Kyler Kasper enrolled a year early and jumped into the deep end with the Ducks. He’s starting to see that bold move pay off.
Kyler Kasper might have felt like a fish out of water during the 2022 season.
Originally a member of the 2023 recruiting class, Kasper verbally committed to the Oregon Ducks as a high school junior on Easter Sunday in 2022 and made the bold decision to enroll at the U of O a year early, passing on his senior year of high school football.
He didn’t mind skipping his final opportunity to play a big role under the Friday night lights. He wanted to get a jump-start on his career at the next level.
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As a freshman in the 2022 season, Kasper was by far one of the youngest players on the Ducks. While he possessed incredible talent, he was still raw and needed a lot of molding. Playing time was sparse, but there were lessons learned every day.
Now, as a redshirt freshman who has been joined by others from his original high school class, Kasper has a leg up and is ready to contribute.
“He’s technically supposed to be part of the class that’s here right now. So I think obviously, he got a head start,” said wide receiver coach Junior Adams. “It’s paying off.”
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There is a lot of talent in Oregon’s WR room this spring, from Troy Franklin to Traeshon Holden, Tez Johnson, and Kris Hutson. Kasper has repeatedly had his name mentioned as a player who could start to have an impact on offense, though. His size — 6-foot-5, 195 pounds — gives the Ducks’ WR corp a new element, and his past production — Kasper was a 4-star recruit rated as the No. 150 player in the 2022 class — makes it easy to project a high upside.
Based on what Adams has seen so far from Kasper this spring, we aren’t far away from the redshirt freshman proving what he’s capable of on the field.
“Kyler made some plays today in practice,” Adams said. “Last few days he’s been playing with a little more urgency. He’s been playing big. He made a big play in the endzone today, which I thought was good to see. He made a play in the middle of the field. He’s getting better.”
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More than the on-field production, an extra year of being in the Oregon system has allowed Kasper a leg up when it comes to understanding the system. The college game moves faster than it does in high school, and the schemes are more complicated. There’s a reason you rarely see true freshmen having a massive impact in their first year at the collegiate level; it takes a bit of time to get acclimated. Kasper took that challenge head-on and jumped into the deep end with both feet.
“He’s also getting better in the meeting room, and I think that’s where it all starts at,” Adams said.
There’s nothing guaranteeing that Kasper is going to be one of the Ducks’ best WRs this season. As I said before, there is a lot of talent at the position, and a lot of mouths to feed when it comes to targets. However, Kasper has proved early on that he is serious about his craft, and he’s willing to work hard to get to where he wants to go. As the son of Kevin Kasper, a former NFL wide receiver, you can guarantee that Kyler has aspirations of playing on Sundays.
The first step to getting there is having an impact on Saturdays. Based on what we’re hearing so far, it doesn’t seem like we’ll have to wait too long in Eugene to see that happen.
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