• Oregon’s offensive line looks to maintain high standards despite losing key players to the NFL draft.
• Transfer Alex Harkey aims to exceed the performance of previous Oregon tackles.

The Oregon football offensive line is rarely shy about what they define as their standard.

The group has achieved much: Back-to-back seasons as a Joe Moore Award finalist — given annually to the nation’s best offensive line — two NFL Draft picks and another two starters receiving rookie minicamp invites from April and a Rimington Award winner at center in Jackson Powers-Johnson in 2023.

Alex Harkey, a transfer from Texas State who is projected to start at tackle for the Ducks, saw what tackles Josh Conerly Jr. and Ajani Cornelius did over the last few seasons and set lofty standards for himself for 2025.

“They set the standard,” Harkey said after Oregon’s spring game April 26. “Watching film, it was good ball, but they brought me in to do better than that. The standard keeps rising and that’s what I would like to do.”

A fifth-year senior from Austin, Texas, Harkey started his collegiate career as a tight end at Tyler Junior College in Texas before moving over to the offensive line. He played one season at Colorado in 2022 before transferring closer to home at Texas State, where he really came into his own in 2024.

Harkey has one year of eligibility left and plans to make it count at Oregon, where his connection with offensive line coach A’lique Terry has already grown.

“It’s what he can bring to me as a player,” Harkey said of Terry. “Not even like development, but like the juice he brings, it turns me up. That’s what it needs to do for me mentally to get to where I need to get.”

Though Terry knew what the Ducks were getting in Harkey on tape, he said he was surprised at his nimbleness and size when the 6-foot-6, 335-pound tackle finally arrived on campus.

Harkey is one of several transfers, along with guard Emmanuel Pregnon (USC) and tackle Isaiah World (Nevada), who are being asked to fill in holes left by four departing starters on the offensive line from 2024.

Conerly and Cornelius served as bookends at left and right tackle from 2023 to 2024 and were each drafted for their strong play in Eugene. Guards Marcus Harper II and Nishad Strother weren’t drafted but will compete at NFL rookie minicamps throughout the spring to hopefully make an NFL roster in the fall.

The only returning starter, center Iapani Laloulu, will be joined by Pregnon, World, Harkey and a slew of young talent to replace one of the best offensive lines in college football.

The trio of transfers hopes to bring experience to a room that desperately needs it heading into the 2025-26 season. Though Harkey is working on his development to eventually make a run at the NFL Draft in 2026, right now he’s focused on building rapport with his fellow teammates and enforcing his play style and mentality on opponents.

“You can run behind me, that’s what I want,” Harkey said. “That’s what I want my identity to be at the end of the day. I’ll run through someone’s face.”

Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.