Robby Ashford drastically improved outlook of Oregon football career

As an Oregon football fan, I just don’t see how you couldn’t absolutely love Robby Ashford. The former four-star athlete in the 2020 recruiting class didn’t play at all during his true freshman season, but with an opening at quarterback in 2021, he is poised to make a run at the starting job.

And this spring, he proved just why he could be the next man up.

The redshirt freshman quarterback kept his head down, didn’t make any promises or guarantees, and then shocked just about everyone this spring when he looked like the most electrifying quarterback on the roster.

Anthony Brown came in as the presumed starter as a grad transfer from Boston College, but Ashford made a huge leap up the depth chart, going from what I thought to be a fourth-stringer to QB2, at the very least. If I were Mario Cristobal, I’d actually give Ashford the QB1 nod this fall and see where he can take the offense.

Then he did something that showed just how serious he was about winning the starting quarterback job and leading Oregon in 2021: he quit baseball.

Ashford’s career with Oregon football comes to the forefront

According to The Oregonian, Ashford is focused solely on winning the starting quarterback job so he put baseball on hold. Yeah, that sounds like a Kyler Murray type of move, and look how it paid off for him. I’m not saying he’s going to be the same caliber of quarterback, but when a dual-sport athlete drops one sport to focus on the other, his career outlook drastically improves.

Murray went from a first-round MLB draft pick and potential future pro in baseball to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft when he revealed he would be focusing on football.

The sky is the limit for Ashford and if he can build on what he started this spring with the football team, he’s going to be a special quarterback in Eugene. I would not be shocked if he came to fall camp and immediately looked like QB1.