Tag: jordan burch

2023 Oregon Stock Draft: Picking unheralded Ducks with ‘The Flock Pod’

Once again, @ZacharyCNeel got together with the boys from @TheFlockPod to go through an Oregon Ducks stock draft. Who do you think won?

It’s becoming a time-honored tradition that I look forward to as much as anything we do each year — the annual Oregon Ducks Stock Draft conducted between Zachary Neel, and the hosts of The Flock Pod, JD Pluid, and Shane Potter.

Essentially, the trio goes through the Oregon roster and drafts unheralded players who may blow up over the season. If you were to think about it as buying stocks, the goal is to buy as low as you can and watch that stock — or player — grow and mature over the season. We did this last year and found great success. Here are the draft results from a year ago:

Zachary Neel (2022)
Kris Hutson
Christian Gonzalez
Bucky Irving
Josh Conerly Jr.

Shane Potter (2022)
Justin Flowe
Seven McGee
Jeffrey Bassa
Byron Cardwell

JD Pluid (2022)
Noah Sewell
Bo Nix
DJ Johnson
Terrence Ferguson

There were some hits and some major misses, but overall it gave us a great look at some of the guys on the roster who have a chance to break out over the coming weeks and months.

So who did everyone draft when going through the exercise ahead of the 2023 season? You can listen to the episode here:

12 burning questions for the Ducks to answer in Week 1 vs. Portland State

Can the pass-rush get home? Will Ty Thompson thrive? Is the Jurrion Dickey hype real? Our biggest burning questions going into Saturday for the Ducks.

It’s been a long offseason for the Oregon Ducks that has been full of changes. While the first year under Dan Lanning was successful, there is a hope and desire from the fanbase that 2023 will bring even higher heights to the program now that the coaching staff is more established in Eugene, and more of Lanning’s players are on the roster.

We saw over half of the roster from last year replaced by incoming recruits or transfers, so there are a lot of new faces to watch on Saturday against Portland State in the season-opener. While we got a look at most of them in the spring game back in April, none of that will compare to the action that we see on Saturday afternoon.

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If you’re like me, then I’m sure you have a ton of questions about this team going forward, from offense to defense, to special teams.

Here are some of the most important things that I think we need to find the answers to.

Three Ducks make the Athletic’s Top 100 transfers list

A trio of new Ducks cracked The Athletic’s top 100 transfers in college football this season.

College football has seen a lot of change in the past five years. Notably and recently, we’ve seen massive conference realignment, the impacts of which remain to be seen. Another impactful change to the game is the re-worked transfer portal. Not so long ago, players had to sit out the season following their transfer, and it also cost them a year of eligibility.

Since the changes to the transfer rules were made, the way teams approach recruiting has totally shifted. Often, coaches have to focus just as much of their efforts on recruiting transfers as they do high school stars. On Thursday, The Athletic listed their picks for the top 100 players that switched teams this offseason, several of whom were Oregon Ducks.

The highest Duck on the list was DE Jordan Burch who was ranked at No. 4. Burch transferred from South Carolina after a career year in 2022, which is something he can hopefully build upon for 2023. The Athletic had this to say about Burch:

“The Ducks have a lot of speed in their front seven, and Burch and Brandon Dorlus are going to be a ferocious tandem. Last year, the former five-star recruit had a breakthrough season for the Gamecocks with 60 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss. The 6-foot-6, 290-pound Burch has turned heads inside his new program with his athleticism, clocking 20.85 mph on the GPS, vertical jumping 34 inches and squatting almost 700 pounds.”

The idea of Dorlus and Burch being a dynamic duo is an exciting prospect, and also something I see as realistic. Last year, the Ducks struggled to pressure the QB on defense, which is something Dorlus usually excels at. With Burch now opposite Dorlus on the line of scrimmage, opposing offensive lines will likely shift their scheme to counter both Dorlus and Burch, which is much more difficult than just blocking Dorlus, which is why they hopefully will be a “ferocious tandem,” as The Athletic suggested.

The other two Oregon players featured on the list were S Evan Williams and OT Ajani Cornelius. Cornelius made headlines last year when he was one of the most sought-after transfers available, despite not being recruited by any Division I schools out of high school a few years before. Evan Willaims is entering his fifth season in college to cap off his already impressive career. He was also graded by PFF as the 4th best returning safety in the Pac-12.

Regardless of whether they live up to this hype, all three of these players will be key for the Ducks. Williams and Burch fill holes that were major struggle areas for the Ducks last year — struggles that ended up costing the Ducks late in the season. Cornelius will also be a key piece in rebuilding the offensive line that looks totally different than the one we saw a year ago. Hopefully, they can be the difference the Ducks need to take a step forward this year.

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Trio of Ducks, one former Oregon player crack Bruce Feldman’s ‘Freaks List’ for 2023

The Athletic’s ‘Freaks List’ is out for 2023. It features a trio of Ducks, one former Oregon player, and a 5-star recruit who unfortunately got away.

The Athletic’s ‘Freaks List’ written by Bruce Felman each and every year is among the most entertaining articles you will read leading up to the college football season. Like other publications, it doesn’t go through to top 100 players in the nation, regurgitating many of the names that we already know will have a big impact on the upcoming season.

Instead, Feldman goes through the 101 most physically outlandish “freaks” in college football. In his own words, the Freak’s List aims to “spotlight the players whose athleticism blew the minds of folks inside their own college football programs.”

A year ago, Oregon CB Christian Gonzalez was near the top of the list because of his length and speed. This year, a trio of Oregon Ducks made the cut for Feldman.

More than just those three Oregon players, though, there are a handful of other notable “freaks” for Duck fans to read about. Among them is one former Oregon Duck who transferred out of the program, a former 5-star recruit who Dan Lanning and Co. probably still have nightmares about losing, and a long list of Pac-12 players or guys who the Ducks will see on their 2023 schedule at some point or another.

Here are all of the “freaks” that you need to know about as an Oregon fan:

Meet the new Ducks: What UO transfers want Oregon fans to know about them

“Hard-working, dedicated, unselfish.” We asked Oregon’s incoming transfers what they want Duck fans to know about them. The answers didn’t disappoint.

The 2023 college football season unofficially kicked off on Monday afternoon for the Oregon Ducks with the annual media day taking place inside the club level at Autzen Stadium.

There, media members had a chance to sit down and talk to more than 40 of the players on the team and get their perspectives going into the new season. It offered an opportunity to talk to a handful of new players on the team for the first time.

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That’s what I was focused on. With more than 50 players on the roster wearing the green and yellow for the first time, I wanted to find out what Oregon fans who knew nothing about these players should know about them.

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What better source than the players themselves? I asked the incoming transfers — all but two of them I could get to due to interview scheduling — what they wanted Duck fans to know about them and who they are going into the season.

These are the answers I got.

The most important defensive linemen to know in the 2023 Pac-12 season

Flipping to the other side of the trenches, let’s look at the most important defensive linemen names to know in the Pac-12 this season.

As we continue our preview of the 2023 college football season in the Pac-12 conference, we are going to shift our focus from individual teams to individual positions. The last several weeks have been spent picking apart each school out west, finding where they improved the most over the offseason, and identifying what realistic expectations should be for them going forward.

You can see them all here: Arizona Wildcats — Arizona State Sun Devils — California Golden Bears — Colorado Buffaloes — Oregon State Beavers — Stanford Cardinal — UCLA Bruins — USC Trojans — Utah Utes — Washington Huskies — Washington State Cougars

Now, we’re going to look at position groups as a whole in the conference. Whether it’s a quarterback or a linebacker, a punter or a safety, there are dozens of highly talented players out west. We want to go through them all, position group by position group, and highlight some of the most important names that fans should know at each spot.

Quarterbacks — Wide Receivers — Running Backs — Tight Ends — Offensive Line

On Monday, I looked at the big boys up front, specifically, the best the Pac-12 has to offer down in the offensive trenches. Now, I’ll examine their opponents. The Pac-12 has just as much to offer in terms of pass-rushers and run-stoppers as it does protectors, and the amount of talent on both sides of the ball should make for fun battles on the line of scrimmage all year.

An interesting thing about this group is that it seems that the best defensive linemen are concentrated on a select few teams. Part of the reason for that may be that as a defensive lineman, you often need high-quality teammates to have high production yourself. If you don’t, the opposing offensive line will double- and triple-team you, reducing your value.

Here are my picks for the highest-impact defensive linemen in the 2023 Pac-12.

Oregon defender included in All-Transfer Team ahead of 2023 season

Oregon defender included in All-Transfer Team ahead of 2023 season

While Dan Lanning and his coaching staff get a ton of credit for the success that they’ve had in the world of recruiting over the past year and a half, what’s just as impressive is their ability to hit the transfer portal and add players who are ready to instantly impact the roster upon their arrival.

The Ducks have consistently ranked inside the top 10 of the national transfer portal rankings over the past year, and the long line of transfers to find success in Eugene — Bo Nix, Bucky Irving, Christian Gonzalez, and several others — is expected to continue to grow this coming season.

One of the top players that Lanning added via the portal this offseason is EDGE rusher Jordan Burch, a former 5-star player from South Carolina. Burch is expected to be among the top defenders for Oregon this season, and help alleviate the troubles they had finding a consistent pass-rush a year ago.

This past week, 247Sports named their 2023 ‘All-Transfer Team’ and Burch made the cut as one of the two edge defenders on the squad. Burch is one of four Pac-12 players to make the cut, joining UCLA RB Carson Steele, USC DL Bear Alexander, and Colorado CB Travis Hunter.

In 31 games at South Carolina, Burch racked up 105 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and 1 INT. He was rated as the No. 1 available player in the transfer portal before committing to Oregon earlier in the year.

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Duck defensive end Jordan Burch on Lott Impact Trophy watch list

Jordan Burch was named to the Lott Impact Trophy watch list, an award given to players who display on-field prowess, and off-field character.

When Jordan Burch announced he would be transferring from South Carolina and looking for another place to play, Oregon’s Dan Lanning was one of the first ones to get the former 5-star on the phone.

The Ducks needed to replace DJ Johnson, and it was celebrated when Burch said he was coming out west to play in Eugene. Oregon knew the on-the-field talent it was acquiring, but Burch is as impressive off the field as well.

He is on the watch list for the Ronnie Lott IMPACT Trophy, an award named for former San Francisco 49ers great and NFL Hall of Famer, Ronnie Lott.

According to the Pacific Club Foundation’s website, the award is “unique because it represents the first college football award to give equal weight to personal character as well as athletic performance from a defensive college player and is the first national college football award based on the West Coast.

“The IMPACT award is awarded annually to individuals who demonstrate excellence in the field of athletics and recognizes college football’s Defensive Player of the Year who best exemplifies the IMPACT acronym: Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community, and Tenacity.

Burch battled injuries during his time at South Carolina, but he had a career season in 2022 with 60 tackles, 7.5 tackles for a loss, and 3.5 sacks.

Alabama’s Will Anderson, Jr. was the 2022 winner.

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Position Report Card: Grading Oregon position groups at start of spring football

Going into spring ball, how do we grade Oregon’s position groups? Here’s our pre-spring report card. Let’s revisit after the spring game.

After a two-week break, the Oregon Ducks are getting set to return to the football field this week, resuming spring practices as they get prepared for the annual Spring Game on April 29th.

There are endless storylines to follow over the coming weeks, and a number of questions to answer about the current roster and schemes. We’ve tried to dive into an early look at some of the biggest points over conversation already this spring, but as we get set for spring ball to get underway once again this week, I wanted to offer a grade for each position group based on early projections. We don’t have a big sample size for which we can go off of, but based on roster makeup and early expectations, this will be how I expect each group to grade out.

After the spring game, I will revisit these grades and update the report card for each position.

Let’s get started.

Where Oregon’s 2023 transfers rank among the nation’s top 150

The Ducks are well represented when it comes to the latest Top 150 transfer portal rankings from 247Sports.

Do you remember back to the end of the 2022 calendar year when the transfer portal window opened up and Oregon Duck fans started to feel a bit uneasy?

It’s understandable why, as a number of players on the current roster — like Byron Cardwell, Dont’e Thornton, Justin Flowe, and so on — announced they would be entering the transfer portal. Some thought that it showed players didn’t want to play at Oregon, while others realized that the Ducks were simply making way for a crop of players better suited to Dan Lanning’s system to come to Eugene.

It appears now that the latter half of thinkers were correct, with a birds-eye-view showing us that the talent level on Oregon’s roster has vastly improved this offseason.

The best way to see this is by looking at the latest transfer portal rankings from 247Sports. Of the 10 transfers that the Ducks added this offseason, 6 ranked inside the top 150. Contrarily, of the 22 players who transferred out of Eugene, only 2 ranked inside the top 150.

It’s not hard to do the math and see that Oregon got better.

So where did all of the Oregon players, both outgoing and incoming, rank among the 247Sports top 150? Let’s take a look.