There are few better sights in college football than a big, explosive rushing play up the middle or a long pass completion after the quarterback has had a chance to drop back into a perfectly clean pocket and wait for his receiver to get open down the field. Both of those have one thing in common: They start with the big men blocking up front.
Using a combination of Pro Football Focus grades and PFF’s wins above average (WAA) metric, we present the top 10 offensive linemen returning to college football in 2020, as well as a sleeper to watch out for.
1. T Penei Sewell, Oregon Ducks
Not only is Sewell the best offensive lineman returning to the college ranks in 2020, but he is also one of the best players returning to college football overall, regardless of position.
Since 2014, which is when PFF started grading college games, there have been 4,739 instances of an offensive lineman playing at least 250 snaps over a single season, and Sewell’s 2019 season earned the highest WAA figure, edging out Ryan Ramczyk’s 2016 season with Wisconsin and Quenton Nelson’s 2017 season with Notre Dame.