Tag: Jabbar Muhammad

3 Keys to victory for No. 3 Oregon vs No. 2 Ohio State

If Oregon wants to beat Ohio State, they need to take care of these three things above all else.

The Oregon Ducks are just hours away from the most anticipated college football game of the season. On Saturday afternoon, the Ducks and the Ohio State Buckeyes will kick off in what could be the most classic game in Autzen Stadium in a long time.

Oregon is ranked No. 3 in the nation after six weeks of college football, and their guests are ranked No. 2. No aspect of this game will be lopsided, and the winner will be the team that finds consistency.

For most of the season, this weekly post would be better named ‘3 Keys to Looking Good,’ rather than ‘3 Keys to Victory.’ Not this week.

The three keys below are imperatives for the Ducks. If they accomplish these three things, they’ll be in a good spot to win, but this weekend, nothing is guaranteed.

Shut down the pass

Photo Courtesy of Ethan Landa

The Ohio State offense relies on the run game, which will be hard enough to stop. But if the Buckeyes’ pass game gets rolling, the Ducks will be stretched far too thin, stuck trying to mitigate both. If that happens, Ohio State will score far too many points, and Oregon will have a hard time catching up.

Get on the scoreboard early

The Ohio State defense is spectacular, but they haven’t played any team like Oregon yet. So, whether the Ducks get the ball first or second, it’s imperative for them to march down the field and score a touchdown.  I don’t think the Ducks are going to knock Ohio State out in the first round, but they need to stun them with a jab.

Win the turnover battle

Photo Courtesy of Ethan Landa

This was a key last week, but it’s even more important this week. If the Ducks give the Buckeyes extra possessions, they’ll be in trouble. Oregon will have a tough time scoring on Ohio State anyway, so they can’t be giving the ball up for free. And if the Oregon defense can take the ball away from the Buckeyes, they’ll be in a good spot.

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Oregon is well represented in ESPN’s Top 100 players for 2024

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel, receiver Tez Johnson and corner Jabbar Muhammad are among ESPN’s top 100 college football players in 2024.

ESPN came out with their Top 100 players for the 2024 college football season and predictably, a few Oregon Ducks appeared on the list.

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel receiver Tez Johnson and corner Jabbar Muhammad are all on the list. In fact, the two offensive players for the Ducks cracked the Top 20 as Gabriel is No. 16 and Johnson is No. 18. Last season, Gabriel was No. 28 and Johnson wasn’t even ranked. Muhammad, when he was with Washington, was also not ranked in 2023.

Gabriel comes into the Oregon program with huge expectations and is currently a leading Heisman candidate. He’s wearing the No. 8 uniform, the same number as his idol, Marcus Mariota, who won the Ducks’ only Heisman Trophy.

According to ESPN, Gabriel’s experience is key here.

This two-time transfer brings experience to Oregon with 49 career starts. He already ranks in the top eight in FBS history in both passing yards (14,865) and passing touchdowns (125), earning all-conference honors for both the Sooners and Golden Knights. There’s a reason why Gabriel is the preseason Heisman betting favorite. — ESPN

Johnson’s only claim to fame when he came to Oregon last season was that he was Bo Nix’s adopted brother. But as the season went along, Johnson showed he was much more than that. After a rough first half of the year, Johnson turned into one of the best receivers in the Pac-12. He’s expected to have a monster season in the Big Ten, according to ESPN.

Troy Franklin garnered more attention in 2023, but Johnson set Oregon’s single-season record with 86 receptions and has 209 receptions for 2,780 yards the past three seasons at Oregon and Troy. The prolific senior should be the top target for new quarterback Dillon Gabriel. — ESPN

Muhammad is the rare player who transferred from Washington to Oregon. It’s not often a Husky becomes a Duck, but should Muhammad play like his 2023 self or even better, it makes a very good Oregon defense even better.

From purple to green, Muhammad’s offseason move was a short one down from Seattle to Eugene where he should become one of the Ducks’ key defensive players this season. Muhammad had 3 interceptions, 2 sacks and 46 tackles last season and is already getting plenty of hype from his new Oregon teammates, ready to crown him one of the best defensive backs in college football. — ESPN

If these three Ducks perform as everyone expects, the No. 3-ranked Oreegon team are going to be tough to beat this season.

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Oregon’s newest CB1 on Chuck Bednarick watch list

Oregon’s newest conrerback, Jabbar Muhammad, is on the Chuck Bednarick watch list for the best defender in college football.

Washington’s loss is going to be Oregon’s huge gain for the 2024 college football season.

Cornerback Jabbar Muhammad has just appeared on the Chuck Bedarick Award watch list for the best defender in the country.

In his one season in Seattle, Muhammad was a Second-Team All-Pac-12 performer as he was a leader of a Husky defense that helped Washington play for the national championship in 2023.

He had 46 tackles, five for loss, two sacks, and three interceptions to go with one fumble recovery. Muhammad also spent three seasons at Oklahoma State. For his career, he has 118 tackles, six for loss and four interceptions.

The Ducks got Muhammad not only for his talent on the field, but for his leadership in the locker room and his experiences in playoff situations. He’ll make Oregon’s back end of its defense one of the stronger ones in the Big Ten.

North Carolina State linebacker Peyton Wilson was the 2023 winner of the Bedarick Award.

After a summer of learning Dan Lanning’s scheme, Jabbar Muhammad is ready for a big 2024

Oregon Ducks cornerback Jabbar Muhammad is studied up on Dan Lanning’s defense and ready for a big season in 2024.

No matter who you talk to about Dan Lanning and his defense, one of the first things that is likely to come up is the complexity of the scheme.

Dealing with simulated pressures and all that comes with them, there’s been a common belief that it takes more than a single season for a player to really grasp the entire defense.

Jabbar Muhammad doesn’t have multiple seasons to get it all down, though. The Washington cornerback transfer is in Eugene for just one year, and he’s looking to make the most of it. So during the spring and throughout the summer, the elite CB has gone on a crash course to learn everything he can about the playbook and hit the ground running this fall.

So far, it sounds like he’s been successful.

“I feel pretty good,” Muhammad said on Friday. “I was doing some Zooms before I got here in the spring on the playbook.”

While study sessions may help prepare you, getting on the field and executing at a high level — and more importantly a fast level — is something different altogether. Luckily, Muhammad is as experienced as they come, having played four seasons already between Oklahoma State and Washington.

“At the end of the day, football is just football,” Muhammad said. “I’ve been playing a lot of football, so it’s just different terms and things like that. I just apply the different things that I learned previously into this game but I pretty much know it all now.”

There will be big shoes for Muhammad to fill this year, stepping in as the CB1 after Khyree Jackson graduated last season. We’ve seen him play a major role on the field in years past, though, particularly for the Huskies a year ago when he had 16 pass break-ups, among the top in the nation.

Can he do that again this year for the Ducks?  We’ll see in a matter of weeks, but going into fall camp Muhammad feels primed and ready for a massive season in Eugene.

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Jabbar Muhammad lands on the Jim Thorpe Award watch list

Oregon cornerback Jabbar Muhammad is on the Jim Thorpe Award watch list to begin the college football season.

Dan Lanning has an excellent batting average when it comes to transfer portal additions to the Oregon Ducks football team and he might have hit a home run here.

At least that’s the hope.

Oregon’s newest cornerback, Jabbar Muhammad, is on the Jim Thorpe Award preseason watch list. The award is given to college football’s best defensive back and Muhammad certainly has a chance to claim this one.

Formerly of Oklahoma State and Washington, Muhammad was one of the top corners last year as he led the Huskies’ defensive unit all the way to the national championship game against Michigan.

He hopes to do the same in Eugene.

Muhammad had 46 tackles, five for loss, two interceptions and 16 passes defended last season. In his four-year career, which includes the 2020 pandemic season, Muhammad has 118 tackles, four picks and 28 passes defended.

Pair of Oregon Duck defenders on Bronco Nagurski Award watchlist

Pair of Oregon Duck defenders, Jabbar Muhammad and Jeffrey Bassa, are on the Bronco Nagurski Award watchlist.

The Bronco Nagurski Award has been handed out since 1999 and has become the premier defensive award in college football.

Cornerback Jabbar Muhammad and linebacker Jeffrey Bassa are both on the Nagurski Award watchlist for the 2024 season.

Muhammed is the newest Duck after making the rare transition from being a Washington Husky to an Oregon Duck. The Huskies’ loss will certainly be the Ducks’ gain as Muhammad was the top cornerback in the Pac-12 last season.

In Washington’s championship run, the senior corner had 46 tackles and three interceptions in his one and only season in Seattle. He also had 17 passes defended.

As for Bassa, the decorated Oregon linebacker goes from one of the top Pac-12 defenders to one of the best linebackers in the Big Ten. Last season, Bassa had 72 tackles, 3.5 for loss and one interception.

Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts won the award last season.

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Video of Jabbar Muhammad’s offseason workout is turning heads in Eugene

Oregon Ducks cornerback Jabbar Muhammad’s latest offseason workout video is impressing fans in Eugene ahead of fall camp.

It appears the Oregon Ducks gained a really good one with former Washington Huskies cornerback Jabbar Muhammad.

Of course, fans knew that already after the Ducks faced Muhammad twice last season and watched him lock down Troy Franklin on multiple occasions. Now that the elite cornerback is wearing green and yellow, Oregonians are taking a closer look at the transfer.

And they’re liking what they see.

A new video of Muhammad going through offseason work and drilling his footwork and coverage abilities has hit the internet, and it’s certainly something that should fire up Duck fans as we get set for fall camp to start in just over a week.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9qDo2AvcTy/

Muhammad is expected to be one of the top cornerbacks in the nation this year, and he will be a staple of Oregon’s defense heading into the Big Ten Conference.

The Ducks have found much success in the past couple of years by getting a one-year transfer cornerback to come in and take over as the CB1. Christian Gonzalez and Khyree Jackson used Oregon as a launching bad to increase their NFL draft stock and take the leap into the league. It seems there is a really good chance we see the same take place for Muhammad this season.

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Pair of Oregon Ducks get selected in latest 2024 NFL Mock Draft

A pair of Oregon Ducks have been projected to land in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

We are past the point of the offseason where the NFL Draft and projecting who the top selections will be for the next year, but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t some content when it comes to looking at the 2025 draft class.

For the Oregon Ducks, there is hope that they can continue their streak of first-round draft picks that is now sitting at five years straight after Bo Nix was selected by the Denver Broncos at No. 12 back in April.

So who will be the player to continue that streak in 2025? Well, according to USA TODAY’s Draft Wire, two Oregon players should expect to hear their names called on Draft Day.

Jabbar Muhammad and Evan Stewart.

The pair of transfers have yet to play a regular season game in Eugene, but based on what we’ve seen from them at their previous stops, plus what they were able to do in the annual Spring Game earlier this offseason were impressive.

Here’s what writer Doug Farrar had to say about Muhammad, who he has going to the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 26:

If more change is required in 2025, Oregon’s Jabbar Muhammad might be an ideal Fangio defender. The former Washington star allowed 42 catches on 82 targets last season for two touchdowns, three interceptions, 12 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 60.6. Interestingly, Muhammad played far more reps outside than in the slot at 5-foot-10 and 183 pounds, and he looked dominant more often than not. Fangio prizes positional versatility in his defensive backs, and he’s not necessarily programmed to put a player in a specific spot based on his size.

Not long after, Farrar has Stewart going to the Kansas City Chiefs at No. 32 in the draft. Here’s what he had to say about Stewart:

The Chiefs won their third Super Bowl in the last five years with a receiver group that was problematic at best. The additions of Marquise Brown in free agency and Xavier Worthy in the draft were designed to point Andy Reid’s team in the direction of the near-impossible three-peat, but what the team still lacks is that consistent intermediate receiver with the knack for exploiting voids in coverage.

When Evan Stewart was chopping it up at Texas A&M, he had those skills strongly on display, and that should continue now that he’s with Oregon. In 2023, Stewart caught 38 passes on 59 targets for 514 yards and four touchdowns despite a leg injury that cost him multiple games, and had him saying some things about his care once he decided to hit the transfer portal.

Should both of these players find their way into the first round of next year’s draft, it must mean that the Ducks had a pretty successful season with this pair of transfers leading the way.

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Report: Alabama transfer S Peyton Woodward to take Oregon visit

Alabama transfer Peyton Woodward is set to visit Oregon this coming weekend, per report.

The spring transfer portal has been quiet for the Oregon Ducks. At least, the Ducks have been quiet relative to their habits in past portal windows. One exception could be Peyton Woodward, a safety who joined the Alabama Crimson Tide in the class of 2024.

Woodyard entered the portal on Monday with a “do-not-contact tag” at the tail end of his first spring football season. A do-not-contact tag typically means the player already has their next school picked out, and as Pete Nakos reported Tuesday morning, Oregon is the favorite to land Woodyard.

The Ducks put a lot of recruiting capital into Woodyard during his initial high school recruitment, hosting him for an unofficial visit in April 2022. Now that he’s in the portal, Woodyard is expected to visit the Ducks again this upcoming weekend, according to a report from Matt Zenitz. Woodyard was a 4-star safety recruit and ranked by 247Sports as the No. 20 S in the class of 2024.

If Woodyard commits, he’ll be one in a crowd of elite defensive backs Oregon has brought in this offseason. In the winter transfer portal, the Ducks brought in safety Kobe Savage and cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, both of whom are expected to start in the fall. And in the 2024 high school class, Oregon signed four 4-star DB recruits.

Oregon’s depth of experience in their secondary means Woodyard, wouldn’t see much of the field in his freshmen year if he were to join up with the Ducks, but the competition in the Oregon DB group would be a great way to develop. Both of Oregon’s starting deep safeties will be out of eligibility after the 2024 season, so the Ducks will need to lean on their young talent to fill those holes.

Jabbar Muhammad explains decision to transfer from Washington to Oregon

Going from Washington to Oregon is not an easy decision to make. Jabbar Muhammad details his process.

When it comes to rivalries in the world of sports, there are few breeding grounds as fertile as college football. And when you talk about some of the best rivalries in the world of college football, the “Cascade Clash” between the Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies deserves mention.

So when one of the best players on a team in that rivalry decides that a change of scenery would best suit him, and decides to move on over to the other team in the rivalry, what happens?

That’s something you could ask Oregon cornerback Jabbar Muhammad. He was one of the best players for the Huskies a year ago, beating the Ducks twice in the season. After the destruction of the Washington roster took place following their loss in the national championship game, though, Muhammad chose to join the Ducks.

“As a kid, everyone dreams of coming to Oregon,” Muhammad said on Tuesday after practice. “When I got into the portal I got in contact with the coaches about what they had building here and what they could do for me and it’s something that attracted me.”

This isn’t the first time that Muhammad has changed schools. He started his college career at Oklahoma State, where he spent three seasons with the Cowboys before heading up to the Pacific Northwest. However, moving from one rival to the other is something that has certainly had fans get after him.

“You can’t please everybody,” Muhammad said. “You know, you’re gonna look at the people who want to talk about you, people say don’t do this, do that. But at the end of the day, you know, it’s about what’s best for you. So I kind of have some blinders on this last time knowing that, you know, this decision is gonna be pretty tough.”

Now, Muhammad projects to be one of the stars of Oregon’s defense. He’s proven that he can be impactful on the field, racking up 46 tackles and 3 interceptions last year with the Huskies alone. Can he have that type of impact in Eugene?

Duck fans would like to see it, this time with their support.