Tag: Byron Cardwell

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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Oregon Ducks Player of the Game: Running Back Byron Cardwell

True freshman running back Byron Cardwell had two touchdowns on Saturday, securing Player of the Game honors from Ducks Wire.

The Oregon Ducks took care of business on Saturday evening against the Washington State Cougars, scoring 24 points in the second half to secure their ninth win of the season while keeping their CFP hopes very much alive.

While Kayvon Thibodeaux and Anthony Brown were outstanding against Jake Dickert’s squad, it was true freshman running back Byron Cardwell who shined on the big stage, earning his first Ducks Wire Player of the Game award.

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Cardwell only touched the ball nine times on Saturday, but he rushed for a whopping 98 yards and two touchdowns, good for an average yards per carry of 10.9.

He had more total yards than Travis Dye (88) earned in 18 carries, although he was still behind Brown (123) in total rushing yards.

Still, it was a true breakout performance from the four-star from San Diego, who expected to have to wait his turn when he committed to join an Oregon roster populated by Dye and CJ Verdell.

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Verdell’s injury has opened up a path to playing time, however, and Cardwell has taken advantage the last few weeks – particularly when the Cougars came to town.

His 27 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter gave Oregon an insurmountable 31-17 lead, securing the victory in front of a frenzied crowd at Autzen Stadium.

He’ll continue to be a key piece of this offense as the season rolls along.

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‘Another great back in the making;’ Byron Cardwell’s explosion onto the scene has Oregon historians excited

Byron Cardwell isn’t the first Oregon running back to knife his way through the defense while wearing #21. But he might carry on the legacy.

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It doesn’t take a learned historian to look at true-freshman Byron Cardwell and notice that he has something in common with some of the greatest running backs to ever play for the Oregon Ducks.

Yes, his elusive speed conjures up images of LaMichael James cutting outside of the tackles and burning defenders down the sideline. His incredible patience behind blockers and ability to hit a hole as soon as it opens will also remind many of Royce Freeman’s days in the green and yellow.

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The talent and ability has a proverbial ceiling being raised each and every week that he steps onto the field, but it’s neither of those things that draws a direct comparison between Cardwell and the history books. It’s his number.

#21.

It was popularized over a decade ago when James burst onto the scene and helped buoy Chip Kelly’s explosive offense. Freeman came along several years later and carried on the legacy, rushing his way to Oregon fame. As it stands now, those two names occupy the top spots on Oregon’s all-time rushing list. 

So where does Cardwell fit in? Well, not in the same stratosphere as those two, just yet, unless we were to project what the future might hold.

Over the last few games, Cardwell has been an impact player for the Ducks, working to take some of the load off of Travis Dye’s shoulders in the wake of CJ Verdell’s season-ending injury. He has a total of 32 carries over the last three games, with 280 yards and 4 TDs. By all means, he looks like the real deal, and someone who could have a storied legacy at Oregon should he continue down this path.

“I know that there’s two great backs that wore that number before, and I’m another great back in the making that’s going to wear that number also,” Cardwell said on Saturday night after his two-touchdown performance against Washington State. “We all run differently, and I just know that I have to go out there and do what I am gifted to do.”

It wasn’t always a given that Cardwell was going to get this opportunity to play as a true freshman. When he was recruited by the Ducks last season as a 4-star player out of San Diego, he was well aware of the fact that players like Verdell and Dye were on the roster, and he would likely have to wait his turn to get on the field. That didn’t stop him from putting in the necessary work to be ready when his name was called, though.

“Just coming in, you always have that mindset of wanting to play, but you know that, in my situation, there were guys ahead of me,” Cardwell said. “But I didn’t let that stop me from keep working hard and having my goals and aspirations. So events happen, and I was able to come in and perform.”

We’ve seen the performance, but what his teammates make note of is the preparation. More than a few players on the Oregon roster have remarked this year at how hard Cardwell works in practice, marveling at the high motor that keeps driving his potential through the roof.

“Byron has been playing with extreme confidence, and hats off to him because he’s really been working at it,” said QB Anthony Brown. “Especially in practice, moving at a higher intensity than most freshmen would be. I’m just really proud of him and excited to see where he’s going with this.”

It’s easy to get ahead of yourself when watching an 18-year-old kid tear it up at the collegiate level, looking like a veteran player who has learned the ins and outs of zone schemes and allows blocks to develop downfield in front of him. We know there is a lot of growth yet to take place, and having patience will be a key part of the process.

When you watch an RB wearing #21 running down the Oregon sideline, though, it’s hard not to get excited.

“I’m another great back in the making that’s going to wear that number.”

We can only hope.

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HIGHLIGHTS: Watch all of the Ducks’ TD’s and game-changing plays in 52-29 win over Colorado

Did you miss the game? Relive all of Oregon’s 7 touchdowns in a 52-29 blowout over Colorado here.

We saw everything that we wanted to see from the Oregon Ducks’ offense in a blowout win over the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday afternoon. Anthony Brown got after it early and often, scoring on all 8 drives that he was in the game for and giving the Ducks their highest point total of the season at 52.

In all the Ducks compiled 568 yards of offense with 32 first downs. Brown had his best day as a Duck, throwing 25-for-31 for 307 yards and three touchdowns. The freshmen were a big story on the day, with Byron Cardwell, Seven McGee, and Troy Franklin all getting their first career touchdowns.

Here are some of the best highlights from the day:

Opening Touchdown from Travis Dye

First Career TD for Byron Cardwell Jr. 

29-yard TD pass from Anthony Brown to Troy Franklin

Travis Dye’s second TD run of the day

Insane Leaping Catch from Devon Williams

Travis Dye picks up TD No. 3

Devon Williams grabs first TD of the year

What can we expect from Oregon Ducks running backs with CJ Verdell sidelined?

With CJ Verdell done for the year, who can we expect to step up for the Ducks in the backfield? It may depend on the situation…

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One of the biggest injury blows that the Oregon Ducks have received so far this year came last week when it was announced that star running back CJ Verdell would miss the rest of the season with a lower leg injury.

In a year where Oregon has battled a flurry of injuries, this one will be among the most impactful.

Not only was Verdell an important player for the Ducks, be he was arguably the biggest driving force of the offense, totaling 397 yards and 5 touchdowns on the ground, with another 83 yards and two touchdowns receiving as well.

Without his production out of the backfield, it is reasonable to ask where the Ducks will go to get a large portion of their yards and points going forward. You can expect that fellow RB Travis Dye will have a big hand in shouldering the load, but it’s impossible to believe that he will assume the entirety of the load left behind by Verdell.

This is where the freshmen come in. Oregon is luckily pretty deep at the RB spot, with a trio of Seven McGee, Trey Benson, and Byron Cardwell all seeing the field at various times so far this season. We don’t have a large sample size of what they can do just yet, but we’ve seen enough to believe that they can step up when called upon.

“A lot of these young guys have to step up a lot more and they might not have expected to this early, but we’re going to be alright,” Travis Dye said earlier this week. “They’re hungry for it, they want it. It’s going to define itself, who it’s going to be and whoever it is I have full trust.”

While the goal is to replace the production from Verdell, it’s pretty clear that the Ducks’ won’t try to do so with the presence of just one RB, but rather deploy all three players at different times in order to find success. If it is a short down situation or a time where a conventional back is needed, we can expect Benson or Cardwell to get the action, while McGee will likely get the call when a passing situation arises, or should Dye need a breather.

“We feel they’re game ready,” Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said. “The way that we rotate, the way we configure the reps from camp all the way till now, they’re pretty evenly split up. Those guys have had a truckload of reps and they’ve performed well to where we feel they’re game ready. There’s no hesitation or reservation there. So we’ll let it eat.”

In a game against the Cal Golden Bears on Friday night where the Ducks are expected to be able to build a lead, we can expect to see what the young guys can do down the stretch. It won’t likely just be one of them that gets the major share of the workload, though. In Eugene, we can now expect a true running back by committee.

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