As Only Returning O-Line Starter, Mahogany Embracing Leadership Role
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Publisher
Christian Mahogany didn’t play offensive line until his junior year at Paramus Catholic. There was a steep learning curve, and he had to adapt fast.
So he modeled his game after the best guards in the NFL, guys like Quenton Nelson of the Indianapolis Colts and Zack Martin of the Dallas Cowboys.
Then when he got to Boston College, he looked up to a legion of veteran O-Linemen, four of whom he shared the trenches with for two years.
Now a redshirt junior and NFL prospect himself, Mahogany is the pointman.
“When I came here as a freshman, there was no expectation,” Mahogany said after Saturday’s spring practice. “As I progressed as a starter, I didn’t really have to do much. I didn’t have to say too much. It was like, there’s four guys ahead of me. There’s four older guys.
“So, now, growing into that role, I gotta be more vocal. … The leader of the O-Line is a very special thing here at BC.”
It’s a role that Mahogany has earned.
Third-year BC head coach Jeff Hafley discussed how sometimes when a player is surrounded by great leaders, just as Mahogany was during his first three years on the Heights, you don’t always have a good sense for that player’s command of a position group.
“You find out a lot about a guy when the leaders leave,” Hafley said. “If he steps up or not. And Christian has done that.”
Mahogany registered the second-best Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade (83.7) and fourth-best PFF run blocking grade (82.4) on the team at right guard last season. He allowed just seven pressures and one sack.
It was a step up from his 2020 campaign, during which he gave up three sacks and 14 pressures, per PFF. That season, Mahogany played left guard. He beat out veteran Nate Emer for the lone remaining starting spot on the Eagles’ offensive line.
Mahogany was an All-ACC second teamer in 2021. And PFF was super high on him. In fact, the Elmwood Park, New Jersey, native was named to PFF’s All-America second team, and he graded out as the 23rd-best guard in the country. In an article earlier this winter, PFF analyst Anthony Treash ranked Mahogany as his seventh-best returning interior offensive lineman in 2022.
“Christian’s got the most experience,” Hafley said. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s worked really hard. And he should become one of the best offensive linemen in the ACC, if not the entire country next year. I truly believe that.”
Mahogany is working with his third offensive line coach of his college career: longtime NFL assistant Dave DeGuglielmo.
“He’s a great guy,” Mahogany said. “Old Italian guy. I love it. He’s funny. He brightens up my day. Every time I walk in there, it’s not like, ‘Uh, sludge.’ He just brightens up my day. Makes it funnier.”
Mahogany said he draws from the teachings of each of his offensive line coaches as well as those of former head coach Steve Addazio, who is now the O-Line coach for Texas A&M.
He also learned from Zion Johnson, who is expected to be one of the first, if not the first, interior linemen selected in this year’s NFL Draft.
Mahogany can play either guard position, and he said he’s suited up at different weights. Right now, he’s 335 pounds, 17 more pounds than he was at the start of last season. He explained that he put on strength in the offseason but that 335 won’t be his game weight.
He’ll be shedding some of that extra poundage in spring ball and training camp. In the process, he’ll be working with a new batch of offensive linemen. A group of individuals who have select game experience but haven’t played much together.
A group that’s not set in stone, either.
“There’s four open spots,” Mahogany said. “When’s the last time BC’s had four open spots on the O-Line? I don’t remember. When I came in, there was only one. Now, there’s opportunity. There are no expectations. We all gotta do our best—try to be the best O-Line in America.
“And it starts with me. I’m going to make sure that happens.”
