New structure, experience provide potential boons for Oregon State defensive line

CORVALLIS — It can only go up from here.

Last season, the Oregon State defensive line ranked 133rd — dead last in FBS — in sacks with just seven all year. The Beavers were 130th in tackles for loss (45) and 107th in rushing defense.

Injuries hammered OSU, particularly on the interior, forcing inexperienced players to shoulder heavy snap counts. But working their way back to health, restructuring the coaching staff and adding experience has the defensive line group optimistic this spring about a potential big leap ahead.

“By the time we get to fall camp, we’ll be a full go,” defensive line coach Ilaisa Tuiaki said. “With the injured guys, there are still a couple of guys we’re missing because of injuries last year. The improvement this year has been good. We played a lot of young kids last year. D-tackles took some lumps that way. But it will pay dividends for us this year.”

Among those who aren’t participating this spring, but could return to action this season are senior Nick Norris and redshirt sophomore Kelze Howard. Both missed the entire 2024 season with knee injuries.

Head coach Trent Bray has taken over play-calling duties for the Beavers defense, and Tuiaki will split his work with Kharyee Marshall — with Tuiaki leading the interior defensive linemen, and Marshall the edge rushers.

These structural changes allow for a more individualized approach in coaching up a group that, while a year older, still has young contributors. Meetings for defensive tackles and edges are separate, and for the most part they practice as separate position groups.

“This is the first time I’ve experienced that in my career being on the defensive side of the ball, and I think it’s huge,” Tuiaki said. “It’s allowed me to be a bit more detailed in the nuanced play of the D-tackles. You have some teams that will put corners and safeties in the same room, but they always have an assistant helping them out.

“There’s benefits to doing it this way and benefits to having the D-linemen all in one room, but the system we play and all the different things the edges do, they are totally different positions.”

OSU added veteran Tah-Jae Mullix along the interior defensive line via transfer from Western Carolina. While he too has been banged up in the spring, Mullix is expected to return to full participation next week.

Coming back are players like defensive tackle Tevita Pome’e and star edge rusher Nikko Taylor; he gained an extra year of eligibility thanks to the waiver for former junior college players brought on by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia.

Pome’e, a former Oregon transfer, said the year of experience — while a trial by fire — was valuable for himself and the other young defensive linemen thrust into key roles. Primarily off the field, he said, even as the results on the field came up short.

“I feel like for me, personally, it’s the connection,” Pome’e said. “Now we have that connection with every single one. We get to know each other. Before, I didn’t really know them because I just got in. But I feel like now we have that connection, that bonding that I was looking for. Now we just get going, and everything clicks.”

Taylor will have a central role in remedying OSU’s dead-last pass rush — having amassed a team-high 2.5 sacks last season to go along with 46 total tackles and eight quarterback hurries.

“I felt like I had a great year, but there’s a lot of things I needed to improve on,” Taylor said. “One of the things was being a better pass-rusher. Coming back and being able to rush the passer more efficiently would really help.”

— Ryan Clarke covers college sports for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at RClarke@Oregonian.com or on Twitter/X: @RyanTClarke. Find him on Bluesky: @ryantclarke.bsky.social.