After a couple of long off-season months, the grass is starting to grow and trees are getting ready to bloom. Spring is coming in Eugene, and with it comes the long-awaited return of football for the Oregon Ducks. A lot will look different in this new year for Dan Lanning and his team, with several of last year’s top players moving onto the NFL, including guys like Bo Nix, Troy Franklin, Bucky Irving, Jackson Powers-Johnson, and Brandon Dorlus. All of that is not to mention the fact that the Ducks are joining the Big Ten, and have a new-look conference to get used to on top of a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff to strive for.
It’s safe to say that there are a lot of things to talk about going into this spring season, and a lot of storylines to discuss. To get things started, we want to give a position-by-position breakdown of Oregon’s current roster, getting readers up to date on which players left, which players are returning, and what the overall outlook is going into the spring.
Already this week, we’ve covered the quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers. Now let’s move onto the tight ends.
A year ago, the Oregon Ducks were in a relatively tough spot at the tight end position. While Terrance Ferguson was returning after a strong sophomore campaign, an injury during spring practices sidelined him for a period of time. The future was a bit unknown as far as Patrick Herbert’s ceiling went, and the transfer of Moliki Matavao left the position group a bit thin.
Fast forward to this year, and the TE position is looking like one of the strongest groups on the Oregon roster, with Ferguson returning for a fourth season that could be filled with broken Oregon records. Behind him, Herbert is looking as healthy and productive as he ever has in his college career, and Kenyon Sadiq is verging on a breakout season, representing the most athleticism we’ve seen from a Ducks’ TE in quite some time.
It’s safe to say that TE coach Drew Mehringer has things going in the right direction. Here’s a complete breakdown of how things stand at the position, and the names and storylines that you need to know.