of strength on this offense, as the Cats likely have (at least) two more future NFL draft picks on the line this year.

The strength of this starting five on the O-Line, literally, goes from left to right. You begin with one of those two future NFL prospects, sophomore LT Peter Skoronski (6-foot-4, 294 pounds), who is now 19 pounds bigger than when he reported last summer. He earned Freshman All-American honors last year, and enters 2021 rated as the seventh-best returning OL by PFF- in the country!

Skoronski is strong and athletic, with good feet. He’s also heady and just has a delightfully dominating presence on the field. His prospects are even higher than Slater’s, so if Fitzgerald and Anderson could develop Slater into a 13th overall pick, imagine the ceiling on Skoronski.

Working beside him at LG is sophomore classmate Josh Priebe (6-foot-5, 280 pounds). Priebe is the other likely NFL guy the Cats will have on this group of graders. Though Priebe did not play much on the line last season, he was brought in when they went to their “Heavy” package. This tells us that the coaching staff sees him as an authoritative blocking presence, and we saw it at times, especially in the second half of the Maryland game. Priebe could turn himself into an All-Big Ten player by season’s end, but at the very least, looks to be a fixture on this line for the next few years.

Senior C Sam Gerak (6-foot-4, 295 pounds) is the mentor of this group, having started a year at guard as a sophomore in 2019, and last year as the center for the West division champs. At times, Gerak got into some sticky situations, getting beat in pass protection or inside zone runs. But let’s remember, he was transitioning back to the position he played in high school, so with a full -- well, almost full -- year working in the middle and calling out blocking schemes and making line adjustments from his more natural position, Gerak gives them a solid presence anchoring that line.

The right side appears a bit fluid right now. It could be a couple different combinations. The most likely scenario is junior Charlie Schmidt (6-foot-4, 297 pounds) at RG, with last year’s starter, redshirt senior Ethan Wiederkehr (6-foot-5, 295 pounds) moving back out to RT, where he played at the start of his Northwestern career.

Schmidt has made the most of his appearances and is one of the physically strongest players in this group. He, too, has been part of the Northwestern “Heavy” package, adding more size and muscle to the brigade of blockers. If all things are equal, and there’s a sense of building for the future while still trying to win in the present, it would make sense to have Schmidt’s services at RG.

Part of this is because Wiederkehr was, at times, a liability on the interior right side. That’s where most of the penetration came, and Wiederkehr sometimes seemed a bit out of his element. He started three games at RT as a sophomore in 2019, in games where the Wildcats had some of their best rushing outputs in that dreadful campaign.

If Wiederkehr stays at RG, Coach Anderson and the Trench Cats will likely call on redshirt sophomore Zachary Franks (6-foot-6, 305 pounds) to play on the outside. Franks appeared in eight games last year, though not a lot of relevant time was logged on offense. He’s a big body with some range, and his footwork is improving.

Sophomore OG Ben Wrather (6-foot-6, 310 pounds) worked his way up the depth chart last year and made eight appearances. He’s gained 25 pounds since last summer and is another one of those Ohio-tough Wildcats. He has good movement and footwork and may also have something to say about a spot on that right side.

Redshirt sophomore OG Dom D’Antonio (6-foot-4, 290 pounds) turned a lot of heads in camp last year. He was looked at as someone who had some serious opportunity to start at guard and appeared in eight games in 2020. Very technically sound, and stronger than he looks, he gives the Wildcats a viable replacement, should he be needed.

After that, the experience drops. Redshirt sophomore RG Conrad Rowley (6-foot-4, 308 pounds), appeared in two games in 2019, but none in 2020. Redshirt junior LT Payne He’bert (6-foot-4, 312 pounds) has battled through injuries throughout his career. He has been mentioned with opportunity before, but has only seen action in one game thus far, and that was back in 2019.

Redshirt sophomore Connor Foster (6-foot-7, 315 pounds) is a converted high school tight end and has a long wingspan that can help on the outside at tackle someday. Redshirt sophomore walkon G Luka Trifunovic (6-foot-4, 293 pounds) moved over from defensive tackle. Redshirt first-year OG Maxwell Skidmore (6-foot-7, 270 pounds) did not see any time last year and is still learning his role.

Northwestern has started a first-year at tackle in two of the last three seasons, so it’s not out of the question to think that one of the newbies could play a role. The most likely candidate to play early would be four-star OL Caleb Tiernan (6-foot-7, 280 pounds), from Detroit (Mich.) Country Day, which has become somewhat of a pipeline for the Wildcats. Tiernan plays with good leverage and is a mass-mover on the offensive line.

Another Michigander joining the bunch of big boys is OT Josh Thompson (6-foot-5, 310 pounds) from Fenton. Thompson, a three-star, is already one of the bigger-sized lineman on the roster and his film shows he’s a proven pass-blocker on the outside, with an equal willingness to maul potential tacklers in the run game, too.

OT Jackson Carsello (6-foot-4, 270 pounds) is another three-star from Glenbrook (Ill.) North, who had offers from some MAC schools but stayed close to home to play for Chicago’s Big Ten Team. He’s put on over 90 pounds of mass and muscle since his sophomore year, and his film shows that he sticks on blocks and continues to drive beyond the point of contact.

Braeden Edwards (6-foot-6, 280 pounds) played OT at West Des Moines (Iowa) Valley, though his greater accomplishment may be in archery, where he was a national qualifier. If he can pierce bullseyes on the chests of defensive linemen with his hands, like he can with his bolts, the Cats will have a good one.

Tim Chapman is a teacher and former Michigan high school football coach who authored the book "ChampioN Underdog" about the 1995 Northwestern Rose Bowl team (available on Amazon). Follow him via Twitter: @Champion_Lit. Email him at nufbhistorian@gmail.com.