Previewing Oregon's Wide Receivers in Spring Football
Oregon may have a historic collection of wide receivers for the 2024 season.
Transcript
00:00 Let's move on to a position with.
00:03 I wouldn't even necessarily say question marks,
00:05 but just a lot of intrigue and
00:07 maybe even a little bit of mystery.
00:09 Let's talk about the wide
00:10 receivers under Junior Adams.
00:12 The Ducks obviously lose Troy Franklin,
00:13 a historic record setting receiver
00:15 to the NFL Draft,
00:16 and now they have to look for
00:18 some new guys to step up and they
00:20 obviously went into the portal to get
00:22 a big name in Texas A&M standout Evan
00:25 Stewart and then you have some guys
00:27 coming back Texas A&M standout.
00:28 Guys coming back.
00:30 Tez Johnson, Trayshon Holden,
00:31 Gary Bryant Junior, Jurion Dickey,
00:33 Kyler Casper, Justice Lowe,
00:35 the Portland area guy.
00:36 So there's there's plenty
00:38 of talent in this room.
00:40 I think the question maybe becomes
00:42 who who is that new number one guy
00:45 in Troy Franklin's departure in his
00:47 absence and then who from these
00:50 younger guys that we haven't really
00:52 heard from a whole lot can kind of step up.
00:56 It it certainly helps if you're
00:58 losing a Troy Franklin to return a
01:00 guy who had more catches than Troy
01:02 Franklin last year. You know, I know.
01:04 I know Tez Johnson wasn't quite like
01:06 the yardage compiler and touchdown
01:08 machine that maybe Franklin was
01:10 throughout his career, but what did
01:11 Tez have like 84 catches last season?
01:14 86. Yeah, right now something
01:18 something ridiculous.
01:21 86 for 1182.
01:24 Yeah, so it's it's if you look at
01:26 the actual returning production like
01:28 you know from him from Tracy Holden,
01:30 from Gary Bryant Junior,
01:31 like the amount of like catches
01:33 and proven and kind of like the
01:35 proven commodity of this receivers
01:37 room is still actually pretty darn
01:38 good when you take into account
01:40 like the full load.
01:42 It will be interesting to see like
01:44 what sort of chemistry Tez does
01:46 have with Dylan. You know,
01:47 obviously it was one year at Oregon for
01:49 for Tez, but it was with a quarterback.
01:51 He was fairly familiar with with Bonix.
01:53 I don't know if you you've heard,
01:55 but they knew each other a little
01:57 bit before before college before
01:59 they got to Oregon they.
02:00 They were brothers.
02:01 No way. Yeah, I don't.
02:03 Sorry I don't want to stop recording.
02:05 I gotta I gotta write this right now.
02:07 So yeah, I I think I think
02:10 Tez is going to do just fine.
02:12 Man, Trayshon Holden showed some
02:13 like flashes last year that made me
02:15 think that he could really take over.
02:17 I mean, even if you just look at like
02:19 that last ditch play in the Pac-12
02:21 championship game when the guy was
02:23 like holding his jersey and it's just
02:25 like a piece so I think he Evan Stewart.
02:27 Tez Johnson are going to be kind
02:29 of commanding like the bulk of it,
02:31 but like Gary Bryan Junior
02:32 wasn't bad last year either.
02:33 Like to have that as like a kind of like a.
02:36 You know, 3rd 4th option.
02:38 Jurian Dickey.
02:38 They keep just bringing in so many other
02:40 like organs wide receivers for the
02:42 longest time when I was on the beat.
02:45 It was always kind of like which like
02:47 three star gem might like shine out
02:49 and like kind of like become like the dude.
02:51 You know Dylan Mitchell like out of nowhere.
02:54 You know, I mean Dylan Mitchell was a four star,
02:56 but like that was like the best receiver.
02:59 Justin Herbert ever through two and I
03:00 don't think Dylan Mitchell would probably
03:02 be a top three option on this team.
03:04 You know it's it's just fascinating
03:06 how that that depth and how the skill
03:08 players have really evolved for Oregon.
03:09 Because for the longest time it was
03:11 kind of like fit and system and how
03:13 guys fit within that scheme and now
03:15 it's just like they're going out and
03:17 getting like 5 star dudes who can
03:18 hold down 8080 passes a year.
03:20 Yeah, and that's part of what I wrote
03:22 in my preview of this position.
03:24 You've been on the beat longer than I have,
03:26 Tyson,
03:27 but I feel like there's been a pretty
03:29 apparent transformation in the caliber
03:31 of talent that they've been able to
03:33 attract and ultimately land sign and
03:34 roll whatever you want to say.
03:36 And I think that kind of started
03:38 with with Brian McClendon,
03:40 even though Oregon wasn't necessarily.
03:41 I shouldn't say that they were by no means.
03:44 A power like a passing heavy,
03:46 you know,
03:47 proficient offense when he was there
03:49 because we know how much Mario Cristobal
03:52 like to run the ball,
03:53 but Brian McClendon signed Troy Franklin,
03:55 Dante Thornton and Isaiah Brevard.
03:57 Those were three All-Americans
03:58 when they came out of high school
04:00 and then you look at what they did
04:03 to close out the 24 class after
04:05 bringing injury on Dickey as a 5 star.
04:07 In 23 you flip a pair of All-Americans
04:09 from USC, a SoCal guy and at that.
04:12 In Ryan Pelham and then Jeremy
04:14 McClellan from Ohio State,
04:15 like that in itself,
04:16 flipping a wide receiver from Ohio State
04:19 is nothing to scoff at with the
04:21 success that they've had under
04:22 Brian Hartline and then you're saying,
04:24 you know,
04:24 maybe we want a little bit more.
04:26 Let's just go get Evan Stewart,
04:27 another former 5 star guy out of the portal.
04:30 So the ceiling and I think you could
04:33 probably say the floor for this group
04:35 are really high,
04:36 but for me I really want to see
04:38 what jury on Dickey can do just
04:39 because the Bay Area guy you know
04:41 I got to go home and cover his
04:42 commitment in person when he became a duck.
04:45 And I also want to see if if I think
04:48 it's kind of a make or break it.
04:49 Year for Kyler Casper,
04:50 the all this white out in the room
04:52 and a guy who just looked like a
04:54 physical freak coming out of high school.