Coming into the 2021 season, the Oregon Ducks were sporting a trio of 4-star recruits at the wide receiver position, and there were some high hopes that they could potentially get onto the field early in their freshman seasons, getting a jump start on their college careers.
After almost two weeks of fall camp, those expectations have been blown out of the water. Now it’s not a question of whether or not any of these receivers can see the field in 2021, but rather a wonder of how big of an impact they can ultimately have.
With Troy Franklin, Dont’e Thornton, and Isaiah Brevard all vying for meaningful playing time in the offense, the Ducks have as good of a problem as they can ask for.
“They’re hard workers, you know they’re technicians and they really want to take the coaching points and put it on the field,” said super-senior WR Johnny Johnson III after Thursday’s practice. “I love the way those dudes work, and they’re going to continue to be great. I think we’ve got some future Biletnikoff winners over here.”
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The Biletnikoff Award, given to the best WR in college football for that season, has never been won by an Oregon Duck, but Demetrius Williams was a semifinalist in both 2004 and 2005.
The majority of the spotlight this fall has been on both Franklin and Thornton, due to their already high name recognition with the fanbase. Both freshmen were able to enroll early at Oregon and participate in the spring game, where they surely turned heads. The two led the team in receiving on the day, with Franklin hauling in four catches for 93 yards and Thorton adding 3 catches for 89 yards and a touchdown.
“I think with Dont’e and Troy, the fact that they’ve been here since January, so they’ve had the whole spring and those guys have done a good job of making plays,” said Offensive Coordinator Joe Moorhead. “And Isaiah has come in with the rest of the other freshmen, and he’s actually — we’ve got to get him up to speed on what to do — but he’s made a lot of plays and caught a lot of touchdowns in camp. Between the three of those guys, it’s as impressive of a true freshman recruiting class as I’ve been around in a long time.”
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Fans may not have been too familiar with Brevard before fall camp started, but the freshman has done a good job of getting up to speed with the rest of the guys. In Oregon’s first scrimmage of fall camp, which was open to season-ticket holders, Brevard caught the only touchdown of the day in 11-vs-11 drills, hauling in a 38-yard pass from QB Robby Ashford. Brevard also had two other catches on the drive to set up the score.
“He has all of the physical abilities,” Johnson said of Brevard. “I think at the beginning, the playbook was kind of the biggest thing for him to figure out, and I think he’s starting to tighten up on that. He’s continued to make plays. He made a lot of plays in the last scrimmage, and he’s going to continue to do that.”
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With so many veteran and experienced receivers ahead of them on the depth chart, it may be hard to crack the starting lineup for any of these freshmen. With Johnson, and Mycah Pittman, and Jaylon Redd, and Devon Williams all jockeying for touches, there could simply be too much talent on the field to get everyone the targets that they deserve.
At a position group where the Ducks have historically underachieved over the years, that sounds like a great problem to have.
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