In Dan Lanning’s time at Oregon, the Oregon Ducks have quickly become a hot spot for wide receiver talent. Troy Franklin has been the most notable of those wideouts, but other WRs — like Tez Johnson, Traeshon Holden, and Evan Stewart — have brought a lot of skill to the position group.
Another talented WR on the Ducks roster is Kyler Kasper. Headed into his third season as a Duck, Kasper hasn’t seen the field much in his first two years, but his stock could be on the rise. After the Ducks’ fifth spring practice on Saturday, Holden and WRs coach Junior Adams had praise for the junior WR’s growth.
“I’m glad you asked about that because Kyler’s made big strides this offseason,” Adams said. “Where you see that he’s grown is in two areas for me. One has been just the playbook, right? And understanding what we’re doing and where we’re going.”
“And two, you can see the weight room is paying off. You can see his strength; he’s run a little bit better, he’s run a little bit stronger, a little bit more grounded on the catch, stronger at the point of contact in the run game. And he’s taken the next step as far as what he’s doing in the classroom or what he’s doing when we’re not on the field and outside of this building.”
Kasper redshirted after his first year at Oregon, and in 2023, he played in 12 games, registering 117 offensive snaps but only recording two receptions — although he nearly had a spectacular TD against Portland State. As a recruit, Kasper was a 4-star player and the 29th-best WR in his class according to 247 Sports.
What jumps out first with Kasper is his size at 6 feet, 6 inches, which allows to him bring down almost any jump ball. He also brings decent speed for his size. If the mental aspects of his game have taken strides as Adams suggested, Kasper could be a scary player.
Like Adams, Holden highlighted the mental side of Kasper’s game as one of his biggest improvements.
“Kyler’s growing mentally for sure,” Holden said. “That was probably just the biggest thing for him last year. But like now, you just see in the meeting rooms. like before, Kyler would shut down if somebody would say something to him, but now it’s like he’s more eager to listen. So you can definitely see him growing.”
Oregon’s 2024 receiver room already feels infinitely deep, and there won’t be enough room on the field to showcase the abundance of talent at the position. But, if Kasper keeps taking steps forward, his name might start getting thrown into the mix, and we could see him take on an elevated role in the offense.
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