Memphis football enters its fourth game of the season on Saturday against UT-Martin, but it’s a good time to take a look at how to offensive line has played through the first three games of the year.
The Tigers completely revamped the offensive line, and they have started five new players during the first three games. Parker Mitchell is the only offensive lineman that was on the roster last year, but he hasn’t started any game this season.
He has appeared in every game, and he has played 100 snaps at left guard this season, according to Pro Football Focus.
In the week 2 game against Boise State, Huff started Mississippi State transfer Riley McGehee, Richmond transfer Philip Gray, Colorado State transfer Aaron Karas and Old Dominion transfers Skylar Grant and Maarten Woudsma. The offensive line gave up two sacks, seven hurries and 14 pressures, and they recorded two penalties.
Gray had the best pass-blocking grade in the game by Pro Football Focus at 77.3, while McGehee had the best run-blocking grade by an offensive lineman at only 58.2. The Tigers couldn’t get run run going on Saturday, and they ran for only 55 total rushing yards outside of Jaylin Carter’s 80-yard touchdown run.
Through the first two weeks of the season, Memphis ranks No. 117 in team run-blocking grade and No. 100 in pass-blocking grade. Those grades would put them at No. 10 in the conference in pass-blocking and No. 12 in run-blocking.
Xavier Allen, who has lagged 95 snaps at left tackle, leads the offensive line in penalties and pressures allowed, while Karas leads the group with three hurries allowed.
The offensive line will need to be better in front of quarterback Marcus Stokes and the running backs. Saturday was the first game where they were clearly overpowered, and it will be interesting to see how they respond in the next couple of weeks.
With so many new pieces on the offensive line, it takes time for the group to build continuity, and the next few games should give the group an opportunity to build as a group before the schedule gets tougher later in the season.
Charles Huff’s group should dominate over UT Martin and Charlotte, and it will be interesting to see what the group shows in conference play, especially against the more physical defensive lines like Army and Navy.
Memphis has nice pieces at every position on the line, and the rest of the offenses success will come down to the success of the offensive line.
