EUGENE, Ore. -- After all the very important lessons that the injured Tyler Johnstone gave Tyrell Crosby last season after the freshman was thrown into the fire because of an abundance of offensive-line injuries, there was one additional -- and just as necessary -- topic that needed to be covered.

Trash-talking.

Crosby dabbled in it during high school football, but it was never anything too serious.

Johnstone had a rebuttal: Though the footwork and technique of an offensive lineman is intricate work, so too is the verbal work. Because what one offensive lineman might say to a defensive lineman could eventually make an impact on that defensive lineman’s game.

“The job of an offensive lineman is to keep guys off the quarterback, running back, specialty positions,” Johnstone said. “So if you can talk enough trash to the point when [defensive linemen] don’t want to go after the quarterback because all they want to do is hit you, you’re doing your job pretty well.”

Johnstone says there’s only one golden rule to offensive line trash talk: You never talk first.

Oregon's Tyrell Crosby (73) learned how to demoralize an opponent mentally as Marcus Mariota and company blew by them. Scott Olmos/USA TODAY Sports

Past that, it’s mostly open to interpretation. He gave Crosby three main points during the trash-talk section of his left tackle seminar:

Talk trash while the defensive lineman is tired. Always remain calm. Consider laughing at anything they might say -- this tends to make defensive linemen very angry, which, as Johnstone said, is the whole point. Don’t worry about what you’re saying, just make sure you always have a reply. “It doesn’t have to make sense,” Johnstone said. “It doesn’t really have to be relevant at all, but if it’s annoying, that means you’re getting in their head.”

And it doesn’t always happen at the line of scrimmage, either. Johnstone said one of the more satisfying times to talk trash is when the Oregon offense is getting a huge gain and the offensive linemen are chasing their skill position players up the field. If the Ducks are destined for the end zone, sometimes the linebackers or defensive backs might just start jogging.

This, Johnstone explained, is the time to strike.

“You’re sprinting by,” Johnstone said. “You can tell that they’re just sucking wind and you’re like, ‘C’mon bro, I’m 300 pounds and I’m in better shape than you. It’s the fourth quarter and I’ve been in more plays than you so far, so why are you tired? I should be tired. I’m the fat one.”

Crosby said he tried to put Johnstone’s advice into practice -- Johnstone actually said that Crosby might be the best trash talker on the offensive line -- and he took it one step further.

Crosby started talking trash to his teammates when he was beating them up the field.

Crosby remembered that on Oregon's first play of the Utah game last season (a 61-yard Marcus Mariota run) that he passed by Oregon wide receiver Dwayne Stanford on his way down the field.

“That was more fun,” Crosby said. “Just telling him that he needs to get faster than an O-lineman.”

Close, but not quite. However, Johnstone applauds the effort and there’s a good chance wide receivers coach Matt Lubick would, too -- anything to make sure his wide receivers are getting upfield.

Johnstone, who has returned from his second ACL injury, is back now with the offensive line. He’ll act as a veteran leader -- both from a football perspective and a trash-talking perspective. And through a few spring practices, he’s not quite sure about the quality of this line when it comes to the latter.

He’s impressed with Crosby and Cameron Hunt. Past that, he’s waiting for guys to step up. "We’ll have to do some auditions or something," Johnstone quipped.

Johnstone wants this to be the nastiest offensive line group of his Oregon career and for that to be true, guys need to step up.

Or rather, speak up.

“If you’re a 190-pound corner getting passed up on a play by a 300-pound lineman who’s just talking trash to you the entire time, it just makes you want to quit football,” Johnstone said with a smile. “That’s a lot of fun.”