One of the biggest mantras that Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning has had since taking over in Eugene is “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.”
Virtually, what it means is that there is no restriction on how old players have to be in order to get meaningful minutes on the field. If a true freshman is good enough to contribute, then he is old enough to play.
So far during this fall camp, it sounds like there have been a lot of young players on Oregon’s roster who have shown that they might be good enough to have an impact this season. On Saturday after the Ducks’ fourth practice of the season, Lanning was asked to highlight a few freshmen who have stood out thus far.
“Cole Martin has been a guy that gets up here every single morning, early. He spends a lot of time on his craft and it’s really showing up,” Lanning said. “Matayo (Uiagalelei) is a guy who does that, Teitum Tuioti had two really big plays yesterday. There are some young guys on offense; Austin Novosad has made huge strides since the spring to now. There’s a lot of guys who have really stood out and a lot of guys putting in extra work.”
While we likely won’t see Novosad any time soon because of the depth at the QB position ahead of him, there’s a good chance that players like Martin, Uiagalelei, and Tuitoti find their way onto the field this fall and show what they can do at the collegiate level.
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