Category: 2021 Ducks Football

Is a 2,000 yard rushing season within the realm of possibility for CJ Verdell?

Oregon’s lead back has lofty goals for what is likely to be his final year with the Ducks, aiming for a historic 2,000-yard season.

If you want to set the bar high for a running back at any level of football to have a historic season, you throw out the number 2,000.

2,000 yards rushing in a year is the high-water mark, set by a handful of players over the decades. Tennessee Titans RB Derrick Henry did it just last season, and Adrian Peterson accomplished the feat back in 2012.

While there have been only eight players to cross that barrier in the NFL, the feat is a bit more achievable at the college ranks, with 26 players doing it, five of whom came in the past 10 years, most recently Christian McCaffrey in 2015.

So is there a chance that we could see this stat reached by a certain player in Eugene this season? Well, if you ask junior RB CJ Verdell, it is definitely the goal.

“A goal I set for myself is definitely 2,000 rushing yards. I feel like I can get it. My coaches feel like I can get it. It’s up to me,” Verdell said, via Duck Territory’s Erik Skopil.

Verdell is currently 9th on Oregon’s all-time rushing list, with two seasons where he’s totaled more than 1,000 yards. He would need to break a school record to accomplish the feat, which is currently held by Royce Freeman, who ran for 1,836 yards in 2015.

Not only may Oregon have one of the best running back tandems in the nation this year, but they could be home to another history maker if all breaks the right way. For Verdell, who is likely to be playing his last season with the Ducks, there is maybe no better way to go out.

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Travis Dye says he and CJ Verdell are ‘best 1-2 punch’ in the Pac-12, if not the nation

The experience and explosiveness brought by Verdell and Dye have a chance to put Oregon’s running game among the best in the NCAA.

The last couple of decades of Ducks football has been buoyed by the presence and performances from Oregon running backs. You have Maurice Morris, Onterrio Smith, Jonathan Stewart, Jeremiah Johnson, LaMichael James, and Kenjon Barner, Want to keep going? Throw in De’Anthony Thomas, Royce Freeman, Byron Marshall, LeGarrette Blount, and Thomas Tyner.

No matter what year we are focusing on, Oregon has had at least one proficient or dominant runner in the backfield, and the 2021-22 season looks to be no different with the return of C.J. Verdell and Travis Dye.

With years of experience and lofty goals, the duo plans to be among the best tandem in the NCAA this season.

“I believe that we are the best 1-2 punch in the Pac-12, if not the nation,” Dye said, via Duck Territory’s Erik Skopil. “Of course we’re going to say that, but we’re going to show that this year for sure.”

So far, both backs have proven that they can be dangerous with the ball. Verdell currently ranks 9th on Oregon’s all-time rushing list, with 2,523 total yards, and 23 total touchdowns. His time with the Ducks has been cut short by injury as well, missing the final two games of the 2020 season with a broken wrist.

Dye is lower on the all-time list, sitting at No. 21 with 1,840 total yards and 11 touchdowns. However, Oregon has been formidable and reliable in the running game since those two have taken over, and that trend could very well continue this season. There are other young players like Sean Dollars or Trey Benson that might get some run early in the season, but when crunch time comes around, you can expect to see No. 7 or No. 26 line up in the backfield.

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Penei Sewell says he’s the best tackle prospect in the 2021 NFL Draft

Though he’s dropped in some mock drafts, Penei Sewell claims that nobody can do what he does as an LT in this year’s draft class.

If you want to look at the bulk of players who chose to sit out their final year of college because of the COVID-19 virus and see how it affected their NFL draft stock, Oregon left tackle Penei Sewell might be a perfect example of how a player can drop.

Almost unanimously regarded as the best left tackle in all of college football after the 2019 season, Sewell was atop many people’s mock drafts a little less than a year ago, with only players like quarterback Trevor Lawrence or linebacker Micah Parsons going ahead of him.

You look at those mock drafts now, and things have changed quite a bit. For the most part, draft analysts are pegging Sewell to be taken somewhere in the first 5-12 picks, with many guessing that he will fall to a team like the Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, or Detroit Lions. Some mocks even have other left tackles being taken over Sewell, with guys like Northwestern’s Rashawn Slater, or Virginia Tech’s Christian Darrisaw coming off the board first.

None of this should be a major concern for Sewell, though, or the team who eventually drafts him. He knows that he is the top LT prospect in this draft class, and he plans to prove it.

I mean… he’s got a point. Sewell hasn’t played in a game since 2019, and it’s not like he’s gotten worse since then. The last time he stepped on the field, the 6-foot-6, 325 pound lineman was considered among the best overall players in the NCAA, and he’s spent the last 12 months focusing on his craft and avoiding injury. He has good size and the elite foot quickness to make some of the most challenging blocks in the game.

There’s a chance that he falls past the Bengals at No. 5, though they could really use him to help protect QB Joe Burrow. If he does, it is no matter, though. We all know the talent that he will bring to the NFL, and whichever team gets him will be counting their lucky stars.

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