In an alternate universe, Oregon Ducks wide receiver Kyler Kasper would be getting ready for his senior season in high school.
In this reality, the young wide receiver is cracking pads and competing with players who are as much as four or five years older than him.
Kasper, a 4-star recruit that committed to the Ducks on Easter, earlier this spring, was originally a member of the 2023 recruiting class, but he reclassified to the 2022 class and decided to head to Eugene for this fall season.
With someone so young making a quick jump to the college ranks, I wanted to know how he was ingratiating himself early on in the process. On Monday afternoon, I asked offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham about that following the Ducks fourth practice.
“I think he’s done a really nice job just adapting,” Dillingham said. “To go from a high school kid to all of a sudden being a, you know, a college kid, you weren’t expecting that. You were supposed to go back to high school this year.”
One phrase that head coach Dan Lanning used often during spring practices was young players who enrolled early “drinking out of a fire hose” as they tried to get used to the tempo of the college game and immerse themselves in the playbook, learning schemes and verbiage of the new offense or defense. Kasper didn’t get the chance to enroll early, but he’s working hard to get up to speed this fall.
“I think a little bit of him is like ‘whoa,’ but he’s responded,” Dillingham said. “I mean, today was the first day I saw him really attack and be physical and really kind of get comfortable out there.”
Oregon has a deep wide receiver room, with veteran transfers and a whole host of young and unproven players ready to step into the limelight. If we’re being honest, there’s a steep hill to climb before Kasper can make his mark and get a ton of action on the field, but as long as he’s moving along in practice and getting up to speed, the future looks bright for this highly touted recruit out of Arizona.
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