Tag: Chase Cota

Ducks Wire Player of the Game: WR Dont’e Thorton steals the show

Dont’e Thornton’s 116 yards and two-touchdown performance earned him our MVP nod for the Spring Game.

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Oregon’s receiving corps is very talented and very deep. The only thing they are lacking is experience.

During this spring camp, new head coach Dan Lanning was looking for someone in that group to step up in a leadership role on and off the field. According to several people in the know, that player turned out to be sophomore Dont’e Thornton.

The 6-foot-5, 200-pounder was the logical choice to be that guy to step up after making a leap in the Alamo Bowl last season. Thornton proved that wasn’t some fluke and showed how much he has improved with a stellar Spring Game.

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Although he caught just three passes, Thornton led the team with 116 yards and two touchdowns, one for 39 yards, the other for 70 yards. He showed that he can be that deep threat Oregon has been lacking for quite some time.

There were a number of candidates for our Ducks Wire Player of the Game award on Saturday. Seven McGee also accumulated 116 yards receiving and a TD, while Chase Cota was able to finish up with an even 100 yards on some impressive catches. Over on the defensive side of the ball, DJ Johnson was an absolute monster, racking up 7 total tackles, 5 TFL, and 4 sacks, while Trikweze Bridges had a 42-yard pick-six to open the second half.

In the end, though, there was no player who quite impressed us as much as Thornton did. In a stacked WR room, it looks like he might have the ability to stand apart. Let’s hope this is the first of many DWPOG awards he sees.

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Chase Coda cherishes the opportunity to carry on family legacy at Oregon

It took four seasons, but Chase Cota is finally back home playing for his favorite childhood team.

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It took four seasons, but Chase Cota is finally back where he belongs.

Oregon recruited the son of famed safety Chad Cota when he was one of the top players in the state coming out of Medford. The Ducks really wanted the 6-foot-3, 210-pound receiver and it was a surprise when Chase chose to go play for UCLA instead.

But thanks to the pandemic year of 2020, Cota still has one more year of eligibility and he has decided to play his final season where his father helped lead the Gang Green defense.

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“It was definitely still a tough decision because it was like, as much as it’d be great to come back home, which I ended up doing, and playing for the Ducks after I grew up a Duck fan, it was also just like the best spot for the last year of college football,” he said. “I thought I could fit in the best and have an impact and set myself up for success.”

At UCLA, Cota caught 67 passes for 883 yards and scored six times. With his size and experience, Cota could have gone to a few other schools. Coming to Oregon wasn’t a sure thing. But Cota says that he clicked with the new coaching staff and coming back home was the right thing to do.

“I really liked Coach (Junior) Adams and Coach (Kenny) Dillingham. I just thought my communication with them and hearing what they had to say about the offense and the opportunity. It sounded really good,” he said.

The Ducks have a receiver room full of talent but are low on experience. They’re all either freshmen, redshirt freshmen, or sophomores, except junior Isaah Crocker. Having a senior with Cota can only be beneficial for all involved.

“It’s not like I came here because there are no receivers,” Cota said. “There’s a bunch of really good receivers here so just to be in a really good room and to think that I can help enhance it is the experience I wanted to be in.”

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Chase Cota’s experience, ability to learn offense quickly brings major boost to young Ducks

Oregon Ducks quarterback Ty Thompson is impressed with how quickly UCLA transfer Chase Cota has picked up the new offense in Eugene.

A tumultuous offseason resulted in not only a brand new group of coaches for the Oregon Ducks but also a new group of skill position players all over the offense.

Oregon will go into the fall with a new quarterback, basically entirely new running backs, and mostly new wide receivers as they look to start off the Dan Lanning era with a bang.

The quarterback position is going to be a battle between redshirt-freshman Ty Thompson, Auburn transfer Bo Nix, and Jay Butterfield. The competition is already in full swing at spring practices this week.

Regardless of who starts under center in Week 1, the team will have at least one veteran wide receiver to rely on throughout the season – even though he’s new to the school.

That is of course Chase Cota, the UCLA graduate transfer who has over 800 receiving yards to his name, and who is familiar with the school after his dad put together a Hall of Fame career in Eugene in the 1990’s.

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“He’s an older guy so he’s obviously more experienced,” Thompson commented after practice on Saturday. “He knows a little bit more about the game, when to get friendly with the quarterback, how to you know, pick me up if I make a bad throw or whatever it is.”

Cota not only has the quarterback-wide receiver relationship down pat, but he’s also evidently a very very quick learner when it comes to the offense – another skill that will help him and his teammates in the short term and long term as this entire team adjusts to a new offensive scheme under Lanning and new OC Kenny Dillingham.

“He’s done a great job learning the offense in like, two days,” Thompson continued. “I mean, it’s crazy. He came out here day two and knew every single play without asking any questions. So you all see him making great catches. I don’t know if you all saw the big post that he caught earlier today for me. So he’s a very explosive receiver.”

Cota will be a big piece of this Oregon offense in the fall, regardless of whether Thompson or Nix are throwing him the football.

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New transfers for Oregon Ducks bring experience and familiarity to the young roster

Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning spoke about two of the team’s newest players, RB Noah Whittington and WR Chase Cota, after Tuesday’s practice

The Oregon Ducks continue to roll through spring practices, as the new staff gets a closer look at the talent on this roster ahead of the 2022 fall season.

Much of the talent is returning from last year’s squad, but new head coach Dan Lanning did some work of his own, snagging a handful of commitments for the incoming class of 2021 while pulling some high profile players via the transfer portal.

Two of the most recent additions to the roster are playmakers on the offensive side of the ball; running back Noah Whittington and wide receiver Chase Cota, transfers from Western Kentucky and UCLA, respectively.

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Whittington was a dynamic back for Western Kentucky last season, rushing for over 600 yards and averaging a whopping 6.1 yards per carry. He follows coach Carlos Locklyn out west, as Locklyn is now the running backs coach under Lanning in Eugene.

That familiarity certainly played a factor in both sides agreeing to bring him on board.

“I mean, obviously he’s a guy that we had a background on with Coach Locklyn coaching him before,” coach Lanning said after practice on Tuesday. “So he’s a guy we were familiar with and once he became available, he’s a guy that we thought could help our roster and benefit us.”

Whittington will help shore up a running back room that has seen a ton of departures this offseason, and helps give the team flexibility to move Seven McGee out to a wide receiver role. That’s also an area with a lot of turnover this season, which includes the addition of former UCLA receiver Chase Cota.

Cota is not only familiar with Oregon thanks to his time with the Bruins, his dad – Chad Cota – was one of the most iconic defensive backs in school history, even making the school’s Hall of Fame in 2012.

“I think this place means a little bit to Chase,” Lanning commented. “You can see that he’s intelligent, he has experience, so certainly excited to see what he can do out there.”

Cota had 883 receiving yards and six touchdowns in four years at UCLA, and comes home to join the Ducks for his final year of eligibility in 2022.

Whittington and Cota may not be the stars of Oregon’s offense this fall, but both will play key roles and add experience and depth to this team as they get set to begin the Dan Lanning era in Eugene.

Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.

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Former UCLA WR Chase Cota announces transfer to Oregon Ducks

Dan Lanning wins again in the transfer portal. Former UCLA WR Chase Cota announced he’s returning home, committing to the Oregon Ducks.

The Oregon Ducks got a big commitment on Friday afternoon, but it didn’t come from the recruiting world. Rather, they received news that veteran WR Chase Cota, a former UCLA Bruin, would be coming home to Oregon to play for the Ducks and finish his college career.

Cota, who is a former 4-star recruit from South Medford High School, had 883 yards and 6 touchdowns in his 4 years with the Bruins, and he will add a veteran presence to what currently stands as a very young WR group in Eugene that is a little short on depth.

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On top of adding some experience to the outside, Cota will be a fun story for fans to follow in 2022. His dad, Chad Cota, is Oregon royalty. He was inducted into the Ducks’ Hall of Fame in 2012 after a career that left him being described as the “backbone of the ‘Gang Green’ defense” of the early 1990s, paving the way for Oregon’s first Rose Bowl appearance in 37 years. The elder Cota had a successful NFL career with the Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts, and Saint Louis Rams.

There are a lot of things that we don’t yet know about the Oregon roster in 2022, like who the quarterback will be, or how much depth the RB spot will hold. However, we now can trust that the Ducks have a guy on the outside who knows what it’s like to play in the Pac-12 and knows a little bit about what it means to be a Duck as well.

Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.

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WR Chase Cota, son of Oregon legend Chad Cota, to transfer from UCLA Bruins

As the son of Oregon legend Chad Cota, WR Chase Cota could likely be a target for the Ducks after entering the transfer portal and leaving UCLA.

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It feels like you can make an argument that just about every player to enter the transfer portal nowadays has a connection to the Oregon Ducks, and is potentially a target to be recruited to Eugene. When you have the reach that Dan Lanning and his staff do, as well as the legacy that Oregon has on the west coast, it’s hard to argue against, though.

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That is certainly true for one of the newest additions to the NCAA Transfer Portal. UCLA Bruins wide receiver Chase Cota announced over the weekend that he will be leaving the Los Angeles area and looking for a new school. Cota, who was a 4-star prospect coming from South Medford High School back in 2018, has a unique tie to the Ducks.

His dad, Chad Cota, is Oregon royalty. He was inducted into the Ducks’ Hall of Fame in 2012 after a career that left him being described as the “backbone of the ‘Gang Green’ defense” back in the early 1990s, paving the way for Oregon’s first Rose Bowl appearance in 37 years. Cota went on to have a successful NFL career with the Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts, and Saint Louis Rams.

So it’s safe to say that Chase Cota would be a recognized name if he were to come to Eugene. Heck, the Ducks heavily recruited him when he was coming out of high school and held offers from Alabama, Cal, Georgia, Louisville, Notre Dame, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, USC, Utah, and several others. it even led to this remarkable recruiting graphic from the Ducks’ which featured him lining up against his dad out on the numbers.

The Ducks don’t go to that length for everyone, nor do they have the opportunity to.
From an X’s and O’s standpoint, recruiting Cota to Oregon makes a ton of sense, as well. The Ducks are currently thin at the wide receiver, and could desperately use the experience of a veteran pass-catcher who has 883 yards and 6 touchdowns in his 4 years with the Bruins.
We will see how heavily Oregon ends up recruiting Cota to come back to Eugene, but it is undoubtedly a story that would have Duck fans fired up about their newest player on the outside.
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