Tag: Jamal Hill

DJ James and Jamal Hill to ‘compete right away’ for starting jobs on Oregon defense

After missing the first game of the season due to suspension, DJ James and Jamal Hill are expected to compete for starting spots right away.

In his press conference on Monday afternoon, Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal delivered the news that we were all expecting to hear — defensive backs DJ James and Jamal Hill will be available to play this week against Ohio State after serving a suspension earlier in the year.

Ahead of Oregon’s game against Fresno State, Cristobal announced that the two players would be reinstated for practice purposes, but would miss the Ducks’ week 1 game. Now, with the biggest game of the season just days away, it comes as no surprise that two of Oregon’s perceived starters coming into the season will be back on the field and ready to make an impact.

But how much of an impact will they have? After missing the majority of fall camp and not seeing any game action since the 2020 season, it’s a reasonable question to ask.

Defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter doesn’t seem to think that the missed time will slow them up very much, however.

“They’ve been with us the last couple of weeks practicing,” DeRuyter said on Monday. “There was a little rust that they had to get knocked out, but they’ve been looking pretty good in practice this week, so they’ll be competing right away for jobs.”

Jamal Hill will be looking to knock off Steve Stephens IV for the boundary safety position, while DJ James will have to jump both Dontae Manning and Trikweze Bridges in the depth chart at the boundary corner position to grab a starting spot.

All three of those players performed well against Fresno State, but the secondary as a whole left a little bit to be desired, giving up 220 yards through the air in the first half before making some adjustments over the final two quarters.

Regardless of who starts, it is encouraging to know that the Ducks will now have some added depth at two of their most important positions on the defense. With a pair of All-American receivers for Ohio State — Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson — Oregon will need all hands on deck to slow them down.

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DJ James and Jamal Hill are back, but where do they stand after suspension?

Oregon’s defensive backs DJ James and Jamal Hill are back from suspension, but where do they stand in terms of the depth chart ahead of the season?

Oregon Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal announced after practice on Friday afternoon that the University of Oregon has decided to reinstate defensive backs DJ James and Jamal Hill immediately, though they will miss the Week 1 game against Fresno State.

That means that the two can practice with the team, and will likely travel to Ohio State in Week 2 for the Ducks’ biggest game of the season.

This is obviously huge news for Oregon, which has been without two of their difference makers on defense throughout fall camp after the two were indefinitely suspended following an alleged airsoft gun incident that took place early in August.

So now that we have a clearer picture of when both players will return to the field, what does that mean for the defense at large?

Missing fall camp is crucial, and it will arguably take some time for both players to catch up to the rest of their teammates when it comes to getting into football shape. Once that happens, though, will they see the field immediately? Both Hill and James were projected to be starters, with the former at the safety position, and the latter at the boundary cornerback spot.

Let’s talk about James first. The third-year player has played in 13 games in his career, with 16 total tackles and two passes defended. Once it was clear that he was going to be absent for fall camp, the attention turned to both freshmen cornerbacks Dontae Manning and Trikweze Bridges, both of whom had a very impressive couple of weeks and entered an intense battle for the starting BCB spot. Cristobal said on Friday that the competition between the two is still ongoing, but what is unclear is how long the winner of that competition will remain the starter.

Might James take over the starting role a couple of weeks into the season? And if he is in shape, will we see him on the field against Ohio State? That is something that we can’t answer without seeing him on the field at all. Both James and Hill were seen leaving practice with their teammates on Friday, so you can hope that they will be playing themselves into game shape over the next couple of weeks.

As for Hill, his path back to the starting lineup seems much more clear for the Ducks. Hill was a big piece of the defense in 2020, coming down with two interceptions near the end of the season. He also has 30 tackles and four passes defended in his 11 career games with the Ducks.

The battle for the safety spot alongside Verone McKinley III has not been as intense as at the BCB position, with a combination of Steve Stephens IV and Jordan Happle occupying that spot. Hill will have to earn the starting spot back once he returns to game shape, but if his past performance is any indication, that shouldn’t be too hard to do.

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DJ James and Jamal Hill to be reinstated; will miss opener vs. Fresno State

Jamal Hill and DJ James, once indefinitely suspended, will be reinstated, and available to play September 11th vs. Ohio State.

After declaring secondary starters DJ James and Jamal Hill were suspended indefinitely, Oregon Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal says the two players will miss the Fresno State game, but that’s it.

Both Hill and James were involved in an alleged incident with an airsoft gun that injured a few bystanders. The players are still facing three charges of reckless endangering, assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and disorderly conduct.

With this decision, it seems as Oregon will go into the Ohio State game with all of their defensive pieces in place. But whether or not James and Hill will be able to just assume their starting dutied remain to be seen.

The Ducks have had several freshmen step up in fall camp, such as Twikweze Bridges and Dontae Manning, who have the pure talent to fill in and not have Oregon miss much of a beat.

Oregon is scheduled to open the 2021 season Sept. 4 with the Bulldogs for an 11 a.m. kickoff on the Pac-12 Network.

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Defensive backs DJ James, Jamal Hill are ‘indefinitely suspended’ after alleged airsoft gun incident

Mario Cristobal said that both DJ James and Jamal Hill are indefinitely suspended after an alleged airsoft gun incident has both players facing charges.

We now know a little bit more about the punishment that both defensive backs DJ James and Jamal Hill are facing after an incident that took place in Eugene on Tuesday night where they were allegedly shooting air soft guns at innocent bystanders.

According to Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal, the two defenders are ‘indefinitely suspended for the time being. Cristobal said that he would update the media “when the time was appropriate.”

Hill and James were not at practice as the Ducks opened fall camp Friday morning at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex.

The suspension could potentially be a major blow for the Ducks at a position group where they can’t afford to take a big hit. Hill is Oregon’s returning starter at the nickel safety position, and James is thought to be in contention for a starting boundary cornerback role once the season starts.

Both players are facing three charges of reckless endangering, assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and disorderly conduct.

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Two Oregon football players arrested in pellet gun incident

Oregon defenders DJ James and Jamal Hill were arrested Tuesday night because of an incident with a pellet gun.

Two Oregon football players were arrested late Tuesday night (Aug. 4) and face charges after police say they targeted people with pellet guns.

According to the EPD, calls came in around 11:45 PST with three victims reporting injuries in the area of 11th Ave. and Willamette Street in Eugene.

Cornerback DJ James and safety Jamal Hill, both sophomores and 20 years old, were charged with three counts of reckless endangering, assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and disorderly conduct.

Reports say one person was hit in the face, but none of the three victims were hospitalized. Another victim said they were nearly hit by the suspects’ vehicle as they left the area.

The University of Oregon has yet to comment on the incident, but this could be a big blow to the Duck defense as James and Hill were both assumed to be starters when the season begins.

Hill, a Rex, Georgia native, saw action in all 14 games in 2019 and was a coaches’ Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention for 2020.

James, a Mobile, Ala. native, appeared in 13 games as a freshman in 2019 and in all seven contests in 2020. He made 14 total tackles, including two solos, and had one pass breakup. James also had a career-high four tackles, all solo, and a pass breakup in the Pac-12 Championship game against USC.

Phil Steele honors 15 Oregon Ducks on his preseason all-Pac-12 list

A total of 15 Oregon Ducks made Phil Steele’s all-Pac-12 selections, with four Ducks making the first team.

It’s that time of year where pre-season lists are being published in the world of college football and there’s no more prestigious pre-season publisher than Phil Steele.

He has selected 15 Oregon Ducks as all-conference players with four of those Ducks on his First Team All-Pac-12 list.

It should come as no surprise that defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux would lead this particular list off. Thibodeaux has a chance to be a First-Team All-American and a very high draft choice when the NFL draft rolls around next April.

Joining Thibodeaux on the first team is offensive linemen TJ Bass and Alex Forsyth to go with cornerback Mykael Wright. Bass and Forsyth will be second-year starters for Oregon along that huge O-line and Wright was an all-Pac-12 player last season as a sophomore.

On Steele’s second-team all-conference is safety Verone McKinley III, linebacker Noah Sewell, receiver Devon Williams, offensive lineman Steven Jones, and tailback CJ Verdell.

McKinley was a freshman All-American in 2019 and Sewell was also one in 2020. Because of the pandemic, those players are still a sophomore and freshman, respectively, and look to be the core of the Oregon defense in 2021.

The 6-foot-5 Williams should be a go-to target for quarterback Anthony Brown this season as he has Jones, Bass and Forsyth to protect him. Brown is listed on Steele’s fourth-team all-conference list.

Verdell is looking to become of of the great Oregon tailbacks of all time with 68 more yards to crack the Oregon Top 10 list. He’s less than 1,000 yards away from 3,500 career yards.

Safety Jamal Hill leads Oregon on Steele’s third team along with offensive lineman Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, long snapper Karsten Battles and punter Tom Snee.

Hill played in all 14 games in 2019 and another six in 2020 where he managed to grab two interceptions. Aumavae-Laulu, at 6-foot-6 and 325 pounds will be yet another massive body on that line and Battles is a very reliable long snapper that is key to the Ducks’ special teams. Snee’s punting ability has improved each season as he averaged nearly 44 yards per punt in 2020.

Along with Brown, defensive tackle Brandon Dorlus made Steele’s fourth-team all-Pac-12 list.

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