Oregon Ducks Football Camp Update
The Oregon Ducks are in their second week of summer camp before they open their regular season on September 1st versus Arkansas State. Arkansas State is a member of the Sun Belt Conference. The Red Wolves won a Sun Belt Conference Championship last season going 10-3 on the year. They lost to Northern Illinois in the GoDaddy.com Bowl by a score of 38-20.
The wide receiver group lost one member last week when Tacoi Sumler left the program to be closer to home. Sumler is from Miami, Florida and has transferred to Appalachian State in North Carolina. Sumler is a 5-foot-9 and 173 pound speedster who redshirted last season at Oregon. He will have four years of eligibility at Appalachian State who is a member of the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision). The FCS was formerly called Division 1-AA.
As Sumler leaves, the Ducks welcome sophomore back tight end Colt Lyerla. Lyerla missed the first six practices due to personal reasons but returned to practice today. Lyerla is currently battling fellow tight ends Brian Teague, Evan Baylis, Pharoah Brown and Terrence Daniel for the starting position. Baylis, Brown and Daniel are all freshmen while Teague is a junior.
Lyerla is the only tight end of the group who has statistics next to his name. Lyerla caught seven balls last season for 147 yards with five of those catches going for touchdowns. He was the backup to David Paulson last season. Paulson is now in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Head coach Chip Kelly has mentioned that a starter won’t be named until a time closer to the first game.
Oregon was picked to win the North Division of the Pac-12 at the Pac-12 Media Day last month. They are expected to meet USC in the Championship game. You can catch the season preview for the Oregon Ducks on the Pac-12 Network on Thursday, August 16th at 8:00 pm PT.
Check out Raymond Mencke’s blog at www.sportissue.com. Also follow him on Twitter @RaymondMenckeJr,
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