Jordan James – Syndication Server

Jordan James is running with anger, and Dan Lanning approves

“I think Jordan is running like an angry guy, which is exactly how you want your running back to run.”

After two seasons of Bucky Irving as the top dog in the Oregon Ducks running back room, Oregon will have a new leader at RB in 2024. Oregon has a deep crop of talented backs on the roster, but Jordan James, a junior, is the heavy favorite to be the Ducks’ top running back next fall.

In his first two seasons, James showed he is an elite running back, despite a low volume of touches. In 2023, James played in all 14 Ducks’ games, rushing for 759 yards and 11 TDs, averaging 7.1 yards per carry.

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After Oregon’s ninth spring practice on Tuesday, Ducks head coach Dan Lanning was asked about how James has developed this spring, now that he’ll likely be sliding into the top RB spot.

“I think Jordan is running like an angry guy, which is exactly how you want your running back to run,” Lanning said after practice on Tuesday. “Right, he’s out here and has really improved this spring.”

Part of Oregon’s offensive identity in the Lanning era has been throwing to the RBs out of the backfield, letting them use their elusiveness to create big gains in open space. It’s an area where Irving excelled and a skill Lanning thinks James has improved a lot this offseason.

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“I’ve seen him do more out of the backfield with his hands,” Lanning said. “He has a better understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish on the field. So really proud of Jordan’s development and where he’s at.”

Also returning at running back for Oregon is Noah Whittington, who suffered a season-ending injury last September against Colorado. In 2022 — Whittington’s first season as a Duck — he split carries with Irving, rushing for 779 yards on 5.6 yards per carry. I still expect James to be the lead back for Oregon this fall, but don’t sleep on Whittington as a second option.

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Jordan James opens up about working with Ra’Shaad Samples after Locklyn’s departure

“He knows what he’s talking about,” Jordan James said of Ra’Shaad Samples. “He’s gonna help us win games.”

It’s never easy for a player when their position coach takes off for another job opportunity elsewhere in the nation, but it may be a more difficult process to go through when said position coach leaves midway through the season, whether that be in the spring or the fall.

That’s something that the Oregon Ducks running back room has had to deal with over the past few weeks, with former RB coach Carlos Locklyn leaving to take a job with the Ohio State Buckeyes. The move took place the day before Oregon returned to spring camp following their spring break period, so the backs in the room were left without some stability for a short period of time.

Fortunately, head coach Dan Lanning was able to act quickly and make a great hire, bringing in Ra’Shaad Samples from the Arizona State Sun Devils. Samples spent time previously as an RB coach for the Los Angeles Rams, and is considered one of the rising stars in the coaching game.

While the hire is encouraging, the players in that room have still had to deal with the transition phase, going from one coach to another in short order.

“We have to work through it,” Oregon RB Jordan James said on Tuesday after practice, “Obviously, an unexpected loss of Coach Lock, but I think we’ve done a great job just within ourselves, holding each other accountable and doing the things were supposed to do while that process happened.”

James stands alongside Noah Whittington as the two prominent backs in the Oregon offense, while both Jay Harris and Jayden Limar will vie for larger roles this offseason as well. This will be James’ third year in Eugene, while Whitting also acts as a veteran at the position.

While the position went through the changes over the past few weeks, it has been their leadership that helped the transition.

“I think it’s important to just have some structure,” James said, “Obviously we didn’t have that when we were going through the process of finding a coach. But you know, like I said, we’ve done a great job. The whole room does a great job of holding us accountable and doing the things we’re supposed to do, regardless of the situation.”

As far as Samples goes, there is some excitement about what he brings to the table, both in his ability to develop players and recruit out on the trail as well. While he is still getting caught up on everything in Eugene, his presence has been felt early on.

“He knows what he’s talking about,” James said. “He’s gonna help us win games. He’s gonna help us get better at every aspect of our game.”

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Spring Position Preview: Jordan James, Noah Whittington usher in post-Bucky Irving era

Bucky Irving leaves big shoes to fill in Eugene, but Jordan James and Noah Whittington are more than capable of getting the job done.

After a couple of long off-season months, the grass is starting to grow and trees are getting ready to bloom. Spring is coming in Eugene, and with it comes the long-awaited return of football for the Oregon Ducks. A lot will look different in this new year for Dan Lanning and his team, with several of last year’s top players moving onto the NFL, including guys like Bo Nix, Troy Franklin, Bucky Irving, Jackson Powers-Johnson, and Brandon Dorlus. All of that is not to mention the fact that the Ducks are joining the Big Ten, and have a new-look conference to get used to on top of a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff to strive for.

It’s safe to say that there are a lot of things to talk about going into this spring season, and a lot of storylines to discuss. To get things started, we want to give a position-by-position breakdown of Oregon’s current roster, getting readers up to date on which players left, which players are returning, and what the overall outlook is going into the spring. So far, we’ve looked at the quarterbacks, and now we’ll examine the Ducks’ running back room.

One of the hallmarks of Oregon football has been the presence of a reliable rushing attack, and that hasn’t changed during Dan Lanning’s tenure as head coach of the Ducks. In his two years as coach, one or more running backs have averaged more than six yards per carry. That consistency has opened up the rest of Oregon’s offense, which led to the Ducks scoring 44.2 points per game in 2023.

The most reliable member of Oregon’s running back room during that time was Bucky Irving, who is now headed to the NFL after two seasons in Eugene. Irving is projected as a mid-round pick, and whichever team drafts him will get an elite rusher, as well as an elite receiver out of the backfield. Trying to replace him will be a tough task for Oregon, but they have enough talent already on their depth chart to feel comfortable with their 2024 RB room.

Below is a breakdown of every loss and addition to the Ducks RB room, as well as a look at each returning player. I also dive into the most compelling storylines pertinent to the Ducks’ running backs and give an overall outlook for the position in 2024.

2024 Running Backs Outlook: Ducks to key in on home-grown youth in Big Ten era

The Oregon Ducks have a lot of talent at the RB position going into 2024, but they could stand to add a bit of depth this offseason.

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. Earlier this week, we broke down the future of the quarterback position, and took a look at the wide receiver room in 2024. Now let’s focus on the running backs.

One of the traits of a good team is depth and the reality that you don’t need to go into the transfer portal every year for a potential starter. Oregon went this route last season as the Ducks had a new coach and new system and they hit the jackpot twice with Bucky Irving and Noah Whittington.

While that is where Dan Lanning currently stands with his roster, it doesn’t mean they don’t have an eye on the portal for potential additions that can be made.

With Irving leaving for the NFL and Whittington coming off injury, the Ducks might go into the portal for depth purposes. Currently, the Ducks have a number of incredibly talented players in their RB room, all of whom were highly-rated recruits, and provide a high ceiling going forward. There are some veterans with experience, like Noah Whittington and Jordan James, and also some young studs who are threatening to break out at any moment, like Jayden Limar and Dante Dowdell.

There’s also one RB in Oregon’s 2024 class, and potentially another one joining over the next couple of weeks as well. Let’s look at the full RB breakdown for the Ducks and see what the state of the position is going forward.

Instant Reactions: Oregon bounces back with 38-24 win over Washington State

A week after Oregon’s devastating loss to Washington, the Ducks were able to regain momentum with a 38-24 win at home over the Washington State Cougars. After struggling to finish drives after the beginning of the game, Oregon’s offense committed to running the ball and they started to score consistently.

Ducks’ RB Bucky Irving was the star of the show today as he finished with three of Oregon’s TDs. Irving ended up getting hurt in the fourth quarter, but he walked off under his own power. Hopefully, he’s healthy enough to play against Utah next week because the Ducks will need him.

Washington State’s offense played well throughout the game and finished with nearly 500 yards, but they struggled too much on defense to stop the Ducks’ offense, which allowed Oregon to get the win.

Ranking Oregon’s top offensive and defensive players per PFF grades at midway point of season

Ranking Oregon’s top offensive and defensive players at midway point of 2023 season

We are just about midway through the 2023 season for the Oregon Ducks, so it feels like a good opportunity to take stock of where we are at, and how the team got to this point.

Through five games, it’s hard to think things could have gone much better for the Ducks than they have. Dan Lanning and his team are undefeated for the first time through five games since 2013, and they’re one of two teams in the nation with a defense and offense ranked inside the top 10 for total yards.

Obviously, it’s been the players who have gotten them to this point, so we want to take a second to highlight the guys responsible for the early success. While it’s easy to pore over box scores and see the statistical leaders on the team, we want to do what we do every week after a game and head to Pro Football Focus to see how they graded everyone out using their advanced metrics.

With an eye towards both offense and defense, here are the 10 top-graded players on both sides of the ball for the Ducks so far this season.

Note: For this exercise, in order to highlight players who have had a sizeable impact on the season, we made it a requirement that you play a minimum of 10% offensive or defensive snaps thus far. Apologies to true freshman LB Jerry Mixon, who is the highest-graded overall player on Oregon’s team thus far, but missed the cut-off by a single snap.

What loss of Noah Whittington means for Bucky Irving, Oregon RB rotation and rest of the Ducks

Noah Whittington is out for the year. What does that mean for Bucky Irving, Jordan James, Dante Dowdell, and Jayden Limar? Let’s examine further…

The unfortunate news came on Wednesday morning that the Oregon Ducks are not expecting running back Noah Whittington to return this season after suffering an apparent knee injury in the Week 4 win over the Colorado Buffaloes.

In a second-half run, Whitting went down and appeared to have his left leg rolled up on by a defender. The extent of the injury has not been made clear, but I’ve been told it is a knee injury, not an ankle injury, as was previously suspected.

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Regardless of the location of the injury, it is clear the Ducks will have to go forward in the season without one of their top three running backs, a member of the trio that has been among the best in the conference thus far in 2023.

While it is a major loss, there are some important notes to make about the injury, and what it means for both Whittington and the Ducks going forward. Here are some of my biggest notes on the matter:

Stock Report: Jordan Burch officially arrives, while Troy Franklin makes another statement

Evan Williams and Jordan Burch are dominating on defense, while Troy Franklin continues to impress. Our stock report for Week 5.

Over the last several weeks, our stock reports for the Oregon Ducks have gotten a little bit chummy, to be completely honest.

It’s hard to knock these players for much when they are winning games by an average of 39.8 points per game and are 5-0 on the season for the first time since 2013.

While we normally set out in a stock report article to highlight who played well, and who might need to perform a little bit better, there have been very few things to criticize over the last several weeks.

That was the case again on Saturday in a 42-6 win over the Stanford Cardinal. The Ducks struggled early, punting on their first two possessions and falling behind 6-0. A 42-0 run from there left any doubt about this team behind.

There was some fantastic play from the defense, explosive play from the offense, and, all-in-all, an impressive performance from the Ducks.

Here’s our stock report following all of the action:

3 keys to victory for Oregon against the Stanford Cardinal

This week, we’re back to a point where going into the Saturday game, it doesn’t seem like the final score will be that close. While the Oregon Ducks have had some thrilling games against the Cardinal in recent history, this likely won’t be one of those. In our most recent Pac-12 Power Rankings, Stanford fell to the bottom, which is likely where they’ll stay for the remainder of the season.

Still, this is an important game for the Ducks. With their bye week coming up, this will be Oregon’s last game before they head up to Washington. It will be important for the Ducks to end Saturday’s game on a high note so that they’re playing their best football heading into Seattle.

With that goal in mind, I’ve listed the three things I think Oregon needs to do or achieve against Stanford to be as ready as they can to face off against Michael Penix Jr. and the Washington Huskies in a few weeks. They’re listed below.

Solidify the Offensive Line

Since the beginning of the season, the Ducks’ offensive line has grown tremendously. Through four games, the starting unit seems to have developed chemistry with one another that wasn’t present in the Portland State game. The journey isn’t complete though and I want to see the O-line take another step forward as a unit this Saturday. UW has one of the best pass-rushers in the country in Bralen Trice, so it will be important for this O-line to be at the best they’ve ever been.

Consistency across the secondary

CB Khyree Jackson made headlines after he allowed only 2 receptions for 2 yards while breaking up 3 passes against the Colorado Buffaloes. There is a lot of talk that the Alabama transfer is a few steps away from becoming a star. However, across the field at the CB2 position, there is a bit of uncertainty. Jahlil Florence, who was the primary CB2 through the first three games, only played 15 snaps against Colorado. This might be due to him rehabbing a small injury, but regardless, the CB2 position was fulfilled by the committee last weekend. While that probably isn’t a concern against Stanford, it is definitely a concern against Washington who has one of the nation’s top receiving corps. I hope to see that position become more solidified this weekend so that there are no questions going into the UW game.

Dominant rushing game

The Ducks showcased their dominant rushing attack last Saturday and used it to totally dismantle Colorado’s defense. However, going into the Stanford game (and likely the Washington game) Oregon will be without Noah Whittington and will need to use their depth at RB to match his production. This means that guys like Jordan James, Dante Dowdell, and perhaps even Jayden Limar will need to come ready to play against the Cardinal, because they may be cast into the fray against the Huskies.

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Stock Report: Ducks see nothing but risers in 81-7 win over Portland State

Gary Bryant Jr. and Ty Thompson had big days on Saturday. The same can be said for Bryce Boettcher. Here are our biggest stock-risers of the week.

With an opening game against an FCS school where you put up a program-record 81 points and win by a margin of 74, it feels wrong to say that anyone saw their stock drop on the day.

For the Oregon Ducks, there was a long list of players — mostly young players — who got onto the field Saturday afternoon in the 81-7 win against the Portland State Vikings who showed what they could do after a long and hard offseason. We want to highlight them.

Throughout the season, we will bring this Stock Report to you every week after Saturday’s game, singling out the players who performed the best and saw their stock rise the most, and also identifying a few players who may have had a tough day.

As you would expect in the season-opener, there weren’t any players who saw their stock fall in Oregon’s dominant win over the Vikings.

Here are the guys whose stock rose the most in my mind: