Tag: Brandon Dorlus

Brandon Dorlus named ESPN’s ‘Biggest Surprise’ at defensive line in 2021

Brandon Dorlus certainly played above expectations in 2021, and is being recognized for that by ESPN’s latest awards.

Much of the college football world is starting to transition into the offseason and look forward to the upcoming 2022 NFL draft, but the folks at ESPN and Pro Football Focus decided to take one last look at the 2021 season and recognize some players who really made an impact.

Using PFF grades from the season, ESPN went through the numbers and determined which players were the highest graded at each position, the highest-graded true freshmen, and the biggest surprise overall.

Oregon Ducks’ defensive lineman Brandon Dorlus made the cut, being named the “biggest surprise” for the interior defensive line.

Dorlus finished the season as one of the five most valuable interior defensive linemen, with 0.29 WAA generated. For reference, he accumulated only 0.02 WAA his first two years on campus in 2019 and 2020. The former three-star recruit earned a 65.1 PFF grade across 340 snaps in that two-year span before jumping to a 79.2 on 665 snaps in 2021. The latter wasn’t an easy thing to do on that volume in the Power 5.

With an increased emphasis on Oregon’s defensive production in the coming season now that national-champion-winning defensive coordinator Dan Lanning is the head coach of the Ducks, you can expect a lot of eyes to turn towards Dorlus in 2022. With Kayvon Thibodeaux off to the NFL, we can expect him to step up and keep Oregon’s front-seven playing at an elite level.

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Defensive tackle Brandon Dorlus will return for junior season

Defensive tackle Brandon Dorlus announced he will return to Eugene for his junior season at Oregon.

Normally when a head coach departs and a new coach is hired, there’s a mass exodus from a program.

Although there have been a couple of transfers and some de-commitments, Oregon is having the good luck in keeping players despite the change in staff.

First, it was Seven McGee deciding to stay and then Byron Cardwell and others. Now it’s breakout defensive star Brandon Dorlus announcing he will return to Oregon for his junior season.

The redshirt sophomore come onto the scene when defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux was injured in the season opener. Dorlus was able to pick up the slack and then some along the defensive line and he flourished.

Dorlus managed 23 tackles, seven for loss and 2.5 sacks. But beyond the stat sheet, his production forced offensive lines not to double and triple-team Thibodeaux, which freed him up to do his thing.

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Five Oregon Duck defenders named to the Associated Press first team

Led by Kayvon Thibodeaux and Noah Sewell, Oregon took up nearly half of the AP first-team defensive selections.

The Oregon Ducks defense was one of the best in the Pac-12 and the Associated Press took notice.

Oregon occupied nearly half of the AP All-Pac-12 first-team defense released on Friday with five selections, while two more players earned second-team honors.

Defensive linemen Popo Aumavae and Brandon Dorlus, along with defensive back Verone McKinley III, linebacker Noah Sewell, and defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux were all named to the first team, giving Oregon five of the 11 spots on the first-team defense.

The Ducks have five first-team selections for the second time in the last three years, and their five defensive first-team honorees are the most in program history.

On offense, running back Travis Dye and kicker Camden Lewis earned second-team recognition, giving Oregon seven total AP All-Pac-12 selections.

To no one’s surprise, Thibodeaux is an AP All-Pac-12 first-team selection for the third year in a row, becoming the first Oregon player ever to achieve that feat.

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5 biggest winners of the week for Oregon Ducks after victory over Washington State

Who was the biggest winner for Oregon on Saturday? These 5 players certainly made a good case for the honor.

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For much of the Oregon football season, we’ve rolled out a “stock report” each week where we note which players showed the most improvement, and which players needed some work going forward.

As time went on, that exercise became harder and harder to do as the Ducks continued to play better football.

Take this past week, for instance. Which players would you say had their stock go down? Do you want to tell Noah Sewell he needs to work harder simply because he didn’t record a tackle for seemingly the first time in his career? No, I don’t want to either. The Pac-12 officials need work, and the ESPN camera crew is in desperate desire for new equipment, but outside of that, it’s tough to pinpoint 3-4 areas where we could say the Ducks’ “stock” was down this week.

So instead, we are introducing a new exercise, called the “biggest winners of the week.” Here, we will isolate a handful of players who saw their stock rise in the previous game and deserve some real kudos.

Here are the 5 biggest winners of the week from Oregon’s 38-24 win over Washington State:

Brandon Dorlus

Brandon Dorlus might be the most underrated player on the Oregon defense. Week in and week out, he has a huge impact on the game without having a major presence on the stat sheet. Just last week, against Washington State, Dorlus finished the game with 0 tackles, one pass break-up and one QB hit, but it was among the best games of his season. Check out his pressure on this play that led to a Kayvon Thibodeaux sack:

While the box score may not show his value, it’s hard to ignore it when watching the games.

“Brandon’s a guy that, he’s athletic enough you can put them on the edge and so you got him on one side and KT on the other in some of our packages,” said defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter. “And you know, they’re gonna slide the protection one way one of those guys is going to get a one on one most of time. So he’s somebody that, you know, gives us as a play-caller more options and we’re going to continue to try and take advantage of his ability because he’s shown that he can handle it and he’s very productive.”

On the season, Dorlus has tallied only 17 total tackles and 2.5 sacks, but it’s clear watching that game that he is so much more than numbers in a box score. He may be one of the most valuable players on Oregon’s defense, and it showed on Saturday night.

Up Next: Byron Cardwell

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Phil Steele honors 15 Oregon Ducks on his preseason all-Pac-12 list

A total of 15 Oregon Ducks made Phil Steele’s all-Pac-12 selections, with four Ducks making the first team.

It’s that time of year where pre-season lists are being published in the world of college football and there’s no more prestigious pre-season publisher than Phil Steele.

He has selected 15 Oregon Ducks as all-conference players with four of those Ducks on his First Team All-Pac-12 list.

It should come as no surprise that defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux would lead this particular list off. Thibodeaux has a chance to be a First-Team All-American and a very high draft choice when the NFL draft rolls around next April.

Joining Thibodeaux on the first team is offensive linemen TJ Bass and Alex Forsyth to go with cornerback Mykael Wright. Bass and Forsyth will be second-year starters for Oregon along that huge O-line and Wright was an all-Pac-12 player last season as a sophomore.

On Steele’s second-team all-conference is safety Verone McKinley III, linebacker Noah Sewell, receiver Devon Williams, offensive lineman Steven Jones, and tailback CJ Verdell.

McKinley was a freshman All-American in 2019 and Sewell was also one in 2020. Because of the pandemic, those players are still a sophomore and freshman, respectively, and look to be the core of the Oregon defense in 2021.

The 6-foot-5 Williams should be a go-to target for quarterback Anthony Brown this season as he has Jones, Bass and Forsyth to protect him. Brown is listed on Steele’s fourth-team all-conference list.

Verdell is looking to become of of the great Oregon tailbacks of all time with 68 more yards to crack the Oregon Top 10 list. He’s less than 1,000 yards away from 3,500 career yards.

Safety Jamal Hill leads Oregon on Steele’s third team along with offensive lineman Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, long snapper Karsten Battles and punter Tom Snee.

Hill played in all 14 games in 2019 and another six in 2020 where he managed to grab two interceptions. Aumavae-Laulu, at 6-foot-6 and 325 pounds will be yet another massive body on that line and Battles is a very reliable long snapper that is key to the Ducks’ special teams. Snee’s punting ability has improved each season as he averaged nearly 44 yards per punt in 2020.

Along with Brown, defensive tackle Brandon Dorlus made Steele’s fourth-team all-Pac-12 list.

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