Tag: will stein

Oregon OC Will Stein using ‘easy-money throws’ to crack the code to offensive success

Scoring points is all about “easy money throws” and offensive simplicity for Oregon in 2024.

Cracking the offensive code in the world of football can be viewed along similar lines to breaking into the vault of a bank. Once you get in, unlimited riches await,  but getting through the door is no easy task.

We’ve seen people be successful before. Chip Kelly famously did it with the Oregon Ducks a decade ago, and coaches like Kyle Shanahan and Mike McDaniel have blown up in the NFL ranks for their offensive wizardry.

It’s a complicated feat that has become rare over the years, with many trying to be innovative but failing to get the desired results. But after the 2023 season, Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein seems to believe that he has the ability to crack that code.

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His secret? Simplicity.

“Take the easy money,” Stein said. “Everybody wants these 50-yard bombs every single play, but it’s not reality.”

Those 50-yard bombs certainly make for highlight-reel-worthy plays, but they often lead to turnovers and mishaps, as well. In the reality that Stein is living in — one where he draws up an offense designed around a Heisman contender and several preseason All-Americans — keeping things simple and letting the playmakers do what they do best often leads to the best results.

For proof of this, look no further than what former Oregon quarterback Bo Nix did in 2023 — throwing for 4,507 yards, 45 TDs, and 3 INTs, with an ADOT (average depth of target) of 7.0 yards — and what he is continuing to do at the NFL level.

“Everybody watched Bo [Nix] last night. Sean Payton, right?” Stein said, referencing Nix’s second preseason game on Sunday. “Dink, dunk, curl, shot, run it in. Like, it’s not rocket science.”

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

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Through two preseason games, Nix has completed 23-of-30 passes for 205 yards, 2 TDs, and zero interceptions. It hasn’t been flashy, but it’s been efficient enough to set him up to secure the QB1 job for the Denver Broncos and convince much of the NFL world that he has what it takes to succeed at a high level.

Stein hopes that his quarterbacks in Eugene see this as well.

“Everybody wants air yards and all this BS crap. Let’s score touchdowns,” Stein continued. “How do you score touchdowns? Get it to your playmakers fast. That’s it.”

For Dillon Gabriel, that means choosing to hit Terrance Ferguson over the middle on a curl pattern rather than forcing it into double coverage down the sideline to Evan Stewart. For Dante Moore, it means dumping it off to Jordan James on a swing pattern when the pressure starts to close the pocket.

In either instance, it calls back to those three code-cracking words that Stein has been harping on all offseason — easy-money throws.

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“It’s not rocket science, and everybody confuses that,” Stein said. “When our quarterbacks figure that out like Bo did last year, you throw for 45 touchdowns and 4,500 yards, and you score a ton of points. That’s where we’ve got to get to, and we’re nearing that. I feel really good with our first group and some immediate backups, but we’ve got to continue to lean on trusting the scheme, trusting the system, and taking the easy money.”

If the Ducks can do that again in 2024, their offense may reach the same heights it did a year ago when it finished the season ranked No. 1 in passing offense, and No. 2 in both scoring offense and total offense.

As Stein says, it’s not rocket science. It’s just the three-word code to offensive success.

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In-helmet communication giving Oregon OC Will Stein new control over offense

With the new in-helmet communication, Will Stein is adapting to more control over the Ducks offense.

College football has been an ever-changing entity for the past several decades, but never more so than over the past five years.

While things like the transfer portal, name, image, and likeness, and conference realignment may garner most of the headlines, one of the most recent changes that we expect to see this fall could be among the biggest game-changers of all.

In-helmet communication has been approved in the FBS, and when it comes to gameplay, this could potentially make a massive difference.

No longer will offenses and defenses be forced to spend valuable pre-snap seconds looking over to the coaches on the sidelines while their plays get signaled in. Now, one player on offense and one player on defense — typically the quarterback and a linebacker — will be designated with a green dot on their helmet, and have communication with a coach through an earpiece up until there are 15 seconds left on the play clock.

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For Oregon Ducks offensive coordinator Will Stein, this has allowed him to have more of an impact on the offense, dictating plays, audibles, and checks to his signal-caller all in real-time.

So far through spring and fall camp, Stein has been enjoying the process of adapting to the new system. Of course, he also has had to work on condensing the flow of information, and not putting too much on the QB’s plate.

“You don’t want to talk too much because it can just become white noise for the QB,” Stein said on Monday after practice. “But giving them specific things within the play of ‘Hey, if we get this, check to that.’ That also helps as well.”

The new rule was passed back in the spring of 2024, so Oregon got to try things out during the spring football season and get their feet wet with the technology. Now that they’re deep into fall camp, it’s starting to feel more natural for coaches and players.

Somewhat.

“It feels like you’re in a movie,” sophomore QB Dante Moore said of the green dot.”Just hearing what Coach Stein is thinking before he calls a play and helps us out with protections, or helps us out with checking plays. But overall, as a kid you’ve always watched documentaries of some NFL quarterbacks in the huddle, taking control of the huddle, hearing the play call.”

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While getting the process of calling an offense through a speaker may have taken some time, and getting used to the new intricacies of the communication had its learning curves, up next for Stein is learning how his quarterbacks differ when it comes to pre-snap communication.

Bo Nix was such a detail-oriented player that he liked to check everything at the line of scrimmage and change plays when he felt necessary. So will Dillon Gabriel or Dante Moore be the same way?

“I think there’s a fine line because you’ve got to find what the quarterback likes,” Stein said. “Does he want a lot of communication or not a lot? It just depends on the guy, but it’s been really smooth this fall camp.”

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In reality, we won’t see a massive difference this fall when watching the offense operate on the field. The coach will get the play call in from the sideline, and the QB will get his players in position before the snap.

But make no mistake, thanks to the new green dot, the whole world has opened up for Stein and his offense.

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Kenyon Sadiq prepares for breakout season with expectations skyrocketing quickly

Sophomore tight end Kenyon Sadiq is facing some massive expectations with the Oregon Ducks going into the 2024 season.

Kenyon Sadiq was probably minding his own business a couple of weeks ago, enjoying the last few free days before Oregon Ducks fall camp began.

Anticipation for the upcoming year was high, but nothing out of the ordinary for a former blue-chip tight end with a promising athletic ceiling. With Terrance Ferguson and Patrick Herbert still on the roster, Sadiq was expecting a year where he could contribute when his name was called, but continue to grow and prepare to take over as the TE1 in 2025.

And then boom. It happened.

Terrance Ferguson started talking to reporters at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis.

Since then, expectations for Sadiq have skyrocketed.

For those who are unaware of what I’m talking about, go check out this story from 247Sports Erik Skopil, where the Duck Territory reporter talked to Oregon’s star TE about the up-and-coming Sadiq.

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This quote in particular I found notable: “I think Kenyon is going to turn some eyes, especially this year, and the year after that,” Ferguson said. “He has all the tools in the world to be better than me and better than anybody in Oregon history at the tight end position. He has everything it takes.”

So much for that slow transition, huh?

It’s not just Ferguson who is stoking the Sadiq fire. On Thursday after Oregon’s second fall camp practice, offensive coordinator Will Stein did a good bit of work to fan the flames.

“I’m not saying Kenyon is Brock Bowers,” Stein said. “He’s not there yet, but he has all the skills to be a player similar to him, in terms of true tight end play, out of the backfield and flexed. I’m excited about where he’s going.”

Giving that quote to a fanbase that has been starved of any meaningful football for almost nine months is like tossing a New York Strip Steak into a lion’s den.

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While the pseudo-comparison may be lofty, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. While Ferguson’s prediction that Sadiq could be the best tight end in program history may seem inconceivable, it’s also not out of the realm of possibilities.

Only time on the field will tell if these predictions are warranted or not. In the meantime, though, we need to consider how the sophomore will manage the pressure.

“When you’ve got Terrance Ferguson and Patrick Herbert in that room, who are the best leaders on our team, they make sure Kenyon is right and that he’s grounded,” Stein said.

“At the end of the day, they’re just words, so I don’t feel any pressure from it,” Sadiq told me at Oregon’s media day earlier in the week.

They may be just words, but words coming from one of the best tight ends in recent memory to play for the Ducks, and someone who could hold quite a few records at the position once his Oregon career is over. That has to count for something.

“It means a lot coming from a guy like him, a guy that I look up to, a guy that I see every day working hard,” Sadiq said. “He’s done so much for me and I think a big reason for the production that I’m going to have is because of him.”

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How much of that production can we expect in 2024? It’s going to be tough for Sadiq to plant himself atop the TE depth chart with the talent around him at the position. But based on everything we’re hearing from players and coaches, it’s also going to be impossible to keep this kid off of the field.

So can he be better than Terrance Ferguson, comparable to Brock Bowers, and the best TE in program history?

Only time will tell, but if expectations tell us anything, we could be watching an Oregon legend break out in front of our eyes.

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Will Stein says Bo Nix will go down as one of the best ever at Oregon

In a docuseries that focused on Bo Nix’s time during the combine leading up to the NFL draft, Will Stein says Nix left quite the legacy.

Oregon needed an experienced quarterback to lead the team as the Ducks were transitioning from Mario Cristobal to Dan Lanning.

But they most likely didn’t think Nix would be one of the best in the program’s history.

According to offensive coordinator Will Stein, who had Nix for just one short season, he will definitely go down among the greats like Marcus Mariota, Joey Harrington, Akili Smith and a whole host of incredible signal callers to call Eugene home.

In the docuseries from Bolt TV called Grit and Glory, Stein says Nix’s name will be synonymous with those other great Duck quarterbacks.

“He’ll go down as one of the greatest. There’s a lot of unreal, unworldly, talented guys that have played quarterback here and I think Bo will be up there with all of them,” Stein said. “His year this year, statistically, is one of the best in the history of Oregon football. The legacy that he left, what he’s done for this program, being Coach Lanning’s first quarterback here, he’s special.”

While at Oregon, Nix guided the Ducks to a 22-5 record with wins in the Holiday and Fiesta Bowl. In 2023, he completed 77.4 percent of his passes with 45 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

Nix was drafted by the Denver Broncos and they hope their new signal caller can be similar to John Elway and Payton Manning. Those are huge shoes to fill, but Oregon quickly found out Nix will be up to the task.

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ESPN names Dillon Gabriel as Ducks top newcomer

Unsurprisingly, Dillon Gabriel has been tabbed as Oregon’s biggest newcomer in 2024.

Although the Oregon Ducks are bringing back many key players from the 2023 team, we’ll also see several new faces when the Ducks hit the field in late August, thanks to a busy offseason.

In the era of the transfer portal, offseason remodels are now the norm for the top college football programs, a category Oregon sits in comfortably. In most preseason polls, the Ducks hover from No. 2-5 in the national rankings.

Earlier this month, Billy Tucker and other ESPN staff writers published an article picking the best newcomer for each team in the preseason top-25, transfer or recruit. Unsurprisingly, Dillon Gabriel was the choice for Oregon. Here’s what they had to say about the Ducks new quarterback:

“Gabriel is perfect for Oregon’s up-tempo offense. His experience and productivity make him the ideal bridge player to guide the Ducks through their first Big Ten season while continuing to prep Dante Moore, a former five-star recruit and UCLA transfer. This is the best collection of offensive and defensive weapons Gabriel has ever had at his disposal. Expect a big year from the Ducks with Gabriel at the forefront.” – Billy Tucker

Tucker mentions Gabriel’s compatibility with Oregon’s up-tempo offense, but there’s a chance Gabriel is able to kick Will Stein’s offense into gear it hasn’t seen this season. Nix was a mobile QB who wasn’t afraid to run, but Gabriel is as shifty as it gets, and he likes to keep it exciting. It’s impossible to say how things will work out, but get ready for consistent highlights from the Ducks QB.

There are a lot of unknowns going into the 2024 season, but perhaps the biggest one is how far Gabriel can take the Ducks. Quarterback is the most important position in football, and although we’ve seen Gabriel perform at a high level for several seasons, he’s replacing Bo Nix, a top-15 pick and one of the best Oregon QBs ever. Oregon has national championship aspirations this year, and much of the Ducks’ destiny lies in Gabriel’s hands.

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Oregon OC Will Stein details the luxuries and the challenges of having so much depth at WR

There are a lot of mouths to feed in Oregon’s WR room, but only one ball. It’s a good problem to have, says Will Stein.

It may seem ironic, but sometimes it isn’t easy in college football to have a roster as complete as the Oregon Ducks do ahead of the 2024 season.

The Ducks are coming off a season in which they boasted a top-10 offense and a top-10 defense in points and points allowed per game — something only two other FBS teams did. Somehow, on paper, they’ve improved.

Although Oregon is losing Troy Franklin this offseason, the Ducks’ WR room looks like one of their most talented and deepest position groups, with elite talent at the top and bottom of the depth chart. For the 2024 season, Oregon is returning Tez Johnson, Traeshon Holden, and Gary Bryant Jr., and they’ve added Texas A&M transfer Evan Stewart and a trio of freshmen in Jeremiah McClellan, Ryan Pellum, and Dillon Gresham as well. Be sure not to sleep on Jurrion Dickey and Kyler Kasper, either.

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After practice on Tuesday, Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein spoke about the luxury of having so many talented wide receivers on a team.

“It’s huge,” Stein said. “I mean whenever you can roll six or seven deep at wideout, you know you’ve got a really good room. We still want to keep our play count up, and earlier in the year especially with the weather and the heat, we want to roll a lot of guys in there.”

It’s tough to say at this point in the process who Oregon’s top receivers will be, but Johnson, Stewart, and Holden are the early favorites to lead the WR room. With the quality receivers Oregon has in addition to those three, though, Stein may have a tough time balancing everyone’s usage.

“It’ll be fun, but it’s going to be stressful too,” Stein said about the challenge of getting everyone involved. “There’s a lot of players on our team. It’s a wonderful problem to have. It comes back to game planning and when you’re in that setting, personnel-specific plays are, I think, huge. We’ll see when we get there.”

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In addition to the wide receivers, Stein will have the challenge of working the ball to Oregon’s talented tight ends. Terrance Ferguson is coming back for his final season this fall, and last season he showed he is one of the best TEs in college football. Earlier this spring, Stein even said that he “needs to get him (Ferguson) the ball more.” Patrick Herbert and Kenyon Sadiq are two other TEs who could be big producers for the Ducks in the fall.

Like Stein said, having a variety of weapons at your disposal is a great problem to have. It should lead to a more diverse offensive strategy, making things more difficult for opposing defenses by throwing different concepts at them. It should also help the Ducks’ players manage their load, hopefully mitigating injuries.

“Shoot, we’ve got a lot of really good players. It’s about getting those kids the ball and getting their confidence up early,” Stein said.

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Oregon quarterbacks to get equal reps, chance to shine in Spring Game

Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein says the quarterbacks should get their chance to show out on Saturday.

That quarterback room inside the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex is quite literally brimming with talent. The only problem is that there is just one quarterback can take the snap from the center at a time.

Fortunately, the Spring Game on Saturday can be maneuvered in such a way where all the quarterbacks will get their time to shine on Saturday. According to offensive coordinator Will Stein, not everything has been put together yet, but it will be.

“We haven’t necessarily mapped (quarterback snaps) out quite yet, but it’ll be somewhat even,” Stein said. “You want to give everyone an opportunity and see what they can do in that setting.”

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Fans want to see those signal callers such as Dillon Gabriel, Dante Moore and Austin Novosad show out inside Autzen, but they’ll need receivers running routes and catching passes in order to do so. Those three signal callers have a lot of choices down the field.

“We get evaluations on them every single day and we’ve had two scrimmages already,” Stein said. “We definitely want to give them the limelight with the fans, with the real clock and real officials out there. We’ll get it set and try to make it as even as we can, but it’s never perfect.”

It’ll be quite different to see Gabriel sling it from the left side and just to have anyone other than Bo Nix out there will be an adjustment for everyone. Fans have been waiting a long time to see Moore in a Duck uniform and after a year playing for the UCLA Bruins, they’ll get the chance to see the Detroit prep star in the green and/or yellow.

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They all saw a glimpse of Novosad’s arm in the Fiesta Bowl four months ago, but he’ll be able to show it off inside Autzen in front of a bunch of friendlies.

The immediate future as well as the distant one will be on display for the Ducks and as long as no one suffers an injury, it should be all fun and games for all involved.

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Will Stein and his system helped bring Gabriel to Oregon

Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel says he was attracted to Will Stein’s system and proven track record in his transferring to Oregon from Oklahoma.

There’s a lot that goes into a college player’s decision-making when they enter the transfer portal. One of those decisions right off the bat is to whether or not go in the portal in the first place.

Once they do go into the portal, the road to another destination has some bumps have curves. It’s rarely smooth sailing. That wasn’t the case for new Oregon Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel. It seemed as if once he decided to leave Oklahoma, he had his bags packed for Eugene.

The Ducks success with players coming from the portal is one of the best out there. According to Gabriel, offensive coordinator Will Stein was a huge part of his decision to become an Oregon Duck.

“I think it’s the track record of what Coach (Stein) has been able to do at a bunch of different spots at a bunch of different levels as well, he said. “I also think proven concept, right? Being here and seeing all the guys who’ve done what they’ve done. Two 1,000-yard-plus receivers. The quarterback has thrown for 4,000 plus yards with 40-plus touchdowns. And also winning a bunch of games, which is the main thing.”

In his one season is Stein’s offense, Bo Nix’s numbers went up and he led the Ducks to an 11-2 record, including a Fiesta Bowl win over Liberty. It’s the kind of success Gabriel wants to duplicate or improve upon, if possible.

“When you look at the offensive side of the ball, it’s how you continue to be ahead of the chains and score a bunch of points,” Gabriel said. “They’ve been able to do that. That for me was intriguing.”

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Kenyon Sadiq could prove to be a ‘matchup nightmare’ for teams in 2024

Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein is excited about the versatility and talent of tight end Kenyon Sadiq.

The Oregon Ducks football team will miss some of the players who played their last game in 2023. But with all teams, the Ducks have some up-and-comers who are anxious and ready to make their own mark in the program.

Oregon has many young players who have the talent to make sure there’s no dropoff in 2024. One player in particular, tight end Kenyon Sadiq, makes offensive coordinator Will Stein excited for the present and the future.

“Kenyon has had a great camp so far in just two practices. He’s another guy who is a matchup nightmare with his speed in the slot,” Stein said. “You can line him up all over the field. It’ll be fun for me this year to try and get everyone the ball. It’s a good problem to have.”

The Ducks like to have players who are versatile, which makes them nearly impossible to prepare to defend for opponents. Sadiq is one of those players. Not only can he be a tight end, but Sadiq, who is 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, can line up wide and be a nightmare for a cornerback. While he could split out wide when needed, for now the redshirt freshman is sticking in the TE meeting room.

“Coach Mehringer does as good of a job as anybody holistically teaching our offense,” Stein said. “If you told Kenyon to go play X, he’d run the right route because he knows the concepts. If you put him in the backfield to pass protect, he knows the protections in six-man pro. We cross-train guys. We teach the entirety of the offense to every player. But with Kenyon, we really believe we have a special player there.”

With Terrance Ferguson and Patrick Herbert returning for the 2024 season, opportunities could be hard to come by for Sadiq, but if he proves to be as dominant as we’re hearing in spring football, the coaches may not have a choice but get him the ball as much as they can.

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Jurrion Dickey is living up to expectations as Ducks’ spring practice begins

Oregon Ducks redshirt freshman WR Jurrion Dickey has started to turn heads and live up to expectations in Eugene.

The Oregon Ducks are in the tough position of having to replace one of the best players to ever come through Eugene this offseason. Troy Franklin, arguably the No. 1 wide receiver in program history, is heading to the NFL draft later this spring after putting up historic numbers in 2023.

Of course, the Ducks aren’t lacking for talent in the WR room, with guys like Tez Johnson, Traeshon Holden, Gary Bryant Jr., and Evan Stewart all looking to take over as the No. 1 option in 2024. However, it may be a player who is not currently a projected starter, and who only has one catch on his resume that could make the biggest impact going forward.

Redshirt freshman Jurrion Dickey is ready to become a household name.

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A year ago, he signed with the Ducks as a 5-star prospect, ranked as the second-best receiver in the nation, and the 18th-best player in the 2023 class. He stands behind only Cameron Colvin as the highest-rated receiver to ever sign with Oregon.

While an injury sidelined him for much of his freshman season, Dickey looks primed for a breakout in 2024.

“He looks like the player we all anticipated he would look like,” Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein said on Saturday after the Ducks’ second spring practice. “He’s in shape and healthy. I love that kid. He has worked his tail off to get in good shape to go out and produce for us. The sky is the limit for Jurrion, as we all know.”

Talent was never the problem for Dickey. While the knee injury was partly responsible for his limited action a year ago, the understanding of a complicated offensive system also played a part. Oftentimes, fans see a generational talent like Dickey and expect him to be able to contribute right away, but they overlook the necessary intake process for a young player trying to learn a new scheme.

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From Year 1 to Year 2, that’s one of the things that has changed the most for Dickey.

“He knows what to do and where to line up,” Dickey said. “When you know what to do and where to line up, you can play fast and play to your ability. When you don’t know where to line up and are looking for help, you can’t play at full speed because you don’t know what route to run. That has nothing to do with his intelligence. Jurrion is an extremely intelligent guy. It’s just new. Now he’s at a point where he gets lined up like that. He knows his routes.”

Of course, knowing what to do and having the ability to do it won’t always be enough. In order for Dickey to see the field and actually have an outsized impact in his redshirt freshman season, he’s going to have to compete at a high level. The Ducks have one of the most talented receiver rooms in the nation, with high-level returners and an elite prospect coming over from Texas A&M in Stewart — the No. 1 WR and No. 6 overall player in the 2022 recruiting class.

Stein sees a path forward for Dickey, though, and a world where he can crack that rotation.

“Just keep competing. When the ball is up in the air, go make the play,” Stein said. “He’s a big-bodied receiver. On 1-on-1 contested catches, we expect him to go catch the ball. It shouldn’t be a 50-50 with him, he should go make the play. That’s what he’s shown. He really took a big step in bowl prep. It was like another 13 practices of spring football going over the base install again. You saw those down-the-field routes develop with him, and with like Troy or Ferg, he’s taking the ball off of defenders’ heads.”

Over the next 13 spring practices, we will get to see and hear how Dickey continues to grow and find a place in the offense. It will all culminate in the annual spring game on April 27th, where fans could be in store for a breakout from one of the most talented WRs that the Ducks have seen in quite some time.

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