Tag: Troy Franklin

A dozen WR options in the transfer portal for the Oregon Ducks to look at

There are a few interesting names in the transfer portal if Oregon wants to try and find another veteran WR to add to the roster.

The Oregon Ducks will likely be looking to make another splash signing in the transfer portal over the coming couple of months, this time to try and fill a hole on the roster left by the dismissal of wide receiver Traeshon Holden.

With the WR depth chart being topped by Troy Franklin and Kris Hutson, Oregon has a handful of young receivers who may be able to play their way onto the field this spring and secure a share of the target load. However, I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see Dan Lanning and his staff go back into the transfer portal to look and see if they can add another veteran pass-catcher that could be an instant contributor on the field.

We went into the portal on Wednedsay to look at who is still available, and were quite pleased with the results. Of course, the transfer portal is currently closed to new entries until May 1, but players who are currently in the portal are able to commit to new schools. It’s also likely that we see a handful of players choose to enter during that window after spring football, but for now, these are some of the names that could be intriguing for the Ducks going forward:

What the loss of WR Traeshon Holden means for the Oregon Ducks

Traeshon Holden is leaving the Ducks before taking a single snap. Here’s a look at where Oregon goes after his dismissal.

On Wednesday morning, it was reported that Oregon Ducks wide receiver Traeshon Holden has been dismissed from the team after being arrested on multiple charges, including Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Menacing, and Coercion. On3’s Jarrid Denney had the first report.

I am able to confirm that Holden is currently booked and being held at the Lane County Jail on multiple charges, and has been dismissed from the team.

Holden has yet to play a snap for the Ducks, coming to Eugene via the transfer portal from the Alabama Crimson Tide in December. With the loss of one of their expected starting receivers, the Ducks will be forced to pivot going into spring ball and in the summer months, as they look to fill out the depth chart at that position. Here are where I think the Ducks will go from here.

Who takes biggest leap for Oregon in 2023? Joey Harrington says it’s an easy answer

Joey Harrington was asked which Duck made the biggest leap to stardom in 2023. The former Oregon QB didn’t have a hard time answering.

A lot of time during the offseason is spent with fans and media members looking at the current players on a roster and trying to figure out who is going to be the most important going forward. Here at Ducks Wire, we recently dove deep into the incoming transfers and tried to predict which players were going to have the biggest impact right away in Eugene.

While a lot of the focus goes into trying to see how good the new players, both transfers and recruits, will be in their first year with the team, we often overlook which current players on the roster may be poised to make the biggest leap.

I’m talking about the guys who were already good and performing well, that might have a chance to leap into stardom going forward, becoming nationally relevant.

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I had Oregon legend Joey Harrington on the ‘Sco-ing Long’ podcast this week, and I asked him to identify one person that he thought was poised to take that step to the next level this year for the Ducks.

His answer? Wide receiver Troy Franklin.

“I know that’s not really out of left field, it’s almost like ‘yea, of course,’ but the flashes that he showed last year, it almost reminds me of Dillon Mitchell,” Harrington said. “Is Kris Hutson capable? Yeah, sure. Ferguson? Absolutely. But neither one of them has shown the explosiveness that Troy Franklin did. I’m thinking of the two running backs. You know, they’re going to be really good. They’re again going to be really good football players. But I think if you’re talking about somebody who can make the leap from being, ‘hey, he was really good,’ to being ‘okay, that guy’s in the discussion for the Belitnikoff Award.’ Like, that’s the type of guy that Troy Franklin could be.”

Going into his junior season, Franklin is absolutely poised to be the Ducks’ leading receiver for the second-straight season. He closed out his 2022 campaign with 61 catches for 891 yards and 9 touchdowns, and he has been ranked by 247Sports as one of the best-returning WRs in the nation for 2023.

While there is a lot of receiver talent on Oregon’s roster, nobody is as proven as Franklin when it comes to consistency or big-play ability. With QB Bo Nix returning for another season, there are expectations that the Ducks’ offense is going to be elite in the Pac-12.

If that’s going to happen, expect Franklin to be at the center of it.

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Troy Franklin one of 7 returning Pac-12 WRs ranked among top 25

Of the 25 best returning WRs in 2023, seven play in the Pac-12. Oregon’s Troy Franklin is one of those seven.

It’s no secret that the Pac-12 conference is going to be highly competitive in 2023, with an insanely stacked lineup of veteran quarterbacks taking the stage to go at it out west.

With guys like Bo Nix, Caleb Williams, Michael Penix, Cam Rising, and Cameron Ward all returning for another season, there’s a good chance that the Pac-12 is among the best conferences in the nation. Of course, when you add in the fact that all of those quarterbacks will have some incredibly talented wide receivers to throw to as well, it makes it almost unfair.

This past week, 247Sports went through and ranked the top 25 returning wide receivers in college football for the 2023 season. Amazingly, seven of the top 25 all resided in the Pac-12. Here is the breakdown from all Power 5 conferences:

  • SEC — 8
  • Pac-12 — 7
  • Big Ten — 4
  • ACC — 3
  • Big 12 — 1
  • Other — 2

Here are all of the Pac-12 receivers who made the cut:

The 50 best photographs from Oregon Ducks’ 2022 football season

The Ducks had a great 2022 season. Let’s take a look back at some of the best photos from the year as a whole.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but it would certainly take more than that to describe the Oregon Ducks’ 2022 football season.

In Dan Lanning’s first year with the Ducks, the team saw a lot of highs and a couple of lows. We saw Oregon get into the mix for a spot in the College Football Playoff with a Heisman contending quarterback, but also watched as they suffered brutal defeats to the Washington Huskies and Oregon State Beavers.

In all, it was a successful season that set up what is likely to be a very exciting future. As we continue to look back on the 2022 season, we wanted to celebrate all of the best photos that were snapped of the team in action. Here are the best photos of the Ducks during the season.

On This Day: Dan Lanning begins a new era of Oregon Ducks football a year ago today

365 days ago, Dan Lanning was hired as Oregon’s new head coach. Let’s dive deep and look back on his successful first year in Eugene.

365 days ago, the Oregon Ducks started a new era of football with the hiring of Dan Lanning, the former Georgia Bulldogs defensive coordinator who was being made the youngest head coach in the Power 5 conference.

That era is certainly off to a good start, wouldn’t you say?

There were a couple of rocky moments near the end of Lanning’s first season with the Ducks, but from a bird’s eye view, the first-year head coach absolutely was a success during his first year in Eugene, exceeding expectations early and doing a great job to establish a culture at his new school.

Had it not been for an unfortunate injury suffered by QB Bo Nix, and losses to both the Washington Huskies and Oregon State Beavers — Oregon’s two biggest rivals — the love for Lanning would be endless. Regardless, with his recruiting prowess, ability to coach on the field, and obvious love for aggressiveness in his mentality both on and off the gridiron, it’s tough to find many fans in Eugene who are not ecstatic about Lanning’s hiring in Eugene, and confident for what the future holds.

As we did earlier in the month to remember the departure of former Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal and look back on what his first year away from Eugene has brought, we wanted to do the same thing with Lanning.

What all has transpired in his first 365 days as the Ducks’ head coach? What were some of his high points, and where were a few of his lows? Here is a year-in review for Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks.

Several Ducks were honored with postseason Pac-12 awards

Three Oregon Duck football players were named to the Pac-12 First Team with a whole host of others being honored as well.

The Pac-12 announced its postseason awards and the Oregon Ducks football team is well represented.

Oregon’s offensive line had two all-conference first-team performers and the Duck secondary had one representative.

Besides the first team, the second team and honorable mentions were full of Ducks. One thing is for sure though. The quarterback position was a beast. Oregon’s Bo Nix received just an honorable mention after the season he had.

But it would be tough to argue that Nix was snubbed. That’s how good the Pac-12 quarterbacks were this season in 2022. USC’s Caleb Williams (first team) and Washington Michael Penix, Jr. (second team) beat out Nix and it’s possible all three come back for 2023. Williams was the Pac-12’s Offensive Player of the Year.

Jonathan Smith (Oregon State) and Kalen DeBoer (Washington) shared the Coach of the Year honors.

Here are all the Oregon Ducks who were honored by the Pac-12.

Who is Will Stein? 5 things to know about Oregon’s new offensive coordinator

What are the Ducks getting in new OC Will Stein? Here’s a quick look into his coaching resume.

The question most asked when Oregon announced Will Stein had been hired to replace Kenny Dillingham as the Ducks’ offensive coordinator was, “Who?”

That’s not meant to be demeaning to Stein, who was described to Zachary Neel as a “rising star” in the coaching world. He is young, but has a lot ahead of him. It’s not a surprise many fans had to Google him once they heard the news.

The answer to that question, though, is an up-and-coming offensive guru from UT-San Antonio that should stick around for a few seasons as Dan Lanning’s staff stabilizes.

Stein has just one season of experience as an offensive coordinator. In that season, the Roadrunners took off to an 11-2 record and a berth in the Duluth Trading Co. Cure Bowl in Orlando.

UTSA ran a very similar offense to what the Ducks ran this season, which might have been the deciding factor in hiring him. There shouldn’t be a big transition for the current players.

Here are some things that you need to know about Stein:

Oregon Duck 2022 Awards: Which players impressed us the most?

Time for our 2022 Oregon Duck awards. Who was the Offensive MVP? What about the most pleasant surprise? Best uniform of the season?

We did it before the year started to try and predict what type of team we would see in Eugene under Dan Lanning in his first year with the Oregon Ducks, and we revisited things during the middle of the year to check out how things were going.

Now that the 2022 regular season has officially come to an end, with only the bowl game remaining for the Ducks, we wanted to circle back one last time and offer our awards to the best players, best units, and best uniforms on the team.

Here’s what the Ducks Wire staff came up with for the end-of-season awards in 2022:

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

A look at how Oregon’s WR 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 wide receiver room. With news that Dont’e Thornton intends to transfer, plus the loss of Seven McGee from weeks ago, it’s clear that this position will look different next year than it did this last season.

Let’s take a closer look.