Tag: Jurrion Dickey

Just a year into his college career, Oregon teammates say WR Jurrion Dickey’s ‘got it’

“He’s got it, for sure,” Holden said. “Jurrion’s gonna keep getting better.”

If we’re going to look at things from an objective standpoint, it’s fair to say that fans of the Oregon Ducks have been a bit impatient.

When former 5-star receiver Jurrion Dickey landed in Eugene ahead of the 2023 season, fans expected him to have an instant impact, and find a role in the offense right away. Dickey was the highest-rated WR to sign with the Ducks since Cameron Colvin and was rated as the 18th-best player in his recruiting class. It’s understandable why crazed Oregon fanatics were hoping to see him pop.

On Saturday, though, wide receiver coach Junior Adams provided some much-needed realism.

“He still hasn’t been here a year yet. Sometimes we forget about that.”

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It’s often easy to look past the fact that Dickey has been on campus and with the Ducks for a matter of eight months. It’s easier to ignore that fact when you talk to some of Jurrion’s teammates who are able to watch what he does each and every day at practice.

More than the physical growth and his production on the field, what has allowed the redshirt freshman to take a leap this offseason has been his mental growth. No longer is he focused solely on learning the ins and outs of the playbook, and taking an extra beat to get lined up. Now he’s in a position where he’s helping teach the young guys on the roster.

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“Even though he’s a young guy, he’s teaching the freshmen that just came in, which is really big on his part,” Tez Johnson said. “When we first got here, we tried to get Jurrion to know the playbook fast. We tried to force it on him. And it was kind of hectic for him at first, but he knew we was trying to help him. So now that he’s teaching the little guys, us older guys see that and really, really admire what he’s doing.”

Adams says that it’s his maturity that’s been the biggest factor in Dickey’s growth off of the field, and his commitment to his craft.

“He’s gotten this far because he’s putting in the work,” Adams said. “He’s understanding the day-to-day, what time he comes into the building every day. When practice is over he’s getting straight to the film. He’s taking good notes in meetings.”

All of that has resulted in a supremely talented player who is starting to come into his own. While a knee injury held him out for the majority of his freshman season, Dickey now enters his second year in Eugene with hopes of finding a role in what Traeshon Holden calls the best receiver room in the nation. It’s not hard to see a world where he’s eventually leading that room.

“He’s got it, for sure,” Holden said. “Jurrion’s gonna keep getting better.”

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Jurrion Dickey is living up to expectations as Ducks’ spring practice begins

Oregon Ducks redshirt freshman WR Jurrion Dickey has started to turn heads and live up to expectations in Eugene.

The Oregon Ducks are in the tough position of having to replace one of the best players to ever come through Eugene this offseason. Troy Franklin, arguably the No. 1 wide receiver in program history, is heading to the NFL draft later this spring after putting up historic numbers in 2023.

Of course, the Ducks aren’t lacking for talent in the WR room, with guys like Tez Johnson, Traeshon Holden, Gary Bryant Jr., and Evan Stewart all looking to take over as the No. 1 option in 2024. However, it may be a player who is not currently a projected starter, and who only has one catch on his resume that could make the biggest impact going forward.

Redshirt freshman Jurrion Dickey is ready to become a household name.

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A year ago, he signed with the Ducks as a 5-star prospect, ranked as the second-best receiver in the nation, and the 18th-best player in the 2023 class. He stands behind only Cameron Colvin as the highest-rated receiver to ever sign with Oregon.

While an injury sidelined him for much of his freshman season, Dickey looks primed for a breakout in 2024.

“He looks like the player we all anticipated he would look like,” Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein said on Saturday after the Ducks’ second spring practice. “He’s in shape and healthy. I love that kid. He has worked his tail off to get in good shape to go out and produce for us. The sky is the limit for Jurrion, as we all know.”

Talent was never the problem for Dickey. While the knee injury was partly responsible for his limited action a year ago, the understanding of a complicated offensive system also played a part. Oftentimes, fans see a generational talent like Dickey and expect him to be able to contribute right away, but they overlook the necessary intake process for a young player trying to learn a new scheme.

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From Year 1 to Year 2, that’s one of the things that has changed the most for Dickey.

“He knows what to do and where to line up,” Dickey said. “When you know what to do and where to line up, you can play fast and play to your ability. When you don’t know where to line up and are looking for help, you can’t play at full speed because you don’t know what route to run. That has nothing to do with his intelligence. Jurrion is an extremely intelligent guy. It’s just new. Now he’s at a point where he gets lined up like that. He knows his routes.”

Of course, knowing what to do and having the ability to do it won’t always be enough. In order for Dickey to see the field and actually have an outsized impact in his redshirt freshman season, he’s going to have to compete at a high level. The Ducks have one of the most talented receiver rooms in the nation, with high-level returners and an elite prospect coming over from Texas A&M in Stewart — the No. 1 WR and No. 6 overall player in the 2022 recruiting class.

Stein sees a path forward for Dickey, though, and a world where he can crack that rotation.

“Just keep competing. When the ball is up in the air, go make the play,” Stein said. “He’s a big-bodied receiver. On 1-on-1 contested catches, we expect him to go catch the ball. It shouldn’t be a 50-50 with him, he should go make the play. That’s what he’s shown. He really took a big step in bowl prep. It was like another 13 practices of spring football going over the base install again. You saw those down-the-field routes develop with him, and with like Troy or Ferg, he’s taking the ball off of defenders’ heads.”

Over the next 13 spring practices, we will get to see and hear how Dickey continues to grow and find a place in the offense. It will all culminate in the annual spring game on April 27th, where fans could be in store for a breakout from one of the most talented WRs that the Ducks have seen in quite some time.

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Oregon’s former 5-star WR Jurrion Dickey is 100% healthy and ready for his breakout

Oregon Ducks’ former 5-star WR Jurrion Dickey has been getting back to full health all year, and he’s ready for his breakout opportunity.

A few years ago, Oregon was in a similar position to right now. The team was preparing for a low-stakes bowl game with a roster significantly weakened by several starters opting out to head to the NFL.

We always talk about this sort of scenario acting as a perfect breeding ground for breakout performances as young players get an opportunity to show what they can do on a big stage. In that 2021 Alamo Bowl game against Oklahoma, true freshman wide receiver Troy Franklin seized the opportunity, bursting onto the scene with 4 catches for 65 yards and a touchdown, all career highs at that time.

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Franklin went on to become arguably the greatest wide receiver in Oregon school history over the next couple of years. Duck fans are probably hoping true freshman WR Jurrion Dickey can follow a similar trajectory.

It has been a tough road so far for the five-star prospect from Northern California, the same neck of the woods as Franklin. He signed with Oregon as the second-highest-rated receiver in program history — the No. 2 WR in the 2023 class — but did not have the instant impact many expected. Much of that had to do with a knee injury (torn meniscus) he suffered in the first game of his senior season at Menlo-Atherton High School. Much of his freshman season in Oregon was spent rehabilitating and getting up to speed physically instead of getting on the field.

“I feel like I’m 100% right now,” Dickey said on Thursday.

Dickey said it wasn’t until about a month ago that he felt as though he returned to his pre-injury level of health. But he believes the process of growing was important for him, not only by becoming a stronger player, but a stronger person off the field.

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“It was frustrating but you’ve just gotta go through it,” Dickey said. “Sometimes things hit you and you’ve just gotta bounce back from it. I learned a lot of things that I wouldn’t actually pay attention to if I wasn’t injured.”

It wasn’t just things about the game Dickey focused on during his time off the field. He said he learned more about himself as a person.

“It just allowed me to develop outside of football.”

Now, Dickey is healthy and ready to go. He’s also ready for a bigger stage and the opportunity to display what made him such a highly rated player coming into college. On Jan. 1, the Oregon Ducks will take on the Liberty Flames in the Fiesta Bowl, and many eyes will tune in to see what the next potential Oregon WR great has in store.

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“It gives me an opportunity to actually grow, and see how I am on the college level on the football field and in the game situation,” Dickey said.

That’s something that Duck fans have been anxious to see for about a year, ever since Dickey signed on Dec. 21, 2022. In just 10 days, they will finally get the opportunity.

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2024 Wide Receiver Outlook: Promising young talent set to take over for Ducks next season

The Oregon Ducks are expecting a lot of promising young wide receivers to take over in 2024 as the team heads to the Big Ten.

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. On Wednesday, we broke down the future of the quarterback position. Today, let’s turn to wide receivers. 

Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen the wide receiver position take off in Eugene in ways that Oregon Duck fans haven’t seen for a long time. A lot of that is thanks to the style of offense that Dan Lanning and his offensive coordinators — Kenny Dillingham in 2022, Will Stein in 2023 — have chosen to deploy, and part of that is due to the wide receiver talent that is currently residing in Eugene.

There’s no reason to believe that anything should change going forward.

While the Ducks are likely to be without Troy Franklin next year — the arguable best WR in school history is expected to enter the 2024 NFL Draft — there’s a long list of players on the roster and in the 2024 recruiting class who could step up and make a huge difference going forward.

On top of that, there is a high likelihood that Lanning and Co. bring in at least one, and potentially two pass-catchers via the transfer portal this offseason to further bolster the roster.

Let’s look at the various players on the roster, and provide an overview of the projected WR room in 2024 for the Oregon Ducks.

Dan Lanning gives status report on WR Jurrion Dickey and continued development with Ducks

Dan Lanning gives status report on WR Jurrion Dickey and continued development with Ducks

During the NCAA’s early signing period in December, the Oregon Ducks accomplished a great deal. They received many letters of intent from recruits and transfers across the country, including right tackle Ajani Cornelius and edge Matayo Uigalelei. Both have become integral components of this season’s Ducks.

While those players’ commitments were massive victories for the Ducks, the highest-profile signing of the day was five-star wide receiver Jurrion Dickey. He was the No. 2 WR in his class behind only Zachariah Branch. Dickey attended Menlo-Atherton High School in Palo Alto, California, the hometown of Ducks’ WR Troy Franklin. Dickey is the second-highest-rated WR behind only Cameron Colvin to ever sign with the Ducks,.

When Oregon’s jersey numbers were announced this past summer, there was speculation Dickey would redshirt after picking No. 99 — a number not traditionally worn by WRs. Oregon’s WR group is one of the deepest position groups on the team, so there didn’t seem to be much room for a true freshman, despite his immense talent.

Until now, that speculation seemed accurate. Dickey has not seen the field in 2023. On Thursday, however, Dan Lanning spoke to the media after practice and was asked about Dickey’s status. He had this to say:

“Yeah, he did a great job today, had a big catch on us today. You know what, I think he’ll continue to grow. He’s gotten better and better. He’s gotten himself in shape. You know, he was coming off a knee injury there at the end of high school. And I think that he’s really worked himself through that. So hoping that he can certainly help us down the stretch.”

Not only is the Ducks’ WR room one of the deepest parts of the roster, but it has also been one of the most productive. Franklin has, at the very least, put himself in the Biletnikoff conversation. Tez Johnson, Gary Bryant Jr. and Traeshon Holden have been valuable additions. But, as the season progresses, so does fatigue, which makes depth more and more valuable.

The prospect that Dickey may see the field in the coming weeks is an exciting one. His talent is immense. As Lanning mentioned, he has gotten better since coming to Eugene.

If the coaching staff deems he’s ready, there is a high likelihood that when he does see the field, he’ll put on a show. An appearance for the young WR would also provide him with valuable game experience for when he hopefully becomes a more integral member of the Oregon offense down the line.

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‘He’s a raw talent’: Oregon players and coaches impressed, entertained by WR Jurrion Dickey

“The sky is the limit for him.” Jurrion Dickey is developing an early reputation in Eugene as an entertaining guy with an incredibly high ceiling.

If you were to take a random poll of 100 Oregon Duck fans going into the 2023 season, asking them which young player they are most excited to see in the upcoming months, I think the overwhelming answer would be wide receiver, Jurrion Dickey.

As a former 5-star recruit, and the second-highest-rated receiver to ever sign with the Ducks, expectations are high for Dickey. He was rated as the No. 2 WR in the 2023 class, and the No. 18 player in the nation. His reputation precedes him.

While Dickey was not in Eugene for the spring football season, he has been able to take flight with the Ducks over the past few weeks once fall camp started. In many ways, the true-freshman WR has made a strong first impression on players and coaches in Eugene.

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That’s easy to do when you walk onto the practice field sporting the No. 99 on your jersey. While most skill-position players have numbers in the single digit range, or from 10-20, and 80-90, Dickey is a bit different. He wanted that to be known from the jump.

“That’s the number he wanted. He wanted #99, so he got #99,” WR coach Junior Adams said. “If you know Jurrion, that’s Jurrion.”

Some may think that an obscure number for a true freshman might be the result of other numbers already being reserved for established veterans. For Dickey, though, it’s just part of the package.

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“He’s the first guy I’ve ever seen that came out there with #99, but that’s kind of his swag, and I think it’s cool that everybody just lets him be him,” said transfer WR Gary Bryant Jr., who came to Eugene via USC. “You’ve got to know your players and understand when to let him be him. Whatever he can do to go out there and play well on Saturdays and practice well, we will be all for it.”

From the sound of it, Dickey appears to be holding up that end of the bargain. While coaches have said that he is doing a good job of picking up the playbook and studying hard to grasp the schematics of Oregon’s offense, players say that what he’s done on the field thus far is what really stands out.

“When we first got here in fall workouts, we got some player-run practices with no coaches out here,” Bryant said. “He was out there making one-handed catches, making plays. I was like ‘Oh okay, this kid can play.’ He’s a raw talent, he already has it. All he’s got to do is polish it up, learn the playbook, and be detailed, and the sky is the limit for him.”

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With the extensive depth of Oregon’s WR room, there’s no guarantee that Dickey will see the field as a true freshman. In order for him to get an extended run, he has to compete with the likes of Troy Franklin, Traeshon Holden, Tez Johnson, Gary Bryant, Kris Hutson, Kyler Kasper, Ashton Cozart, and Justius Lowe.

The talent may be there to hold his own in that competition, but talent only gets you so far at the college level. In order to have an impact, Dickey needs to know the offense inside and out.

“I think he’s doing a good job in meetings; he’s asking good questions, he’s taking good notes,” Adams said. “Obviously making the transition from high school to college, he’s just learning how to practice. But he’s doing good, he’s made plays and he’s running around, playing fast.”

After missing spring ball, Dickey was thrown into the deep end in the fall, where he now has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to install and comprehension. If he keeps making strides of improvement, though, there’s a good chance we see him get some time at points this fall.

From there, as Bryant said, the sky is the limit.

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‘He’s an exciting player;’ Oregon OC Will Stein impressed by 5-star WR Jurrion Dickey

“He shows up early, he takes notes. He’s doing his best to be a pro,” Will Stein said. “I’m excited about him.”

The last time the Oregon Ducks had a 5-star wide receiver come into the program was back in 2004. The last time that they had a WR drafted in the first or second round was 25 years ago. In the past eight years, there has been only one 1,000-yard WR on the team.

Give Oregon fans a bit of a break if they may be overly excited about the prospect of watching Jurrion Dickey in the coming months and years.

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Dickey, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound beast out in space, comes to the Ducks as the highest-rated WR since Cameron Colvin. He was rated by 247Sports as the No. 18 overall player in the 2023 class, and the No. 2 WR in the nation. The months leading up to his eventual arrival in Eugene have been anticipated, to say the least, and now that he’s got his webbed feet on the ground, the excitement is starting to bubble to the surface.

After practice on Thursday, I asked offensive coordinator Will Stein about his instant impressions of Dickey through two days of fall camp. He’d seen the film, and heard all of the buzz, but what was it like actually watching the 5-star at work?

“He’s a football player, you know? He’s got really, really good ball skills. He wants to be really good,” Stein said. “And he shows up early, he takes notes. He’s doing his best to be a pro. There’s still a lot of growth for him. He’s nowhere near ready to go out and produce at the level that he wants to, but day by day, he’s getting better.”

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Whether fans get a chance to see Dickey this fall is yet to be seen. At the moment, the Ducks have an incredibly stacked WR room, with the likes of Troy Franklin, Kris Hutson, Tez Johnson, Traeshon Holden, and Gary Bryant at the top. Below that group, you also have Kyler Kasper and Justius Lowe looking to make the jump as second-year players.

There is a lot of competition ahead of him, but early on Dickey has shown the desire to be great, and will work towards the future that he wants.

“I see a kid that wants it,” Stein said. “And you know, he’s a football player. He’s gonna block, he’s gonna catch the ball in traffic. He’s an exciting player. I’m excited about him.”

Join the group, Coach Stein.

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3 Ducks freshman named as highly skilled players by ESPN

Jurrion Dickey, Ashton Cozart, and Blake Purchase have all been highlighted by ESPN going into the 2023 season.

ESPN writers Craig Haubert and Billy Tucker released a list of the best incoming freshman with 39 individual skills they selected. Three Oregon Ducks were selected for the list: wide receivers Ashton Cozart and Jurrion Dickey and linebacker Blake Purchase. Below are the ESPN article’s quotes about each player.

Jurrion Dickey – Skill: Best Contested Catch Ability

Dickey, 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, looks like a TE or H-back and has a similar skill set when boxing out smaller DBs on a jump ball and high pointing. Not surprisingly, he’s a basketball player with a near 40-inch vertical and polished ball skills. With his size and potential red zone value, Dickey may have a better shot at carving out a role than Cozart.

As Dickey has climbed the WR rankings in his class, he has really showcased his contested catch ability, especially on back-shoulder throws and high passes. As the ESPN article mentions, his large frame is one of the reasons he is able to compete for nearly every pass, able to both extend for each catch and muscle his defender off the ball. One thing to note about Dickey is in 2023, he will be wearing No. 99 for the Ducks, which has caused some to speculate he will redshirt this season.

Blake Purchase – Best Second-Level Blitzer

You’re not seeing Russaw here as we’re not going to repeat names. While this selection might be a bit of a surprise, it’s hard to argue with the production. Having recorded 30 sacks over his final two high school seasons, Purchase has shown excellent ability to get after the QB. Not a pure speed rusher, he’s a big body with good initial burst but also impressive power, balance and agility. At nearly 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, he may end up putting his hand down, but regardless of utilization, he can generate pressure and fill a need for the Ducks.

On the best high school team in Colorado in 2022, Blake Purchase was far and away the best player. He has the textbook frame of a hard-hitting outside linebacker but still has the speed necessary to be an elite rusher, perhaps more speed than Haubert and Tucker give him credit for. What this means is Purchase has all the skills to be an elite blitzer for Oregon, and hopefully he can turn his raw talent into results early and often for the Ducks’ defense.

Ashton Cozart – Best Deep Threat

At 6-foot-3 with a laser verified 4.45-second 40-yard dash and 10.7 in the 100 meters, Cozart has the size and speed combination to take the top off a defense. He doesn’t always look ultra-fast given his stride, but he will quickly get behind coverage, and his wide catch radius adds to his range as a pass-catcher. Oregon has a strong receiving room, and his impact may be limited this fall despite the rare size and speed combo.

Tez Johnson wasn’t the only speedy WR that the Ducks picked up this offseason, as freshman Cozart might even be faster. While Johnson’s abilities were on display in Oregon’s spring game, Cozart’s speed is no-joke (see the 40-yard dash time Haubert and Tucker highlighted above). Hopefully, he and Dickey will be able to crack into the lineup —perhaps in sets with an empty backfield and an extra WR —and make an impact this season. If Cozart is able to, Haubert and Tucker are likely correct in their assumption that it will come from the long ball, catching Bo Nix’s touchdowns.

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Recruiting Superlatives: Highlighting Oregon’s most notable recruits over last 5 years

Who is the most influential Oregon recruit in the last 5 years? What about the biggest recruit to get away? We give some Duck recruiting superlatives.

On Monday morning, Bruce Feldman and The Athletic put out an article in their series of recruiting breakdowns looking at some of the top teams in the nation over the past couple of decades and offering superlatives for some of the most notable recruits to come through the program.

In the article (subscription required) they talked about Joey Harrington and De’Anthony Thomas as two of the most important recruits in program history, and identified Justin Herbert as the biggest developmental project, rising from an overlooked 3-star into the No. 6 overall pick in the NFL Draft.

I’m not going to bite into Feldman’s writing; it’s very good and deserves your attention. However, it did get me thinking about some superlatives that could be handed out for a more current group of recruits. While Feldman looked as far back as 2000 to identify some top players, I wanted to dial in the microscope a little bit and come of with some superlatives of my own.

For this exercise, I go back five years ago to the 2018 recruiting class, and started from there up to the last class that was signed in 2023. I also threw in a few “future superlatives” for good measure, highlighting a few of the recruits in 2023 and 2024 who I think will have major impacts down the road.

Without further ado, here are my superlatives for the Oregon Ducks recruiting over the past five years:

Jurrion Dickey is wearing what number? Deleted tweet sparks Duck speculation

We would simply like some clarity…

It hardly qualifies as breaking news, but when a new crop of players comes to school and picks which jersey numbers they will wear, it is often notable for interested fans.

However, when one of the most high-profile incoming offensive players chooses a number usually reserved for a defensive lineman, rather than a WR, heads start to turn.

Things get even more interesting when the post about the new number instantly gets deleted.

That’s what took place on Monday afternoon for the Oregon Ducks. 5-star WR Jurrion Dickey announced his arrival in Eugene by tweeting a photo of himself standing next to his locker. Everything was normal about it, aside from the fact that it appears the No. 99 is on his locker, alluding to his jersey number this year.

The tweet was deleted not long after going up, but some screenshots from fans captured the image.

It is incredibly common to see wide receivers with numbers in the 80s, but in my lifetime, I can’t remember seeing anyone wear a number in the 90s, let alone No. 99.

We will wait for clarity and see if the 5-star WR indeed does suit up in the double-nines come this call.

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