Tag: Tez Johnson

A pair of Duck receivers on preseason Biletnikoff Award watch list

Oregon receivers Troy Franklin and Tez Johnson have been placed on the Biletnikoff Award watch list for the nation’s best receiver.

Oregon is fortunate to have a very good quarterback in Bo Nix, but the senior signal caller would be the first to admit he wouldn’t be as good if he didn’t have talented targets.

Two of those targets, Troy Franklin and incoming transfer Tex Johnson are being recognized as two of the better receivers in the country as they were on the preseason Biletnikoff Award watch list.

The award goes to the nation’s best receiver. Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt was last year’s recipient.

In 2022, Franklin had his best season as a Duck with 61 catches for 891 yards and nine touchdowns. For Troy last season, Johnson had 56 catches for 863 yards and four touchdowns.

 

‘He paved the way for little guys;’ Tez Johnson talks about love for De’Anthony Thomas

De’Anthony Thomas and La’Michael James inspired a generation of smaller athletes, such as Tez Johnson, to do some big things.

Players of Tez Johnson’s stature — 5 feet, 10 inches and 160 pounds soaking wet — are not easily found on a Division I college football program roster. By the looks of it, Johnson would probably fit in better among the fans at Autzen Stadium than on the field.

He looks more like a second baseman than a wide receiver for the Oregon Ducks. Role models of his size are likely few and far between. Thankfully for Oregon, a couple of those role models happen to be former Ducks: LaMichael James and De’Anthony Thomas.

“Before De’Anthony it was LaMichael James. I was watching LaMichael James back before I even knew who the Black Mamba was,” said Johnson at Oregon media day. “I watched LaMichael James when he played against Tennessee and went crazy like ‘OK, Oregon is that team.’”

While LMJ might have been the “in” for Johnson to start liking the Ducks, it was DAT who truly turned the passion up to another level.

“And then De’Anthony Thomas got there and started doing things that I can do as a little guy,” Johnson said. “He really paved the way for little guys to believe that they actually can do it. Him, Tavon Austin, and LaMichael James — those three gave a guy like me hope to dream big.”

It’s not often you get to test your skills directly with a role model, but Johnson was able to go up against Thomas in some offseason workouts this summer. As expected, the younger athlete got the best of the “old man.”

“Running with him in practice was surreal. I’m faster than him now, though,” Johnson said with a laugh. “Back then I wasn’t faster than him, but I’m leaving him now.”‘

Based on what we saw from Johnson both in the Oregon spring game and in practices, there are a lot of people that he will be leaving in the dust on the field, not dissimilar to either LMJ or DAT.

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Meet the new Ducks: What UO transfers want Oregon fans to know about them

“Hard-working, dedicated, unselfish.” We asked Oregon’s incoming transfers what they want Duck fans to know about them. The answers didn’t disappoint.

The 2023 college football season unofficially kicked off on Monday afternoon for the Oregon Ducks with the annual media day taking place inside the club level at Autzen Stadium.

There, media members had a chance to sit down and talk to more than 40 of the players on the team and get their perspectives going into the new season. It offered an opportunity to talk to a handful of new players on the team for the first time.

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That’s what I was focused on. With more than 50 players on the roster wearing the green and yellow for the first time, I wanted to find out what Oregon fans who knew nothing about these players should know about them.

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What better source than the players themselves? I asked the incoming transfers — all but two of them I could get to due to interview scheduling — what they wanted Duck fans to know about them and who they are going into the season.

These are the answers I got.

Position Outlook: Gary Bryant Jr. addition offers big boost to competition in Ducks WR room

The addition of Gary Bryant Jr. to Oregon’s WR room just ups the level of competition even more in Eugene.

The fight for targets in 2023 is going to be fun to watch.

At the end of April during the Oregon Ducks’ annual spring game, it was incredibly clear that the wide receiver depth was pretty stacked in Eugene. With Troy Franklin and Traeshon Holden making plays for the green team while Tez Johnson and Kris Hutson showed out for the yellow team, Duck fans were treated to quite a display of WR talent. On top of the projected starters, you also had underclassmen Justius Lowe and Kyler Kasper making some plays as well.

That wide receiver room got a bit more stacked on Saturday night with former USC WR Gary Bryant Jr. announcing his transfer to Oregon. He will join the Ducks with three years of eligibility remaining, and come in hoping to secure a spot in the starting lineup along with a sizeable target share.

With so many mouths to feed at the position, though, things are bound to get incredibly competitive come this fall once practice starts up again. In preparation for that, let’s take a look at everyone on the roster at the WR spot and break down their outlook going forward.

Stock Report: Which players proved the most at Oregon spring game?

Who impressed us the most at Oregon’s spring game? It’s a long list, filled with a lot of young players and new faces.

The Oregon Ducks’ annual spring game came and went this past weekend, and there are a million things to decipher from what we saw.

We’ve already given you our biggest takeaways, and an overall report card for each position group. I also told you my thoughts on QB Ty Thompson, and how after a rough start to the game, I was incredibly impressed at how he turned things around and had a nice outing.

We’ve got attendance numbers, a photo gallery, Twitter reactions, and a look back on how all of the recruits in town enjoyed the experience. One of the last things on the list of things to do in order to properly wrap up this spring scrimmage is to look at the stock report.

Throughout the regular season, the stock report is something we do after each week of the season, determining which players on the roster did the most to help or hurt their metaphorical stock price. Some call it winners or losers, but we put a different spin on it. Of course, it feels a bit strange to say anyone in the spring scrimmage saw their stock go down since it was a glorified practice with split up teams and may not be a perfect indication of what we see this coming season.

For example, neither RB Bucky Irving nor Noah Whittington put up impressive stats on Saturday, but that doesn’t mean either of them saw their stock go down. Rather, it shows that in the spring game, the coaching staff was more interested in getting reps for young guys.

With all of that being said, let’s get into it. Here are the players who impressed the most and saw their stock rise on Saturday:

Notable quotes from QB Bo Nix after Oregon’s spring game

Bo Nix was everything he needed to be on Saturday for the Ducks; an insanely competitive QB who wasn’t willing to lose.

Leading up to this year’s spring game, the expectation was that after the first half, Bo Nix’s day would be done. But as the game went deeper into the fourth quarter, Nix was still at the helm for this year’s green team, scoring the game-sealing touchdown with just a minute left in the game.

After all four quarters finished, Nix had completed 19 of 40 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown.

When meeting with media members after the game, Nix spoke about the opportunity to talk to and learn from Oregon legend Marcus Mariota, who was an honorary coach, and what it was like to see his adopted brother Tez Johnson have such a breakout.

Here are some of the most notable quotes from Nix after the game.

7 major takeaways from Oregon Ducks’ spring game

Ty Thompson rebounded after a slow start, and Cole Martin made his presence felt. Our takeaways from Saturday.

After months without football inside Autzen Stadium, there were hours of fun to be had in Eugene on Saturday afternoon while the annual Oregon Ducks’ spring game took place.

While it was an intrasquad scrimmage that didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, it offered Oregon fans and media members a chance to see some of the new faces on the team, and what the updated version of the Ducks will look like going into 2023.

We saw several highlights, a breakout performance from Tez Johnson and Cole Martin, and the grittiness and tenacity that makes QB Bo Nix special. We also got to see a roller-coaster performance from Ty Thompson that should ultimately leave fans with a bit more confidence than they had coming into the game. Let’s start there. Here are my biggest takeaways from the spring game, starting with No. 13.

Notable quotes from Dan Lanning after Oregon Ducks’ spring game

“This is what makes Oregon Oregon, right? Our experience here on the West Coast is unlike any other.”

The first live action inside Autzen Stadium took place on Saturday afternoon with the Oregon spring game taking place.

There were many highlights and a large number of things that need to be improved before the season starts in September. In front of an estimated 45,000 fans, Bo Nix and Troy Franklin led the green team, while Ty Thompson, Tez Johnson and Kris Hutson showed out for the yellow team. The defense had a stellar day, with the secondary showing improvement from last year.

After the scrimmage, head coach Dan Lanning met with media members to discuss how the day went and where the team can improve going forward. Here are some of the most notable quotes from that press conference.

Ducks Wire Player of the Game: WR Tez Johnson

Any Oregon fan left the spring game on Saturday knowing that Tez Johnson is the real deal.

For the first time in 5 months, there was football in Autzen Stadium on Saturday. The Oregon Ducks roster — bolstered with new recruits and transfers — was split into two teams: green and yellow for Saturday’s spring game.

While there was great play from Troy Franklin and Kris Hutson, WR Tez Johnson was the star of Saturday’s game. Johnson finished the game with 3 catches 78 yards and a touchdown. Tez’s touchdown was a 63-yard play, with 59 of those yards coming after the catch. Johnson caught Ty Thompson’s pass in the middle of the field and then bounced outside making multiple defenders miss as he took it to the house for the Yellow team’s first score.

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After the game, players had a lot to say about Tez’s performance, specifically his staggering speed out on the field.

“He’s not the biggest, but he is the fastest,” said Duck’s linebacker Jefferey Bassa.

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In addition to the praise for Johnson’s speed, defensive back Trikweze Bridges pointed out his other strengths.

“He’s good pretty good hands too,” he said.

Tez Johnson played his first two seasons of college ball at Troy, but transferred to Oregon this offseason. His 2021 and 2022 seasons were both impressive gathering 50+ receptions and 700+ yards receiving in each season.

Since last season, there have been notable departures at WR this off-season. Chase Cota declared for the draft and signed with the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent. The Ducks also lost multiple receivers to the transfer portal in Dont’e Thorton and Issah Crocker. After losing that depth, Johnson may see an increased role for 2023, and hopefully with it an increase in production.

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WATCH: Tez Johnson turns on the afterburners for the touchdown

Tez Johnson managed to get the Autzen crowd to its feet with an impressive 63-yard reception where his speed was on display.

Transfer receiver Tez Johnson made his first catch as aDuck a memorable one, Spring Game or not.

The 5-foot-8 receiver formerly from Troy, turned a 10-yard crossing route into a 63-yard touchdown thanks to his speed and agility. Once he was out in the open, Johnson race down the sideline, leaving defenders in his dust, if there was dust.

Then at the three, he pulled out a move seen on the PlayStation, a side juke and then the end zone. If that’s the kind of plays Johnson has in store for the Pac-12, defensive coordinators won’t have a good time in 2023.

The play was especially impressive since the defenses were dominating until Johnson got his hands on the ball.