Tag: oregon ducks

Seahawks add former Oregon blocker to offseason roster

Seahawks add former Oregon blocker to offseason roster

The Seattle Seahawks are adding an offensive lineman to their offseason roster. Former Oregon Ducks blocker Sala Aumavae-Laulu signed a futures/reserve contract with the team on Monday. Aumavae-Laulu possesses a few connections to the current staff that made him a fit.

Aumavae-Laulu was a sixth-round selection (No. 199 overall) of the Baltimore Ravens during the 2023 NFL Draft. Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator during Aumavae-Laulu’s rookie season.

Aumavae-Laulu spent this past campaign with the Ravens as well. In total, he’s appeared in two regular-season contests. Aumavae-Laulu has spent the majority of his time with the Ravens developing on their practice squad.

Aumavae-Laulu was the first Oregon offensive player selected during the 2023 draft. As a senior in 2022, the Hilo, Hawaii native started all 13 games at right tackle. He’s also practiced as a guard, showcasing versatility in the NFL.

The Seahawks have the oft-injured Abe Lucas at right tackle. A plethora of offensive linemen are scheduled for free agency, including backup right tackle Stone Forsythe. Aumavae-Laulu will attempt to compete for a roster spot throughout training camp.

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Fresh off National Championship run Chip Kelly hired as Raiders OC

One year at Ohio State was all it took for Chip Kelly to take an offense to a national championship and a return to the NFL with the Raiders.

Chip Kelly is back in the NFL. After leading the Ohio State offense to the National Championship, the former Eagles and Oregon Ducks head coach will be the Raiders next offensive coorcinator.

Kelly was at Ohio State for just one season, which makes for some impressive results. Previous to that he had been a head coach for several years, starting at Oregon before heading to the NFL to coach the Eagles, then spent a year with the 49ers, before heading back to the college ranks at UCLA.

While Kelly’s head coaching record has not great since his days at Oregon, it’s his work as an offensive coordinator where he has developed a reputation as one of football’s greatest innovators.

He and Pete Carroll coached against each other for three seasons in the Pac-10. The first two with Kelly as Oregon’s OC and the final season in 2009 when Kelly was promoted to head coach. The Ducks went to the Rose Bowl that year, which was Carroll’s final season at USC before leaving to take the Seahawks job.

Chiefs scouting report: Oregon Ducks OT Ajani Cornelius

The Kansas City #Chiefs might want to target a player like Oregon #Ducks right tackle Ajani Cornelius in the 2025 NFL draft.

The Kansas City Chiefs spent three draft picks on offensive linemen last year. They must continue investing in the offensive line in the 2025 NFL draft to eliminate the depth issues they ran into this season. The Chiefs need to find a developmental tackle they trust and a quality backup guard.

Cornelius played right tackle for the Ducks but projects best as a guard at the NFL level. His range in pass protection makes him vulnerable against explosive rushers. Kicking inside to guard mitigates this concern and makes the most of his power.

Cornelius channels impressive power through his upper body to overwhelm pass rushers. The pop in his punches re-route defenders or causes their rush plans to stall. Cornelius uses his grip strength to latch and arrest defenders. This makes him effective at framing blocks and taking control of plays.

Cornelius plays with a high pad level and suffers from some waist bending in pass protection, but that doesn’t disrupt his anchor. He absorbs power rushes and rarely lets defenders win through his frame. Once he anchors, Cornelius uses his core strength to torque defenders and force them around the pocket.

Cornelius generates some splash plays in the run game. He works to the second level and looks for opportunities to pancake defenders. Cornelius latches and drives through contact to put defenders on skates before running them into the ground.

Cornelius lacks high-end foot speed. This makes him slower than ideal in space and limits his ability to redirect in pass protection quickly. There’s room for his hand placement and counters to improve.

It’s fair to expect future growth for Cornelius. He’s a fifth-year college veteran but only spent two seasons at Oregon after starting his career at Rhode Island. Cornelius projects as a fourth-round selection.

Tez Johnson deemed ‘unguardable’ at Reese’s Senior Bowl

Oregon Ducks wide receiver Tez Johnson has been among the most impressive players this week at the Reese’s Senior Bowl.

Oregon Ducks star wide receiver Tez Johnson has had five years of college football to build a resume and show NFL teams why they should consider drafting him to the professional level. What he has done over the last day at the Reese’s Senior Bowl may be having the biggest impact, though.

Among the best players in the nation, Johnson is reportedly turning heads in Mobile, Alabama. Early on, he was deemed ‘unguardable’ in coverage against elite defensive backs.

Check out some of his highlights from Senior Bowl practice here. 

While Johnson’s measurables were less than ideal earlier this week—he weighed 5 feet 9 inches and 156 pounds—he has shown what he is capable of on the field with his elusive quickness and breakaway ability.

In two seasons at Oregon, Johnson had 169 catches for 2,080 yards and 20 touchdowns, acting as one of the Ducks’ best players of the Dan Lanning era.

There is still a long pre-draft process ahead of us leading up to April, but it’s clear early on that Johnson has made a name for himself this week at the Senior Bowl, and it would not be a shock to see some NFL team take a chance on him with a mid-round pick this year.

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Oregon Ducks safety Kobe Savage announces NFL draft decision

Oregon Ducks safety Kobe Savage officially announced his decision when it comes to the 2025 NFL Draft.

The Oregon Ducks are seeing one of their best defensive players opt out of one final year of eligibility and head off to the 2025 NFL Draft.

On Monday, safety Kobe Savage announced that he would officially be moving on from the collegiate level and entering the draft, looking to go pro next year. This was expected to be the case all year long, but after the recent ruling from the NCAA that gave any former junior college player an extra year of eligibility, the door was open for Savage to return to Eugene for one more year.

In his first year with the Ducks, Savage was among the team’s leading tacklers, racking up 64 takedowns with three tackles for loss.

Savage joins running back Jordan James in the small group of players to have opted out of their final year of eligibility and head to the NFL draft. Meanwhile, both WR Evan Stewart and LB Bryce Boettcher announced earlier this month that they would be coming back to Eugene for another year with “unfinished business” to attend to.

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Oregon Ducks offseason hype video hints at potential returners for 2025 season

In an offseason hype video, the Oregon Ducks alluded to some potential major returns of Noah Whittington, Kobe Savage, and Gary Bryant Jr.

One of the biggest topics of conversation for the Oregon Ducks over the past month or so has been personnel — who’s leaving, who’s staying, and who is coming in?

We’ve seen a long list of top-ranked players join the team via high school recruiting and the transfer portal, and several others have declared for the 2025 NFL draft over the past month as well. There are still a couple of players on the roster who have a decision to make when it comes to the NFL draft, though, and we’re waiting for those decisions to be made public.

Well, if you’re one to pause an offseason training video to break down which players are there or not, then you might have picked up one some big-time names in attendance.

The Ducks posted a video of their offseason workouts on Monday, detailing the mantra for the team and how to get better this year. In that video were running back Noah Whittington, wide receiver Gary Bryant Jr., and safety Kobe Savage, all sitting front-row in a meeting led by strength coach Wilson Love.

Does this mean that all of those players are indeed taking their name out of NFL draft contention and returning to Eugene for one more season? Not definitively, but it certainly points to that being the likely case.

Whittington’s return would be a big one for the Ducks, as they bring in Tulane RB transfer Makhi Hughes from the portal and look to have one of the most talented RB duos in the nation. Likewise, Savage would help bring a lot of veteran experience to the secondary, using his final year of eligibility granted by the NCAA for former junior college players.

In 2024, Bryant Jr. spent much of the year out with an injury, so he could be a valuable and experienced piece out wide, as well as in the punt return game should he come back as well.

We will still await official word from any of these guys, but with the deadline coming up for them to stay in the draft or not, it shouldn’t be long until we know for sure about their status for 2025.

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Oregon Basketball falls in AP Poll amid slide in Big Ten play

After losing two of their last three games, the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team falls to No. 16 in the latest AP Poll.

Following a 77-69 loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers this Saturday, the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team has fallen from No. 15 to No. 16 in the AP Poll. The loss to Minnesota moves Oregon’s record to 16-4 overall and 5-4 in the Big Ten.

Through the first three months of the season, the Oregon basketball team has been successful. The 2024-25 Ducks shoot the ball better than any Oregon team from the recent past, and their defensive consistency has been an improvement as well. But amid the overall success, the Ducks have experienced rough patches, including the slide they are on right now.

The Ducks have lost two of their last three games, losing to Purdue at home on Jan 18. and Minnesota on the road this weekend. The Boilermakers and the Golden Gophers are both good teams, but Oregon will need to win games like this to contend for a top seed in March.

A 16-4 record is impressive, but the Ducks 5-4 record in conference play raises concern over whether Oregon can contend with top teams in the Big Ten Championship tournament and, eventually, the NCAA tournament. Earlier this season Oregon took down Alabama (currently ranked No. 4 in the AP Poll), but since, they’ve struggled to beat the top teams on their schedule.

Oregon will have a chance to take down a good opponent this week matching up with the UCLA Bruins on Thursday. The Bruins handed the Ducks their first loss earlier this season in Eugene, and Oregon will look to even things up this time in Los Angeles. UCLA isn’t ranked in the AP Top 25, but they are one of the better teams in the conference.

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Ducks QB Dillon Gabriel to represent Oregon, Oklahoma, UCF on helmet at Senior Bowl

Oregon Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel will wear a helmet featuring logos from all three of his college teams at the Reese’s Senior Bowl.

With the college football season now behind us, the pre-draft process is ramping up, and we’re seeing some of the best players in the nation head down to Mobile, Alabama to participate in the annual Reese’s Senior Bowl.

The Oregon Ducks are sending the most players of anyone in the nation, with eight players participating in the week-long event, leading up to Saturday’s Senior Bowl showcase.

One of the group’s leading members is Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who was among the Heisman Trophy finalists in 2024. Gabriel will go to Mobile representing the Ducks, but with a special twist, the multi-team transfer is going an extra step to have all of his former teams included.

This will be showcased by Gabriel’s special VICIS ZERO2 QB helmet, which is the first-ever helmet engineered to provide position-specific protection for quarterbacks.

On Gabriel’s black helmet, one side will feature the silver Oregon wings, but the other side will have the Oklahoma Sooners logo on it. On the back of the helmet will be the UCF Golden Knights logo.

Photo Courtesy of AJ Salas, VICIS.
Photo Courtesy of AJ Salas, VICIS.
Photo Courtesy of AJ Salas, VICIS.
Photo Courtesy of AJ Salas, VICIS.
Photo Courtesy of AJ Salas, VICIS.

All three logos represent Gabriel’s stops along the way during his college journey. He started his career at UCF, where he spent three years with the Golden Knights from 2019-2021, throwing for 8,037 yards and 70 touchdowns. He spent the next two years of his career in Norman, Oklahoma, where he threw for 6,828 yards and 55 touchdowns.

The last step of Gabriel’s college journey came in the form of one season at Oregon, where he threw for 3,857 yards and 30 touchdowns while leading the Ducks to a Big Ten Championship and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.

All schools were meaningful steps along the way for Gabriel, and they hold a special place in his heart, and on his helmet.

The Senior Bowl kicks off on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 11:30 a.m. PST and will be aired on NFL Network.

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Former Oregon HC Chip Kelly is generating NFL coaching buzz

Former Oregon Ducks head coach Chip Kelly, the current Ohio State offensive coordinator, is generating buzz in NFL coaching circles.

The college football offseason is upon us after Ohio State’s national championship victory over Notre Dame last week, and for most NFL teams, the offseason is already in full swing. Every year, some coaches take NFL jobs after seeing success at the collegiate level. 

One coach generating some NFL buzz is former Oregon Ducks head coach Chip Kelly, the current offensive coordinator of the champion Buckeyes. Kelly has undergone two previous NFL stints, coaching for the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers. Kelly was offered the Eagles’ job following his immense success at Oregon.

Kelly was a massive part of Ohio State’s success this season, turning their offense into a machine. His ability to put Will Howard in situations where he seldom had to make tough throws while also unlocking Jeremiah Smith’s athleticism in the passing game led the Buckeyes to the top.

Despite all of his success as a college coach, Kelly never was able to find much success in the pros. As coach of the Eagles, Kelly went 26-21 in three seasons, and with the 49ers, he went 2-14 and was fired after one season. Following his time in NFL, Kelly returned to college, coaching the UCLA Bruins for six years before electing to leave for Ohio State.

Kelly’s chief strength has always been his playsheet, so a coordinator role in the NFL may suit him better. Some notable OC openings include the Detroit Lions, who need to replace Ben Johnson, Chicago’s new head coach, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, following Liam Coen’s departure for the head job in Jacksonville. 

If Kelly were to take an NFL job, Ohio State would likely be left without both of their coordinators. Jim Knowles, the architect of Ohio State’s unwavering defense, is expected to leave for the Penn State defensive coordinator job according to several reports.

Todd McShay names Oregon’s Josh Conerly as best OT prospect in 2025 NFL Draft

The Ringer’s NFL Draft expert Todd McShay has named Oregon Ducks’ Josh Conerly as the top left draft prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The Oregon Ducks expect to have a long list of players selected in the 2025 NFL Draft a few months from now. This will continue the tradition of talented players leaving Eugene to succeed at the next level.

A few players who could hear their names called early on are going into the draft this year. One of those players is left tackle Josh Conerly Jr., who chose to forego his final year of eligibility in Eugene and declare for the draft early.

NFL draft expert Todd McShay thinks Conerly is not getting the credit he deserves so far in this pre-draft process and that, ultimately, No. 76 will be the best left tackle in this draft class.

“Everyone has talked about this Will Campbell guy from LSU who is a guard/tackle, or Kelvin Banks who is a really talented player from Texas. I think Josh Conerly might wind up being the best left tackle,” McShay said on the Bill Simmons Podcast. “He is unbelievably athletic with the way that he moves. He’s gotten better with his hands, I think there’s a chance he’s going to be a star from this class, and nobody I’ve heard or talked to is quite as high on him as I am. Keep an eye on Conerly.”

The current expectation is that Conerly should go somewhere in the first round of the draft, but where is still unknown. McShay thinks he could go as early as No. 10 or No. 11. Other mock drafts have pegged Conerly as more of a middle-pick in the round, going in the late teens.

We will see how things continue to develop throughout the pre-draft process over the next couple of months, but the early buzz for Conerly is certainly positive.

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