Tag: Sean Dollars

How Oregon transfers performed in Week 10 of college football

How Oregon transfers performed in Week 10 of college football

It was a busy week across the college football world. Oregon won its game, 63-19, and Washington beat USC in a close battle. Several other games around the country caught Ducks’ fans attention due to their College Football Playoff implications for Oregon. None of these games seemed to go Ducks fans’ way though. Texas beat Kansas State. Alabama took down LSU, and Florida State handled Pitt.

Speaking of Florida State, Oregon fans had another reason to watch that game: Trey Benson. The Ducks’ transfer running back has been having an impressive season, and his performance on Saturday was one of his best games of 2023.

Continue reading to check in with the rest of Oregon transfers.

Former Oregon RB Sean Dollars transfer to Nevada Wolfpack

Sean Dollars is headed to Nevada, where he will join both Ken Wilson and Jim Mastro, a pair of former Oregon coaches.

The Oregon Ducks found out earlier this offseason that veteran running back Sean Dollars was entering the transfer portal and looking to leave Eugene.

Now we know where Dollars is landing.

On Sunday afternoon, Dollars announced that he would be transferring to the Nevada Wolfpack, where he will join former Oregon LB coach Ken Wilson, who took over as the head coach prior to the 2022 season. Dollars will also be joining former Oregon RB coach Jim Mastro in Nevada, who is now the Senior Director of Administration and Operations.

After the 2021 season, Dollars entered the transfer portal following Mario Cristobal’s departure but eventually came back to Eugene. Dollars’ workload in 2022 under the new coaching staff was not as big as some expected, so it didn’t come as a major surprise to see him enter the portal once again.

Sean Dollars’ Transfer Portal Profile

Oregon RB Sean Dollars will enter the transfer portal

Sean Dollars is headed to the transfer portal. Dollars entered the portal last offseason but decided to return to the Ducks.

The Oregon Ducks are losing one of the members of their productive backfield, with the news that Sean Dollars is entering the transfer portal and leaving Eugene.

This does not come as a major surprise, as Dollars entered the portal last year after the season but decided to return to the Ducks once he got a chance to talk to Dan Lanning and the new coaching staff. However, the usage that Dollars saw in 2022 was not as high you some might have expected, with a lot of the workload going to both Bucky Irving and Noah Whittington.

Dollars had just 34 carries for 188 yards and a TD in 2022.

This is the second running back to enter the transfer portal for Oregon, with Byron Cardwell Jr. deciding to leave the Ducks earlier this month. We will likely see Lanning and his staff try to bring in at least a couple new rushers via the portal this offseason. The Ducks also have 4-star RB Dante Dowdell coming in the 2023 recruiting class as well.

Sean Dollars Transfer Portal Profile

Position Outlook: How future of Oregon’s RB room looks after recent transfers, recruiting news

A look at how Oregon’s RB room stacks up in the coming years after recent transfers, recruiting news.

At this point in the college football season, nearly everyone in the nation is seeing their roster go through a makeover of sorts. For some teams, that means a complete overhaul, and droves of players decide to enter the transfer portal and find a new home. Other teams will see numerous players leave for the NFL draft, leaving a spot to fill behind them. A lot of schools will also have the prospect of highly-rated recruits coming to town to fill a need.

For the Oregon Ducks, we’ve got a little bit of all three of those scenarios. We’ve already seen a few players enter the transfer portal, and as the offseason grows longer, you can expect more to declare for the NFL draft. That allows us to take a look at some position groups as a whole and assess how the future looks.

Today, we want to look closely at the running backs room. We got word earlier in the week that Byron Cardwell will enter the transfer portal, which came as little surprise On top of that, there are a few players who could decide to leave, but it feels like this is a relatively solid group going into the offseason.

Let’s take a closer look.

Oregon eager to improve perception following precipitous rankings drop

After falling out of the top-25 rankings in some cases, the Ducks are eager to prove they’re better than who we saw vs. Georgia.

The Oregon Ducks went into last Saturday’s game against the Georgia Bulldogs ranked as the No. 11 team in the nation according to most national polls. The performance that they put forth showed that the ranking was far too high.

As a result, Oregon will now go into its Week 2 game as the No. 24 team according to the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, and they will be unranked according to both the AP Poll and the ESPN Power Rankings.

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Now they’re out to prove to the college football world that this ranking is too low.

“Our guys are anxious, you know, extremely anxious to get back to work,” head coach Dan Lanning said on Monday night. “That being said, I think every one of our players acknowledged we need to work between now and in the game. You know, we have our opponent right now — we have Eastern Washington on the schedule — but our opponent right now is Oregon.”

The difference between the Ducks’ Week 1 and Week 2 opponents is stark. For the first contest of the season, Oregon faced the defending national champions, a team that retooled after losing a record 15 players to the 2022 NFL draft, but came back arguably stronger, and on a collision course with the likes of Alabama and Ohio State to defend their title. Contrarily, Week 2 will be played against Eastern Washington, an FCS school that has nowhere near the talent that Georgia has, let alone anyone else in the Pac-12 conference.

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Despite that drop-off in the level of talent that they will be facing, there are a number of things that the Ducks need to control in order to prove that they are who everyone originally thought they were. At the top of the list is tackling, and showing that they have anywhere close to the elite defense that was predicted.

As you would expect, the last couple of practices have been grueling and physical, with players getting after it and working hard to right their mistakes.

“Our guys went out there and worked their tails off today,” Lanning said on Monday. “We had a lot of corrections, went and hit those corrections first, got out there and got to work and I know they’re fired up to get back on the field again and prove they’re better than they played.”

In reality, the Ducks can come out to Autzen Stadium on Saturday night and win 80-0, but it still wouldn’t completely rid of the sour taste that was left by the sight of Georgia dismantling Lanning’s squad. That’s not something that is forgotten quickly. Fortunately, Oregon has 11 games left to change some minds, and a couple of games coming up — BYU in Week 3, Washington State in Week 4 — to prove that they’re better than the team we saw on Saturday.

“It’s a long season ahead of us,” running back Sean Dollars said on Tuesday. “I feel like every day we take it into the action of getting better, getting 1% better and just coming out 1-0 for the week.”

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‘I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in;’ RB Sean Dollars talks at Oregon Media Day

“I’m 120 percent locked into whatever comes my way.” Sean Dollars sounds like a man who is ready to break out in 2022.

It’s been a long road for Oregon Ducks running back Sean Dollars to get to this point.

After committing to the Ducks as the No. 2 all-purpose back in the 2019 recruiting class, Dollars had a slow but steady start to his career at Oregon. He played in four games during his first season, and seven games during his second, rushing 15 times for a total of 128 yards.

Then injury struck, and he was forced to sit out for the entire 2021 season while nursing a knee back to full health. After Mario Cristobal and the coaching staff that recruited him left, making way for Dan Lanning and the new staff to come to Eugene, Dollars decided to put his name into the transfer portal and look for a new school with which to jump-start his career. Not long later, Dollars opted out of the transfer portal, choosing instead to come back to Eugene.

Now with his mind made up, he’s ready to get after it this fall.

“I’m 120 percent locked into whatever comes my way,” Dollars said on Wednesday at Oregon’s annual Media Day.

After working back to full strength, Dollars has been able to grow stronger this offseason and prepare for a new offense that will position him alongside several other running backs jockeying for carries.

“I feel like guys that we have in the room right now, we all have our different traits and our different types of special abilities to go out there and be able to contribute to the game,” Dollars said. “Really it’s an iron sharpens iron type of deal, and you understand the visions that the coaches have, and you have to understand the vision of the guys beside you.

What Dollars can control is how he prepares, and the type of shape he is in physically. According to the fourth-year sophomore, that part of his game has never been better.

Will it translate into more playing time and a jump-start to his career this year with the Ducks? That’s yet to be seen. However, it appears that this is the strongest version of Dollars that Oregon fans will have ever seen. That’s encouraging enough in itself.

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Teams announced for running backs, linebackers, tight ends ahead of Oregon Ducks spring game

Running backs, linebackers, and tight ends have been divvied up for Saturday. Byron Cardwell vs. Noah Sewell might be the headlining matchup.

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As the week has gone on and we get ready for the Oregon Ducks’ spring game on Saturday afternoon, the team has done a good job of teasing out which players will line up for which team in the annual scrimmage.

On Tuesday night, it was the wide receivers and defensive backs that were released; on Wednesday night, the offensive and defensive linemen. Thursday night now sees the running backs, linebackers, and tight ends get divvied up between the green and yellow team, giving us a more clear view of what the two squads will look like on Saturday afternoon.

My first takeaway when looking at those teams is that I can’t wait to see a matchup between RB Byron Cardwell and LB Noah Sewell. It is also interesting to note that RB Sean Dollars is the lone scholarship player at his position on the yellow team, which might mean that we see a heavy dose of him on Saturday, which has been a long time coming.

Guys like Cam McCormick, Patrick Herbert, Justin Flowe, and Mase Funa are all listed on the rosters, but we will see if they end up playing on Saturday. There’s a chance that they do, but with a majority of them spending time with the rehabilitation group this spring, it would come as no shock to see them sit the scrimmage out.

Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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Oregon Ducks RB named ‘rising star,’ projected to have a breakout season in 2022

Despite losing both CJ Verdell and Travis Dye in the backfield, the Ducks are projected to have one of the next stars at the RB position.

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Anyone who tuned into the back-half of the Oregon Ducks season in 2021 could have guessed which offensive player had the highest ceiling coming into the 2022 season.

After running back CJ Verdell went down with a season-ending injury against the Stanford Cardinal, the Ducks’ production out of the backfield didn’t skip a beat thanks to the production from true freshman RB Byron Cardwell.

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In the final seven games of the season, Cardwell rushed the ball 52 times for 375 yards and 3 touchdowns. He showed the poise and patience of an experienced back and looked the part of a dominant Oregon RB with the No. 21 on his chest.

In a piece highlighting some young players in college football who could have a breakout season this fall, 247Sports recently highlighted Cardwell as a ‘rising star’ worth keeping an eye on.

DuckTerritory’s Matt Prehm is raving about the upside of Byron Cardwell, who was Oregon’s third ball carrier in the rotation last season prior to starter CJ Verdell suffering a season-ending injury. Cardwell, a 6-foot, 210-pound freshman at the time, finished the year with 61 carries for 417 yards and three touchdowns, much of that total coming over the final month of the season when he averaged better than 7 yards per carry. He’ll likely be the featured option this season under first-year coach Dan Lanning with Verdell off to the NFL and Travis Dye now at USC. And if Cardwell picks up where he left off, look out.

After losing both CJ Verdell to the NFL draft, and Travis Dye to the USC Trojans, the Ducks will need some players to step up in the backfield to keep their offensive production rolling. Fortunately, we have Sean Dollars poised for some big things, and Byron Cardwell looking to become a household name.

Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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Oregon RB Sean Dollars is ‘competing on another level’ in Ducks’ spring practices

Not long ago, Sean Dollars was considering a transfer from Oregon. Now he’s making a strong case to be the RB1 for the Ducks.

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It seems like just yesterday that Sean Dollars announced he would transfer from the Oregon football program.

Then again, a lot has happened since then.

After a conversation with Dan Lanning, Dollars decided to stay. Now he’s in strong contention to become Oregon’s starting tailback in 2022, battling alongside Byron Cardwell Jr. According to the new head coach, Dollars is quickly growing into the position and taking advantage of the actual coaching the staff provides the players.

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“I feel like Sean’s taking it up another notch and really competing on another level. I think he’s really embracing the coaching, and I’ve loved seeing that firsthand for him, his response,” Lanning said. “One thing we’re asking every one of our players right now is how do you respond to coaching? Sean has done a good job of that in the last few practices.”

With CJ Verdell going on to the NFL and Travis Dye transferring to USC, all expectations were that Byron Cardwell was going to take over the RB1 spot after his impressive debut season with the Ducks. However, an impressive spring season has seen Dollars throw his hat into the ring.

He’s not alone in that competition, though. Transfer Noah Whittington from Western Kentucky is also making a big push for carries. Lanning said Whittington already knows what it takes to be a consistent runner. It’s called effort.

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“Noah Whittington runs extremely hard. I think he’s a guy that has great vision at back,” Lanning said. “But he just plays with another level of effort. Which to me, if you can play with effort, we can coach the rest.”

Whittington rushed for 617 yards and two touchdowns while catching 12 passes for 58 yards in 2021. He averaged 6.1 yards per carry.

With Dollars, Whittington and Cardwell, Oregon should be just fine running the ball in 2022.

Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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‘Those players are explosive;’ Oregon QB gives preview of how RBs will be used in new Ducks’ offense

Oregon quarterback Ty Thompson indicated the new offense will include utilizing the Ducks’ running backs in the receiving game.

The Oregon Ducks are heading into the 2022 season with an entirely different set of playmakers on the offensive side of the ball.

Anthony Brown is gone, leaving a quarterback battle between Ty Thompson Bo Nix, and Jay Butterfield to settle things under center. Gone too are CJ Verdell, Travis Dye, and Trey Benson, leaving Oregon with very little experience in the backfield.

Byron Cardwell and Sean Dollars are expected to be the primary ball carriers this upcoming season, with Western Kentucky transfer Noah Whittington in the mix as well.

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Speaking to media after Saturday’s practice, Thompson didn’t want to reveal too much about the offense, which is undergoing some changes under new OC Kenny Dillingham. But it’s safe to say he is excited about the potential to do some different stuff in 2022.

“Those players are so explosive,” Thompson commented. “I mean, we’re doing a lot of stuff with those guys, whether it’s… I’m not gonna say a whole lot, but they’re very good players.”

Thompson is smart to avoid revealing the entire playbook months before the first game of the season, but he did provide a taste of how some of these guys are going to be utilized.

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“I mean, Byron’s gonna be huge in the run game and in the pass game,” Thompson continued. “So is Sean. Noah coming in, he’s gonna be great. I mean, everybody is gonna really help the team. So I’m really happy about that.”

Utilizing running backs in the passing game is something Oregon fans are intimately familiar with, and it sounds like Cardwell and Dollars are going to get plenty of opportunities to do exactly that – alongside Seven McGee, who is currently transitioning from running back to wide receiver this year.

Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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