Tag: Troy Franklin

Troy Franklin’s highlight reel catches are nothing new to Oregon teammates

Troy Franklin called his toe-tap TD just a “routine catch.” Bo Nix agrees. “You should have seen the one that he made today…”

With the return of a high-flying, entertaining offense in Eugene has come the return of the highlight play for the Oregon Ducks. While we’ve seen Bo Nix scamper downfield for an 80-yard touchdown, and Bucky Irving slip tackles and evade defenders on his way to massive gains, there’s one highlight that has stood apart so far this season.

Unshockingly, the highlight belongs to wide receiver Troy Franklin.

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Though he has made numerous enthralling plays this season, there was a TD catch that the sophomore receiver had on Saturday against Stanford that will be remembered by fans for many years. It was better than his acrobatic catch against BYU, or his game-sealing touchdown against Washington State. This toe-tapping touchdown deserves to be replayed over and over on highlight packages.

What’s most fascinating about the catch is the fact that Franklin himself, and other players on the team, are treating the highlight with some nonchalance that makes it seem this type of act is a normal thing for the sophomore.

“It was pretty much like kind of a routine catch,” Franklin told me on Tuesday after practice. “Either last week or the week before we were actually working on sideline drills. Everything kind of just comes from practice.”

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A routine catch, you say?

“He makes catches like that…” Nix said when asked about the play. “You should have seen the one he made today. When the ball comes to him, he just has a knack for catching it. That’s just what he does. Every once in a while he will have close ones that you don’t always haul in but even the adjustment and the process of getting two hands on it is impressive.”

Based on the stats that he’s putting up this year, you shouldn’t be surprised if these highlights start becoming more prevalent and plentiful. Franklin has broken out early this season and established himself as the WR1 on the team, with 29 catches for 391 yards and 3 TD. We knew when he came to Oregon that the talent was there, it’s just that the Ducks’ offense was unable to highlight exactly what he brought to the table. Now we’re getting to see it in full display, and it should be a shock to see these types of plays.

“To be honest I wasn’t surprised he caught it,” Nix said. “For Troy, that’s kind of usual, and he just hasn’t had a chance to showcase that enough so far to the rest of the country.”

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‘Bo can run;’ Teammates react to Nix’s 80-yard TD run into Oregon record books

“I didn’t know he was that fast.” Teammates had some classic reactions to Oregon QB Bo Nix’s 80-yard TD on Saturday.

Through the first four games of the year, it was made pretty clear that Oregon Ducks’ quarterback Bo Nix was not a player who was going to just sit in the pocket. He was willing to let his legs do a lot of the work when need be.

Of course, we knew that from his time at Auburn, where he had just under 900 yards rushing in three years with the Tigers. In Eugene, though, it was becoming apparent that his running ability was improving. Through five games with the Ducks, the passer had amassed 261 yards on the ground with 5 touchdowns.

Despite all of that prior knowledge, it still took everyone by surprise on Saturday night when Nix broke the pocket up the middle and took off. He kept going, and going, weaving through a couple of defenders and splitting a gap into open daylight. It ended in an 80-yard TD, the longest of Nix’s career, and the longest by an Oregon QB since Taylor Alie’s 87-yard TD in 2015.

More than the numbers it provided, this play gave both fans, teammates, and coaches a new look at what Nix is capable of with his legs.

“I didn’t know he was gonna pull the ball like that,” RB Bucky Irving said on Tuesday. “So I was excited for him when he ran an 80-yard TD, just celebrate with him after.”

Any notes from the Ducks’ leading running back?

“I didn’t know he was that fast, though. It was exciting to see him get up and get running like that.”

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Nix’s speed wasn’t the only surprise. Wide receiver Troy Franklin says that he was most impressed by the stamina showed by his QB to cap off an 80-yard sprint.

“I think it was a surprise to me that he ran that long, you know, it was 80 yards or whatever,” Franklin said. “But it definitely wasn’t a surprise, Bo can run for sure.”

Not to be overlooked in this highlight is the superb downfield blocking that helped spring the play. While Nix’s elusive abilities got him into the second level of the defense, it was the receivers and tight ends who shepherded him into the endzone.

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“I was like oh s**t, it’s time for me to get busy, you know?” Franklin recalled seeing Nix run up beside him. “Gotta help him. I broke him loose and he did what he did.”

The blocking was perfect, the escapability was impressive, and the stamina reflected a cross-country runner rather than a football player. It all resulted in a play that helped buoy the spirits of a surging team, and offer head coach Dan Lanning a little bit of an opportunity to rib his leading man.

“I gave him a really hard time last week. We threw the throwback to Bo at Washington State, and I told him ‘I didn’t expect you to go down like that’ so I’ve been kind of jabbing him for a long time here,” Lanning said after the game. “That run was fun. When he got over there after, he was sucking wind on the sideline. So he was running hard; he let up a little bit at the end and their defender came in there aggressive with an opportunity to punch it out. But I’m proud of the way he finished there. He might have to do just a little bit of extra conditioning for 80-yard runs.”

I’m not sure how many more times Nix will be asked to sprint 80 yards in his career, but if he ever does again, it will certainly turn some heads.

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Ranking Oregon’s top 10 players in win vs. WSU according to PFF grades

You probably have an opinion on the 10 best Ducks in Oregon’s win over WSU, but the PFF grades may say something different.

To the average fan and media member, it’s a pretty easy process to watch a football game on a Saturday afternoon and determine who played well, and who didn’t. Each week after the Oregon Ducks play, we put out our articles on whose stock rose or fell the most and offer a report card for the various positions on the team. It’s not a hard exercise but takes some time and attention to detail.

When you get into specific grades for each individual player, though, it becomes a massive undertaking. Fortunately for all of us football fans, we can lean on Pro Football Focus to give an assessment of how each player performed in a game, breaking stats up between run plays and pass plays, and giving grades for each. They also look at targets, missed tackles, pressure opportunities, and much, much more.

We wanted to take these grades and see if we could glean any information from it all. How did the Ducks look against the Washington State Cougars on an individual basis?

Here are the top-10 players on the team in that game, according to PFF’s grades. 

Stock Report: Troy Franklin continues to rise, defense takes a hit in 44-41 win over WSU

Troy Franklin’s stock is at an all-time high. The same can’t be said for Kenny Dillingham’s red zone offense.

If you actually held stock in the Oregon Ducks and had to watch your net worth rise and fall with every play of the game on Saturday, I’m sorry.

You probably needed a cigarette when all was said and done.

That’s the type of day it was for Dan Lanning and his squad in a thrilling, arguably miraculous 44-41 win over the Washington State Cougars up in Pullman. Oregon scored 29 points in the fourth quarter, including 21 in the final 4 minutes of the game. In a contest that featured boneheaded personal foul calls, an officiating crew that looked to be making up rules on the fly, and a Ducks’ comeback attempt for the ages, we learned a lot about this Oregon team.

Column: It’s about time that we had a talk about Oregon QB Bo Nix

We learned that the Ducks aren’t going to roll over when being put to the test under Dan Lanning, and that should give fans more confidence than anything.

As far as the individual performances go, there was a lot of good, and a lot of bad. Some guys, like Troy Franklin and Bo Nix, continued to soar. Others, like Brandon Dorlus and DJ Johnson, made such boneheaded decisions that it left many fans with heads in hand.

As we do every week, let’s  identify players who saw their stocks go up, and a few who might have seen a slight dip against WSU:

Report Card: Oregon faces mixed results in riveting comeback win over WSU

This week’s report card is a mixed bag, but Oregon won’t complain after the 44-41 win at Washington State.

This week’s report card will have a mixed bag of grades, but on the whole, a win is a win and the Oregon Ducks football team will take a 3-1 record after the hard-fought 44-41 victory over Washington State.

Although the offense was dynamic and found the end zone when it absolutely had to, the Ducks could have been more aggressive inside the red zone in the first half. They settled for three field goals. The Ducks put themselves into a position where they had to rally late despite being the more talented team by a good margin.

On the other side of the ball, the defense was tested all day long thanks to outstanding play from Cougar quarterback Cameron Ward. One has to think they won’t face a player like that again. Ward was elusive and made incredible plays on the run. But in crunch time where the Ducks needed a stop in the worst way, they managed to get that stop in order to set up quarterback Bo Nix.

Here’s the report card straight out of Pullman:

Oregon Ducks Player of the Game: WR Troy Franklin

Troy Franklin is our Oregon Ducks Player of the Game with a career-high 137 yards and late touchdown to help his team defeat the Cougars.

The Oregon Ducks football team may have found itself a true go-to receiver.

Troy Franklin had a career day with five catches for 137 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown with just 1:21 left on the clock in the fourth quarter to give Oregon the 37-34 lead. Add a pick six from Mase Funa and a last-second touchdown from the Cougars, and the Ducks escaped Pullman with a 44-41 win.

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It was the 6-foot-3, 178-pounder from East Palo Alto who burned the Cougars on the last drive. He caught a nine-yard pass for a first down and then the touchdown that gave the Ducks the lead for good.

His fourth career touchdown came at the perfect time for visiting Oregon, which had trailed the entire game in Pullman. Franklin is quickly becoming quarterback Bo Nix’s favorite target, especially in crunch time, and it was definitely crunch time up in the Palouse.

The 137 yards were a career-high for the sophomore, and if today was any indication, Franklin is going to become one of the top receivers in the Pac-12 and cause nightmares for opposing defensive coordinators.

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5 takeaways from Oregon’s statement blowout over No. 14 BYU Cougars

5 takeaways from Oregon’s statement blowout over No. 14 BYU Cougars

That’s the Oregon Ducks team that we knew was capable of showing up. It may have been premature to ask them to look this good in Week 1 against the Georgia Bulldogs, but when fans wanted to see it most, the Ducks delivered.

On Saturday afternoon at Autzen Stadium, Oregon faced a huge test with the No. 14 BYU Cougars coming to town. We had a lot of questions as to how good this Dan Lanning-led team really was, and fortunately, we got a lot of answers.

The offense looked dynamic, the defense was physical and relentless, and the intensity of the game never let up, even when a lead was built in the second half.

What it means going forward is yet to be seen, but the Ducks undoubtedly did a lot to repair their image in the eyes of the college football world. Now they are back on the map, and need to be taken seriously as one of the teams to look out for each and every week.

Here are our biggest takeaways from Saturday’s action:

Social media reacts to Oregon’s dominant win over the No. 14 BYU Cougars

The Ducks really impressed against BYU. It was an enjoyable afternoon for Oregon Twitter circles.

The Oregon Ducks came into Saturday’s game against the No. 14 BYU Cougars with a lot of questions to answer.

They did just that with a 41-20 blowout of a really good BYU team. The defense looked really solid, the offense was fantastic, and Bo Nix looked every bit of the veteran playmaker that Oregon fans wanted him to be.

It all resulted in the Ducks proving that they deserve to be in the top 25 and mentioned among the best 10-15 teams in the nation. As this came to fruition, fans on Twitter had a good time reveling in the win.

Here are some of the best Twitter reactions from the day:

Social media reacts to Troy Franklin’s incredible 50-yard catch

Oregon Twitter circles went wild after Troy Franklin’s remarkable 50-yard acrobatic catch against BYU.

This is the Oregon offense we’ve all been waiting for.

Duck head coach Dan Lanning said he wanted more explosion plays and wide receiver Troy Franklin, with a little help from quarterback Bo Nix, delivered.

Franklin ran a common post route, but the catch was anything but common. He used his entire 6-foot-4 frame to leap up and come down with a 50-yard reception on the 2-yard line that set up the Ducks’ second touchdown of the day to give Oregon a 17-7 lead over BYU in the second quarter.

The Ducks scored a play later on Nix’s second 2-yard scoring run.

QB Ty Thompson praises WR Dont’e Thornton for making a leap over the offseason

Ty Thompson had nothing but praise for Oregon’s WR room but says it was Dont’e Thorton who impressed him most for the improvements he made this offseason.

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A lot of attention on the Oregon Ducks offense this spring has been focused on the quarterback position, and rightfully so, as the outcome there has one of the biggest impacts on the overall success of the team in 2022.

However, one development that we are going to need to see big returns from is at the wide receiver position, where Oregon lost a total of 4 of their top receivers from the previous season in Johnny Johnson, Devon Williams, Jaylon Redd, and Mycah Pittman.

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That has left a relatively young group of pass-catchers, with many thinking that it will be the underclassmen trio of Troy Franklin, Dont’e Thornton, and Kris Hutson to lead the way this season.

When talking to QB Ty Thompson on Saturday afternoon, I asked what type of growth he had seen from the WR room over the offseason. There seem to have been some positive developments, with Thompson singling out Thornton for his offseason work.

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“Special praise to Dont’e, he’s been out here acting like a senior, and he’s same age as me,” Thompson said. “So I mean, he’s put an extra amount of work. Troy, obviously you see him, he’s really talented. Makes explosive plays. He’s more of a quiet guy. He’ll get the job done. He’s always locked in mentally, he does a really good job blocking and mentally. And that Kris Hutson is just a dog. I mean, he’ll win your one-on-one matchups, he’ll be right whether it’s man or zone and if he’s breaking it off or keeping it vertical. He’s just always in the right spot and always making a crazy play for you.”

Let’s take a step back really quickly… acting like a senior, what does that mean specifically?

“He’s an extra vocal leader,” Thompson said. “I mean, his leadership role from last year to this year, I think, I don’t know if anyone talked to him about it, but he’s elevated it tenfold. Like he’s helped bring people up. He’s helped his receivers with the routes. He’s locked in. So mentally, he spent so much time up here. I see him up here whenever I’m up here. So that’s a lot.”

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In his true freshman season, Thornton — a former 4-star recruit — showed flashes of his potential but didn’t quite see the playing time that would allow him to flourish. In 4 games, he had 9 catches for 175 yards and 2 touchdowns, with an average of 19.4 yards per catch. Watching him in spring practice this season, it’s extremely obvious that he has put on a good amount of weight this offseason and bulked up to be a strong outside threat.

No matter who ends up winning the starting QB battle this offseason, it’s pretty clear that the Ducks have some talent on the outside. While I am excited to see what the whole WR room can do in general, these comments from Thompson have me particularly intrigued when it comes to Thornton’s ceiling this fall.

He’s put in the work this offseason to step up and become a No. 1 option for the Ducks, now we just have to see if he can make it happen.

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