In a matter of 5 days or so, the Oregon Ducks went from having one of the deepest wide receiver rooms in the conference to being desperately in need of any healthy bodies at the position.
On Saturday night, it became clear before the game that senior pass-catchers Johnny Johnson III and Jaylon Redd had not made the trip to Salt Lake City with the team. We had known that JJ3 was dealing with a leg injury after the Washington State game, but Redd’s absence was something new.
After the loss, Mario Cristobal confirmed that both players would be out for the rest of the season with injuries, ending their storied careers with the Ducks.
Without both Johnson and Redd in the lineup, the Ducks are suddenly lacking receivers with experience, especially now that WR Mycah Pittman Jr. has announced that he is leaving the program to focus on his mental health. In the past week, Oregon saw 308 receptions, 3,910 yards, and 33 touchdowns fly out the window.
Here is a list of receivers who are currently seeing a bulk of the playing time for the remainder of the season:
- Devon Williams (48 career receptions)
- Dont’e Thornton (4 career receptions)
- Troy Franklin (11 career receptions)
- Kris Hutson (21 career receptions)
It’s always tough to lose some of your leaders to a season-ending injury, but Oregon’s now-depleted receiving corps is also frustrating to watch because the loss of Mycah Pittman is still fresh. We don’t know the full details behind the situation. However, it has been discussed that part of his reasoning for leaving the team was due to a lack of targets in the offense, and a desire to find a team that better utilized him. Now, with two of Oregon’s top receivers out of the lineup, Pittman would have had a clear path to the top of the depth chart with a flurry of targets likely coming his way.
I completely respect his decision to leave and make decisions that he feels are best for himself, but the timing is definitely unfortunate.
As the rest of the season comes to a close, the Ducks are going to have to continue to battle these injuries and try to lean on the next-man-up philosophy. That pool of players to keep drawing from is looking pretty shallow, though, at the moment.
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