Oregon Football: Top 3 position battles to watch ahead of 2021

1. Quarterback

Alright, we’ve reached the most obvious position battle to keep an eye on this fall as Tyler Shough has transferred to Texas Tech, leaving the starting job to Anthony Brown, a transfer from Boston College from a year ago.

Shough didn’t have a terrible 2020 season but still drew scrutiny from the fanbase because he wasn’t exactly Justin Herbert. He finished with 1,559 yards and 13 touchdowns with six interceptions before entering the portal this offseason. Many believed Brown would move on due to the fact that he wasn’t guaranteed a starting job in 2021 and he was a senior, but he returned for another year.

Brown was the favorite to win the job when spring started, but for anyone who watched the spring game, a new name emerged: Robby Ashford. The redshirt freshman and dual-sport star dropped baseball this year to focus on football and that’s only going to help his case.

Ashford is my current favorite to win the job, but you also can’t count out Jay Butterfield and Ty Thompson who were both highly-touted recruits in the 2020 and 2021 classes, respectively.

The quarterback battle could go well into the fall and will have the entire Pac-12’s attention.