Tag: Jahlil Florence

Chris Hampton offers injury update for CB Jahlil Florence

Oregon defensive back coach Chris Hampton said corner Jahlil Florence is recovering nicely from a lower leg ailment.

You never want to hear about injuries to any players, but in football, it comes with the territory.

Oregon defensive back Jahlil Florence, expected to contend for a starting spot in the Duck secondary in 2024, hasn’t seen much time on the field this spring as he is still nursing a lower leg injury he suffered in the off-season.

According to defensive back coach Chris Hampton, there’s still a chance Florence could recover in time to participate in the next month.

“We may get some out of him later on in the spring,” Hampton said about Florence. “He’s out there now doing some of the walkthrough stuff with us. But that’s about it right now. But I think his rehab is going pretty good.”

He may be recovering physically, but there can be a mental toll on any player who can’t do the thing they love. Hampton said Florence is improving on that aspect as well.

“After talking to Chief and talking to Jahlil, he’s in a much better space than what he was about a month ago,” he said. “So I expect we’ll maybe get some of him here at the end of spring.”

Realistically Florence can take all the time he needs as long as he is ready to go in the fall and be on that field Aug.31 against Idaho.

Breaking down Oregon’s new-look secondary ahead of the 2024 season

A deep dive into the Oregon Ducks secondary entering the 2024 season, which features several new faces ready to have an instant-impact.

We usually wait until later in the year to dive deep into a position group and preview how things are shaping up for the Oregon Ducks going into the season, but when looking at the secondary that is being put together in Eugene, we simply couldn’t wait.

On Saturday afternoon, the Ducks landed a commitment from former Washington Huskies’ cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, adding yet another proven veteran playmaker with an incredibly high upside to a defense that returns a majority of starters from last season.

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The Ducks have also added guys like Kam Alexander, Brandon Johnson, and Kobe Savage to the secondary, all of whom project to be instant-impact players.

To keep track of all of the movement, and offer an idea of what the Ducks’ starting secondary players and depth pieces will look like, let’s break down all of the names that you need to know and project how they will impact the team in 2024.

7 Things to know about Oregon’s transfer DB Brandon Johnson

Get to know Oregon’s new CB Brandon Johnson, a transfer from Duke.

Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks can’t seem to get enough of the transfer portal, picking up a new transfer target or commitment seemingly every day. On Wednesday afternoon, Oregon added their 10th transfer commitment of 2024: Brandon Johnson, a former defensive back for the Duke Blue Devils.

The Ducks are losing their top CB from 2023, Khyree Jackson, this offseason, so the addition of Johnson is opportune. Oregon has also added 4-star transfer CB Kam Alexander as well as a long list of blue-chip players in the 2024 class.

Earlier this week, Washington’s star CB Jabbar Muhammad entered the portal, and speculation grew that he would end up at Oregon. After Johnson’s transfer, it is still a possibility, with Johnson projected more as a nickel safety than an outside cornerback.

Here are the things you need to know about Oregon’s newest CB.

SIGNED: 4-star cornerback Sione Laulea is officially a Duck

Sione Laulea, the No. 2 overall junior college recruit in the country, signed his letter of intent for the Oregon Ducks on Wednesday.

The wave of Oregon Duck recruits inking national letters of intent continued on Wednesday with Sione Laulea, a 4-star cornerback in the class of 2024. Laulea is the Ducks’ second highest-rated 2024 CB recruit, and the only junior college recruit so far in this class.

For the last two seasons, Laulea played cornerback at the College of San Mateo, in California. Laulea wanted to stay on the West Coast as he joined the FBS, and chose to Oregon earlier this fall. According to 247 Sports, Laulea is the No. 2 overall player in the JUCO class of 2024 and the No. 1 CB.

Oregon has several talented CBs already on their roster, but it is hard to say which players will be the Ducks’ top corners in 2024. Laulea is one of three 4-star CBs in Oregon’s 2024 class, but his two years of junior college ball give him experience Dakoda Fields and Ify Obidegwu don’t have.

This offseason, the Oregon Ducks are losing star CB Khyree Jackson, who declared for the NFL Draft in early December. Like Laulea, Jackson is a former JUCO player who made the jump to FBS, where he was successful. Hopefully, Laulea can have the same success as he moves to the next level that Jackson did.

Here are some highlights from Laulea:

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2024 Cornerback Outlook: It’s time for the young Ducks to take over

The Oregon Ducks have a deep stable of talented cornerbacks, and they should be relied on heavily going forward.

The 2023 season is now behind us, and while there is still a bowl game to be played — The Fiesta Bowl vs. The Liberty Flames — Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks are working hard on the construction of their roster and hitting the transfer portal in attempts to formulate what this team will look like going into the 2024 season, the team’s first year in the Big Ten Conference. While they work on bringing new players in via the transfer portal, we want to look at the future breakdown of each position, detailing current players on the roster, incoming recruits, and potential targets on the market right now.

So far this offseason, we’ve broken down the future of the Quarterbacks, Running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, and offensive line. Now let’s focus on the defensive secondary. 

The Oregon Ducks have found a lot of success over the past two years when it comes to landing a high-end cornerback out of the transfer portal. Whether it was Christian Gonzalez or Khyree Jackson, Dan Lanning and Demetrice Martin have consistently identified lock-down players who could help their defense instantly for a season before going off to the NFL.

They might not need to do that this offseason.

While there is a hole to fill at the CB1 spot in Eugene with Jackson leaving for the professional level, a belief resides that the Ducks will look at one of their home-grown players to step into that role rather than relying on the transfer portal once again. Of course, if the right person jumps into the portal that the Ducks feel can make them better, I believe they would take a swing, but the talent currently exists on the roster to have Oregon’s secondary as good as we’ve seen in years.

With NFL Draft decisions, impending transfers, and incoming freshmen, here’s a glance at the outlook for cornerbacks going into next season:

Khyree Jackson opts out of Fiesta Bowl vs. Liberty to prepare for 2024 NFL Draft

Khyree Jackson opts out of Fiesta Bowl vs. Liberty to prepare for 2024 NFL Draft

Khyree Jackson, a star cornerback for the Oregon Ducks and a well-regarded 2024 NFL draft prospect, has announced that he will sit out against the Liberty Flames in the Fiesta Bowl. Jackson’s announcement doesn’t come as a surprise, since players of his caliber often opt out of bowl appearances in their final college seasons to prepare for the NFL Draft and avoid injury.

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Jackson, a transfer from Alabama, played one season for the Ducks, but immediately he established himself as one of Oregon’s best defenders. In 2023, Jackson allowed only 19 receptions for 200 yards and also grabbed 3 interceptions and 2 sacks.

By heading to the NFL and opting out of the Ducks’ bowl game, Jackson continues to follow in the footsteps of former Ducks CB Christian Gonzalez. Like Jackson, Gonzalez transferred to Oregon and was spectacular, but he only stayed for one year before declaring for the NFL Draft, where he was a first-round pick.

The Ducks may have trouble replacing Jackson for the Liberty Bowl. The Ducks’ CB2, Jahlil Florence, struggled with injuries near the end of the season, and Oregon lost CB Trikweze Bridges to the transfer portal, which leaves Oregon’s depth at CB quite thin.

As of now, Jackson is seen by some analysts as a middle-round draft pick, but he has the offseason to improve his stock. After the season he had at Oregon, I think Jackson has the potential to rise to a 2nd or 3rd round prospect.

Oregon CB Trikweze Bridges enters the transfer portal

Oregon Ducks cornerback Trikweze Bridges has announced that he plans to transfer from Eugene after the 2023 season.

Trikweze Bridges, a 4th-year cornerback for the Oregon Ducks, announced that he has entered the transfer portal. His diminished role on defense from 2022 to 2023 is likely what led to his transfer.

In four seasons with the Ducks, Bridges played in 42 games and recorded 90 tackles, 4 INTs, and forced 2 fumbles. As I alluded to above, Bridges’ role on this year’s Ducks team is much smaller than in 2022. Last season, Bridges played 704 snaps, but only played 205 in 2023.

Oregon’s strong recruitment at the CB position in recent years is another factor that may have contributed to Bridges’ transfer. This year, the CB2 spot was taken by sophomore Jahlil Florence, and there are a lot of other young CBs on the Ducks roster that could’ve made it hard for Bridges to crack the starting lineup in his final year.

At 6’3″ and 198 lbs., Bridges was recruited in the class of 2019 as a 3-star CB. During his high school recruitment, Bridges showed a lot of interest in the Florida State Seminoles and the Alabama Crimson Tide (Bridges is originally from Lanett, Alabama), so look out of for those schools as potential stopping points for the fifth-year CB.

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Injury Update: Dan Lanning offers notes on Gary Bryant Jr., Jahlil Florence

Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning offered an injury update on a couple of key players ahead of the Pac-12 Championship Game.

Throughout most of the season, the Oregon Ducks have been able to avoid the injury bug for the most part. While RB Noah Whittington was lost to a season-ending leg injury earlier in the season, and S Bryan Addison has been away from the team due to personal issues, aside from that we don’t know of many major injuries that have taken place.

That appears to be the case going into Conference Championship week as well.

The Ducks got a little bit banged up last weekend against the Oregon State Beavers, with wide receiver Gary Bryant notably taking a tough shot out of bounds, but he seemed to have a positive outlook after the game. The Ducks were also without CB Jahlil Florence in the game, who was using crutches on the sideline.

On Monday night, Lanning offered an update on those injured players:

“He’s out there and getting better,” Lanning said when asked about Bryant. “I think we’ll be in good shape to have him this weekend.”

When it comes to Florence, and fellow cornerback Rodrick Pleasant, Lanning was a little bit less clear.

“I’m expecting us to have some of those guys back,” Lanning said. “We’ll have to wait and see as the week progresses. That’s kind of the way it goes at this point of the season.”

Florence has been one of the top secondary players for Oregon this year, starting the first 11 games of the year. In his absence, Dontae Manning stepped up in a major way and grabbed his first career interception.

Practice is closed to media members this week, so we won’t get a chance to see if any of the aforementioned players are practicing. The best chance we will get to see won’t be until pregame on Friday afternoon.

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Dan Lanning offers injury update on Bucky Irving, Khyree Jackson, others ahead of ASU game

Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning offered an injury update on some key players ahead of Saturday’s game against ASU.

While there didn’t appear to be any major injuries that took place for the Oregon Ducks on Saturday night in a 36-27 win over the USC Trojans, there were a few minor injuries to note after all was said and done.

During the game, guys like Bucky Irving, Khyree Jackson, Jackson Powers-Johnson, and Jahlil Florence all left the game with injuries, and while many of them returned, there is some concern about their availability going forward.

On Monday night during his weekly press conference, Lanning addressed those injuries, starting with the cornerbacks.

“Yeah, they all (practiced) and I definitely think they’ll be able to help us this week,” Lanning said when asked about Jackson, Florence, and Manning.

Later, when the conversation about Powers-Johnson and Irving game up, Laning offered more positive news.

“Both those guys were practicing today, expect them to be available,” Lanning said.

We will monitor throughout the week and see which players are able to practice in full and if anyone is held out, but this is certainly positive news to start the week.

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Dan Lanning offers update on CB Jahlil Florence injury, current status of S Bryan Addison

Dan Lanning offers update on CB Jahlil Florence injury, current status of S Bryan Addison

Oregon’s injury report could be much worse after the 36-33 loss to Washington on Saturday. Several players went out and did not return and had to watch their backups finish the game for them.

But from the sounds of it, the Ducks should be relatively good to go as they prepare to take on Washington State for a 12:30 p.m. PT kickoff on ABC this weekend.

The biggest concern had to have been corner Jahlil Florence, who went out with an apparent arm injury early in the third quarter. Although Twikweze Bridges came on and played well, Oregon could have certainly used Florence in that decisive fourth quarter.

Here’s the early-in-the-week injury report for the Ducks.