Ever since the spring football season, the No. 1 question that has been surrounding the Oregon Ducks has regarded who will be the starting quarterback when the 2022 season.
As an Oregon beat reporter, it’s certainly the most common question that I get from fans of the team. Ty Thompson or Bo Nix? Does Jay Butterfield have a real chance to contend for the job? When will we know the answer?
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I don’t know. It doesn’t appear that anyone does. If the coaching staff — offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham in particular — have any semblance of an idea, they certainly aren’t letting on to a potential answer to the burning question.
“To be honest, I don’t know. I mean I think that’s just gonna happen when it happens,” Dillingham said on Thursday when asked (again) about whether or not the team would have enough data points to feel comfortable naming a starter following Saturday’s scrimmage.
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The answer is bland, but it goes in line with the ones we’ve received in the past.
“Probably the same you’re gonna hear from me every time — I feel like we have guys that can win,” head coach Dan Lanning said when asked about the QB competition on Tuesday.
“It’s going to take what it takes,” Dillingham said the week before when asked how long it would take to get an answer on the starting QB.
In the same interview, the Oregon OC was asked if there was a date that they would like to have the decision made by.
“Nope.”
There’s a good chance that we won’t know which player will be under center in Week 1 against the Georgia Bulldogs for at least another week. I’m sure that Lanning will be asked about a potential decision on Saturday following the scrimmage, and I can virtually guarantee a non-answer will come of it.
In the end, that’s not a big deal. There’s no benefit for the Ducks to announce their starter now, it simply gives their opponent an edge that they certainly don’t need. When the team feels confident enough to tell us, they will. Maybe they don’t know yet, and it really is a competition that is coming down to the wire.
If that’s the case, Saturday’s scrimmage would be a thrilling one to watch play out.
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