Coming into the 2026 season, it was easy to see that the Oregon Ducks were likely going to be a veteran led team, and for good reason. The Ducks brought back Dante Moore, A'Mauri Washington, Teitum Tuitoti, and more, giving the team a strong group of leaders to lean on. Adding in some players who returned ready to step into bigger roles, and it's always hard to find time for the talented freshmen the team recruits.
Now Oregon looks up at a 3-2 record before the midway point in the season, and it's been far from easy for a team who had National Championship hopes. As glaring holes have set the team back in certain areas, it may be time to start opening up position battles, and starting to see if the underclassmen can perform when the games roll around.
Oregon should start to turn several roles over to freshmen
One of the biggest areas the Ducks counted on returning players to step into bigger roles was on the offensive line. A'lique Terry and Dan Lanning opted to add just one offensive line transfer in Michael Bennett III who hasn't made any impact when the Ducks have played him. Saturday marked another weekend without the same starting 5 on the offensive line, and as the game went along other pieces started to rotate into the game.
If Oregon is going to continue experiencing growing pains with older veterans, the staff might as well start to let the freshmen make those mistakes to prepare for the future, and maybe help settle things down this season. Freshman Tommy Tofi came in to play 11 snaps at guard on Saturday, and made some mistakes, but so did veteran Kawika Rogers.
Oregon signed one of the top offensive tackles in the country this past recruiting cycle in Immanuel Iheanacho. As Oregon continues to deal with struggles from Fox Crader and Ziyare Addison, it may be worth seeing if either of them fits better on the interior. Gernorris Wilson played the best of any tackle coming off the bench, and if Oregon can find an answer on the left side where you hope Iheanacho is the future, it would go a long way.
Safety has been another issue for the Ducks, and with Aaron Flowers out on Saturday, the staff started to see some improvement. Peyton Woodyard was a step up from Flowers, but the duo still hasn't clicked this season to be a strength of the defense. Oregon has recruited safety at a high level coming out of High School, and developing Trey McNutt and Jett Washington on the job may provide both short and long term solutions.
Most positions have been fine for the Ducks as the veteran receivers, cornerbacks, defensive linemen, and more have all played their part this season. Leaning on the veterans while you still have hopes of turning things around is fine, but it may be in Oregon's best interest to start seeing if some of the young assets can plug some of the areas that hurt the Ducks week over week at this point.
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