Cristobal on Cam McCormick’s return: “It’s really promising to watch him run around out there. We feel very optimistic that this is going to be a very good season for him.”
— Zachary Neel (@zacharycneel) August 6, 2021
In Mario Cristobal’s first media session of fall camp, the third-year head coach of the Oregon Ducks expressed excitement over the wealth of riches his team has at tight end.
That includes Cam McCormick.
The 6-foot-5 senior from Bend hasn’t seen the field since the 2018 opener against Bowling Green. That happens to be Cristobal’s first game at the helm of the Oregon program. Since then, McCormick missed the 2018 season, the 2019 season, was granted a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA and then the 2020 pandemic hit.
When McCormick was on the field, he showed a lot of promise. As a redshirt freshman in 2017, he Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention
where he played in all 13 games and made two starts against California and Arizona. For the year, he finished with six catches for 89 yards and a touchdown.
Now finally healthy, McCormick is going to have a chance to fight for playing time, which isn’t anything new for the Summit High School graduate.
According to Mario Cristobal, just seeing McCormick out on the practice field totally healthy was a great sight to see.
He looked really good. It was very promising watching him run around out there. The tight end group in general, those guys are going to be in good shape. Cam’s journey, in particular, has been a roller coaster. But there’s a lot of heart … a lot of logged reps, a lot of football experience, a good football IQ and a want to. He’s gone through what he’s gone through to be able to do it. The time is here now that we feel optimistic that it’s going to be a really good season for him.
When McCormick came to Eugene, he had the likes of Pharaoh Brown, Johhny Mundt, and Evan Baylis to complete with for playing time and he had to redshirt. Now in 2021, tight ends such as 6-foot-5 DJ Johnson, 6-foot-7 Spencer Webb, and 6-foot-6 true freshman Terrance Ferguson, one of the top recruits from this most recent class to compete for meaningful snaps.
Coupled with Oregon’s deepest receiving corps in quite some time, McCormick is going to have to have a great fall camp to get quarterback Anthony Brown to look his way.
But if perseverance is valued and is any indication of what he can do, McCormick will receive more than just a token look at the tight end position.
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