Tag: marcus harper

Column: Dan Lanning’s culture to face stress test as injuries complicate championship aspirations

With injuries to WR Tez Johnson and RG Marcus Harper, the Oregon Ducks will be stress-tested as their championship dreams forge ahead.

The Oregon Ducks left Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday afternoon with a 21-point win, a 9-0 record and a guarantee that Sunday would kick off their third consecutive week as the No. 1 team in the nation.

Dan Lanning’s team became the first since 2015’s Michigan State Spartans to beat both the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes in the same season. It took them all of 10 weeks to establish themselves as the clear king of the Big Ten Conference in 2024.

You’d think the vibes among the fan base were high, right?

Wrong. All anyone could concern themselves with after the 38-17 victory was a looming negative that has plagued many seasons in Eugene.

Injuries.

We’ve seen championship aspirations knocked sideways in years past, most famously in 2007 with Dennis Dixon tearing his ACL in the desert. Each of the last two years, Oregon has had an injury or two derail its season late. Bo Nix’s ankle sprain led to a loss against Washington, and a slew of injuries to Jordan Burch, Troy Franklin, and Khyree Jackson ended the Ducks’ College Football Playoff hopes in Las Vegas.

So familiar feelings rose to the surface on this crisp, November Saturday in Ann Arbor when star wide receiver Tez Johnson jogged off the field on the first drive of the game, favoring his right shoulder. He made a pit stop at the blue medical tent before heading to the locker room. He later emerged in street clothes with a sling on his right arm.

The CBS broadcast team speculated it was a separated shoulder or a fractured collarbone. Either way, the conversation began about whether it would be a two-game absence for Oregon’s leading pass-catcher — a player on pace to break his own Oregon record for most receptions in a season — or something longer that could spill into the postseason. I’m told to expect the latter.

The situation worsened for the Ducks later in the game when starting right guard Marcus Harper went down with an apparent knee injury. He headed to the medical tent and emerged with the knee wrapped in ice.

Laments of being a cursed program started to ring out on social media almost immediately. The familiar feelings of broken championship dreams resurfaced. I heard them and understood them. This time around, I met them with a different feeling.

This time around, Lanning’s culture may provide enough cushion to keep those dreams alive.

Remember a few weeks ago when Oregon overcame every curse, jinx and mistake known to a Duck to beat the Ohio State Buckeyes at home? I wrote then that it felt as if a new era of Oregon football was beginning, and trauma-ridden fans who went into each big game expecting the worst might need a change of disposition.

Why can’t that be the case here, as well?

Should Tez Johnson miss the next five weeks and be unavailable for a Big Ten Championship game appearance, it will hurt. Should his career at Oregon be over, it would be devastating. Johnson leads the team with 64 catches for 649 yards and 8 touchdowns. You don’t just make up for that overnight.

Oregon has the depth to ease the burden, though. The Ducks have an Evan Stewart, Traeshon Holden, Justius Lowe, Terrance Ferguson and Kenyon Sadiq up their sleeve. Hell, we might even find out in the coming weeks that they have a Jeremiah McClellan and Jurrion Dickey hiding up there as well.

They have a culture that has prepared them to weather storms like this. It’s something they’ve been preparing for since the summer months.

“You say at the beginning of every season, ‘I don’t know if people realize what this guy’s role might become,'” Lanning said earlier this year. “Still, we’ve had a lot of guys’ roles that have grown because of availability, but they were also ready for those moments when they came.”

In other words, next man up.

It’s a cliche that gets passed around the football world like a runny nose at daycare, but a mentality that has been revered in Lanning’s program. Injuries happen in college football every day. You can protect against them, but never eradicate them.

So while losing Tez and Marcus for any amount of time is difficult and will stress test this team, I’m not as worried about Oregon’s future as I may have been in years past.

Like we said after that program-altering win over Ohio State: Something about this team feels different. Maybe that something is enough to keep these championship hopes alive a little longer.

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Oregon Ducks unveil ‘Gang Green’ uniform combo with a twist for Week 1 vs. Idaho

Gang Green with a twist? The Oregon Ducks have done it again.

The Oregon Ducks are doing Oregon Duck things for the Week 1 matchup against the Idaho Vandals on Saturday afternoon inside Auzen Stadium.

On Wednesday evening, Oregon unveiled the uniforms they will wear for the matchup. They are breaking out their new “Gang Green” kits from the Generation O line, which was unveiled this summer.

However, the Ducks put a little bit of a twist on the “Gang Green” look. Instead of having everything green, as we saw during the unveiling this summer, Oregon is throwing a yellow face mask on the helmets, giving it a little bit of a pop.

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The face mask goes well with the yellow numbers and accents on the jersey. It was modeled by offensive lineman Marcus Harper ahead of the game.

Gang Green With a Twist

We saw the Ducks wear something similar to this in 2022 in Dan Lanning’s first game as the head coach of Oregon, going up against the Georgia Bulldogs down in Atlanta.

This game against Idaho is expected to go differently than that one. Oregon is favored by more than six touchdowns and is expected to get through this contest with minimal trouble.

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Duck players excited for release of new ‘Generation O’ uniforms at Oregon this year

“We’ve got some stuff cooking,” Jeffrey Bassa said about the new uniforms.

Football is back in the air in Eugene as the Oregon Ducks resumed spring practice on Tuesday morning, but there is an underlying excitement that could be felt during player interviews that stems from an announcement made by the team last month.

New uniforms are coming for the Ducks in 2024 as they embark on the Big Ten era for the first time. While we’ve grown accustomed to different jersey combinations that are unveiled each and every week during the season, there is a new buzz surrounding the uniforms this year, with the team expected to unveil the new template at some point this summer.

“We got some stuff cooking,” senior linebacker Jeffrey Bassa said on Tuesday after practice.

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Bassa is one of the leaders of the team, and one of the prominent voices in the “uniform committee,” which he says is comprised of himself, Marcus Harper, Tez Johnson and Traeshon Holden, and equipment administrator Kenny Farr.

“It was great to sit down there in the room with Kenny and see everything he has planned for the year,” Bassai said. “To the little details that he does with what helmet we’re gonna wear, what socks we’re gonna wear with this. It was amazing just to be part of history. I know this is going to be a huge year with the uniforms and stuff like that. I know people are excited.”

One thing that Lanning has made of point of during his time in Eugene is connecting this new era of football to past generations of the Oregon Ducks. We’ve see that through throwback uniforms and the incorporation of past players in the program. It sounds like there may be some elements of that with the uniforms going forward as well, with some tie-ins to past versions of jerseys.

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“Same Oregon scheme that we always do,” said left guard Marcus Harper. “Nice, sleek design, real fast. I feel like some of the old colorways some people have had on Twitter might be on there, some good throwbacks that I feel like we haven’t seen since the De’Anthony Thomas era. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

A release date for the uniforms hasn’t been announced yet, but you can guess that they will likely be unveiled sometime later this summer, either before or during fall camp begins.

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Oregon offensive lineman Marcus Harper II announces his return for 2024

Oregon Duck offensive lineman Marcus Harper II is the latest football player to announce he will be returning in 2024.

At this point, it’s more notable for a Duck to announce he was leaving the football program rather than staying.

A plethora of Ducks with the option of either declaring for the NFL draft or going into the portal have chosen to remain in te program for the 2024 season and Oregon’s much-anticipated debut in the Big Ten Conference.

The latest Duck to announce he was returning for the 2024 season is offensive lineman Marcus Harper II, a 6-foot-3, 325-pounder from Chicago Heights, Ill.

Harper will be part of an offensive line unit in 2024, one of the best and most experienced in the Big Ten next season. There were concerns about whether this new unit would form chemistry, but they proved they had chemistry and much more. Quarterback Bo Nix was sacked just three times and now new signal caller Dillon Gabriel can feel even more comfortable in knowing he will be protected in his only season as a Duck.

Oregon Ducks Injury Report: Latest intel heading into Week 1 vs. Portland State

The latest look at Oregon’s projected injury report going into Saturday’s season-opener vs. Portland State.

The Oregon Ducks received some positive news on the injury front going into the Week 1 game against the Portland State Vikings, but there are some players on the roster who have been added to the list over the past couple of days.

On Monday night, it became clear that starting center Jackson Powers-Johnson would return to practice and was expected to play in Saturday’s season-opener. Powers-Johnson was at both days of practice that media members were able to watch this week, and looks to be participating in all drills.

Other players on the offensive line, like Nishad Strother, are still in question, as well as a few defensive players.

Here is the full updated injury report based on intel gathered by Ducks Wire managing editor Zachary Neel through watching practice and talking with coaches this week:

A’lique Terry updates competition for Ducks’ starting center position

A’lique Terry updates competition for Ducks’ starting center position

Taking over for someone with the stature and pedigree of Alex Forsyth is no easy task. After spending several years at Oregon and acting as one of the most consistent pieces on the offensive line, checking in and out of coverages with ease and keeping one of the nation’s best offensive lines together in 2022, Forsyth’s departure to the NFL certainly leaves a hole behind him.

Now it is up to someone on Oregon’s roster to fill that void going into 2023. There are a number of players competing for the starting spot at center under new OL coach A’lique Terry, and going into the third week of fall camp, the competition is starting to reach a head.

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“Right now, we’ve still got a solid competition,” Terry said after practice on Friday. “We’ve got Jackson Powers-Johnson in there. We’ve got Marcus [Harper] in there. We’ve got Iapani Laloulu. Charlie Pickard and Kanen Rossi. We’ve got five guys right now who are all doing a tremendous job.”

In the spring, it was viewed as a competition mainly between Powers-Johnson and Harper. However, Terry says that the other guys on the depth chart have done a great job of upping the level of competition and pushing those guys at the top.

“I think they’re all competing at a tremendous level right now, and I think it’s a good mixture between JPJ, Marcus, and Poncho (Iapani). The more experience we get at center, the better we’re going to be,” Terry said. “If at any point you’re able to have more than one guy who can think like Alex Forsyth did and be able to get everybody on the same page, the team gets better. Those guys are continuing to progress and continuing to grow.”

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The Ducks are in a tough position of having to replace almost the entirety of their starting offensive line from last year. Only Harper remains from a unit that ranked first in the nation when it comes to sacks allowed in 2022, while the other four starters — Forsyth, Ryan Walk, T.J. Bass, and Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu — graduated out.

Finding cohesion among the new group will be a challenge, but they certainly have the talent to be a strong unit once again.

The biggest factor will be finding a center that can keep them all together.

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Oregon players continue to rave about OT Josh Conerly’s development this spring

Coaches and players haven’t been shy when asked about OT Josh Conerly. He appears to be making a leap this offseason.

Oregon Ducks offensive lineman Josh Conerly came into camp last season with much fanfare. He was one of the program’s highest recruits in history, and the highest-rated offensive lineman to ever sign with the Ducks. While most true freshmen end up riding the bench for a season, Conerly played some sparingly in 2022, often used in a jumbo, short-yardage package.

Despite playing on the O-line, Conerly’s highlight of the year was actually a touchdown catch at Colorado vs. the Buffaloes. But Conerly wasn’t brought in to catch passes. He was recruited to protect the quarterback and open running lanes, following in the long line of successful left tackles at Oregon that includes Penei Sewell, Tyrell Crosby, and TJ Bass in recent history.

According to his teammates, Conerly has worked hard in this off-season and is well on his way to reaching his high potential.

“You come in as a freshman like he did and just so young, you just get thrown into the fire,” said Marcus Harper, the only returning starter from Oregon’s OL in 2022. “He’s really sat down and kind of learned his playbook, honed in on his technique a lot more. He’s changed his body in the weight room, put some more body weight on him. I think he’s up to like 300 pounds if I’m not mistaken. He’s just taking this seriously.”

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With the Ducks losing four of their five starters up front from a season ago, there is currently a clean slate. While spots are open, there is an abundance of talented players working hard to cement their place at the top of the depth chart. While Conerly may have been the highest-rated player among them, none of that matters anymore. In order to win a starting spot, the sophomore is going to have to prove what he’s capable on the field and prove that the litany of recruiting ratings was accurate.

“I think last year him getting a couple of reps, he kind of got a little bit of a feel for the game,” Harper said. “He also saw the vets — Alex (Forsyth), (Ryan) Walk, you know, everybody across that offensive line — how they perform day in and day out. So he’s got to see that first person and now he’s taking the next step. Even though he is young, he’s realizing, ‘Okay, this is how they did it and the results that they got, let me take that and put that in my toolbox.’ So he’s done a tremendous job of that in his offseason and in the spring.”

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While the entire offensive line is in transition as a few veterans have moved on to the next level, Conerly is seemingly poised to be the leader of that next generation, so to speak. Harper’s praise is not the first we heard of Conerly’s leap this spring. A couple of weeks ago, head coach Dan Lanning singled out the offensive tackle as someone who had impressed him early on.

“A guy that really stands out to me going into Year 2 is Josh Conerly,” Lanning said. “This guy’s working his tail off in everything that he absolutely does. The way he stretches, just the way he approaches everything you know, his mentality in the classroom as well.”

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We knew a year ago when Conerly chose Oregon over the USC Trojans that the Ducks were getting a player who could potentially be dominant, and had an NFL future ahead of him if the cards played out the right way. Duck fans have seen elite tackle play in the past, with Sewell being the latest to get drafted, going to the Detroit Lions with the No. 7 overall pick in 2021.

It’s far too early to say that Conerly is on that same path; he has yet to start a game for the Ducks. However, if the buzz from coaches and players in the Oregon program is to be believed, he’s well on his way to reaching that 5-star potential in Eugene.

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