Patrick Herbert eager to get back and contribute for the Ducks

With the injury bug hopefully behind him, tight end Patrick Herbert is ready to get his Oregon career off the ground.

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Fair or not, when the back of the uniform says Herbert, expectations have a way of going through the roof.

Fans were talking about that Herbert-to-Herbert connection even before Patrick, a tight end, had committed to Oregon. Unfortunately, quarterback Justin Herbert never got to throw a pass to “little” brother Patrick because of injuries.

Now Patrick, who’s not so little at 6-foot-5 and nearly 250 pounds, seems to have his injuries behind him and is ready to be that player opposing defenses lose sleep over as he was at Sheldon High School.

Herbert hasn’t played in a real game since 2019 and it could have been easy to fall out of the loop or lose some of his competitive edge. According to Oregon coach Dan Lanning, that’s just not the case. It’s quite the opposite.

“I think Pat’s been really eager to get back out there on the field. So I was excited to get to see him get some work,” Lanning said. “It’s so easy when you’re off the field and not able to get in there and involved to kind of fall out of the circle and fall out of the focus of what you got to do on the field. I’m excited to see Pat get out there and really pick it up pretty quick.”

The Ducks have a number of highly-recruited tight ends already on the roster, including Terrance Ferguson and Moliki Matavao. Both played their share of snaps last season. If Herbert is anything like his brother, Herbert was born with a competitive fire that shouldn’t be overlooked.

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