Big Ten Media Days are in six weeks, July 22-24 from the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas. Practice starts four weeks before the first game, August 2nd.
Oregon hosts Montana State August 30, 1 p.m. PT on the Big Ten Network. College football is about five barbecues and three summer concerts away, give or take.
It's time to introduce the burning questions.
1. Can Ross Douglas spin straw into gold in the Oregon receiver room?
Around the Duck universe, X, message boards and podcasts, this question has been framed in terms of replacing Evan Stewart, who is reportedly down with a patellar injury.
Though Stewart insists, "Don't place a timeline on me!" that focus is far too narrow. The problem is bigger than that. Douglas and the Oregon coaching staff not only have to account for Stewart's absence, they've got to replace the production of Dillon Gabriel and five of his leading targets from last season:
Oregon Passing Game, lost production from 2024
Yards | Comp % | TDs | Ints | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dillon Gabriel | 3,857 | 72.9 | 30 | 6 |
Receivers | Catches | Yds | Touchdowns |
|---|---|---|---|
Tez Johnson | 83 | 898 | 10 |
Traeshon Holden | 45 | 718 | 5 |
Evan Stewart | 48 | 613 | 5 |
Terrance Ferguson | 43 | 591 | 3 |
Jordan James | 26 | 209 | 0 |
In addition, Gabriel had 149 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns. Taken altogether, that's a lot of scoring and moving the chains that has to come from somewhere else.
Here's what's left:
Returning Receivers | Catches | Yds | Touchdowns |
|---|---|---|---|
Kenyon Sadiq | 24 | 308 | 2 |
Justius Lowe | 21 | 203 | 1 |
Noah Whittington | 24 | 136 | 2 |
Jayden Limar, Jurrion Dickey, Jeremiah McClellan, Kyler Kasper, Gary Bryant Jr., tackle Gernorris Wilson and Jay Harris combined for 11 catches for 140 yards and two scores, enough to offset Patrick Herbert plus a bit more.
Penciled out like this, the task is daunting. Oregon has to create a brand new passing attack, one that looked promising in the spring game, one that includes a lot of four- and five-star talent, but one that enters 2025 almost completely untested.
Douglas has done this before. At Syracuse as passing game coordinator he had a transfer quarterback in Kyle McCord and a cast of receivers that hadn't done much up to that point in their careers.
He took Jackson Meeks, Trebor Pena and tight end Oronde Gadsden and fashioned a 4,800-yard passing game that fueled a 10-3 season.
Yet 10-3 would be the bare minimum expectation at Oregon, right on the playoff bubble.
At this point, forget sending Ryan Day champagne. The city of Syracuse might give him the key to the city, for helping them land Kyle McCord.
— Jacob Hester (@JacobHester18) September 7, 2024
pic.twitter.com/JvNbY5cg87
Oregon has loads of talent in the receiver room. Dakorien Moore is one of the most dynamic true freshman wideouts in college football, but up to now Dan Lanning hasn't shown a lot of trust in freshmen, limiting them to spot starts and minor roles.
Up to now the only true freshman to come up big for the Ducks in the Lanning era are a couple of pass rushers, Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti, now juniors.
In 2025 he has freshmen with a whole another level of talent, and holes to fill on the two-deep. Moore, Cooper Perry, Na'eem Offord and Trey McNutt might get some action early, maybe even develop into impact players.
In particular, the runway is cleared for Moore. Oregon needs a go-to, big-play wide receiver.
And not just that. Out of Moore, Malik Benson, Gary Bryant Jr., Dickey, McClellan, Dillon Gresham, Lowe, Kasper and the rest, Douglas has to find a total of 3600 yards and 35 points a game.
Of course the Oregon running game can fill some of the gap. That's another of the burning questions.
Both the talent and the coaching track record are there, but it has to come together. As Dan Lanning says, "The proof's in the pudding."