Matayo Uiagalelei says the Oregon defense only lacks one thing

At Big Ten Media Days they asked Matayo Uiagalelei about the 2025 Oregon defense, and the Big Ten sack leader said, "I would say this is either on par talent-wise with what we were last year or maybe even better. The only difference is experience."

It's a young, young defense. To make it work, Dan Lanning and Tosh Lupoi will have to rely on first- and second-year players. Extremely talent freshmen, redshirt freshmen and sophomores, but guys who have yet to play a lot at the college level.

Dan Lanning has stacked elite talent for three seasons. Now he reaps the benefits.

To give fans an idea of how young the Ducks are, the team has 103 returning starts across the whole roster. Last season the offensive line alone boasted 144 career starts, though not all of them were at Oregon.

What makes this mix of talented but inexperienced players more potent is that the Ducks have leaders on every level of the defense, to set the pace, direct traffic, and speak with authority in meetings and on the sideline.

The 2025 squad is deep in the trenches, and third-year starters Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti combined for 16 sacks last season. They'll set the standard in practice and provide the havoc and destruction that makes every level of the defense better.

The Ducks were fourth in the conference in tackles for loss last season with 84, 20 of those by Uiagalelei and Tuioti. With outside pressure and setting the edge against the run, they can give this defense an intimidating identity. Havoc leads to turnovers and three and outs.

Inside, the unit will rely chiefly on Bear Alexander, the former four-star from Terrell, Texas with previous stops at Georgia and USC, 6-3, 315. Alexander has to replace Derrick Harmon, who led all of the FBS with 55 quarterback pressures. Harmon played his way into the first round of the NFL draft with 45 tackles, five sacks, 10.5 tackles per loss. He devoured opponents and redefined the line of scrimmage.

Alexander has the potential to duplicate Harmon's impressive productivity but he's never realized it in his two previous stops. Playing alongside Uiagalelei and Tuioti should help. He's hit the weight room hard and impressed the Oregon coaches with his attitude and practice effort through the spring and summer.

Lanning, who helped recruit Alexander to Georgia back in 2021, said this spring, "I'm really excited about Bear. This guy has been through transition, but he hit Oregon with his feet on the ground and running. He's up here every single day, trying to get extra football. He takes it very seriously. I'm really pleased so far with how he's attacked things."

Alexander's success in becoming an impact tackle along the lines of Harmon and Jamaree Caldwell (the third member of the 2024 defensive line to get drafted) determines the ceiling of the 2025 defense. They need him to be more than a space-eater. He has to make plays and establish himself as a future NFL player.

His best year came in 2023 with the Trojans when he posted 47 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and four pass breakups. At UO, he has a clear path to start and be the man. In March Lanning told reporters, "To this point right now, Bear has been, I'd say, one of the hardest workers on the entire defense, from a from an extra work and mental standpoint.”

He has help, though. This is another position where Lanning, Lupoi and d-line coach Tony Tuioti have stacked talent. A'Mauri Washington enters his third year in the program, 6-3, 320, strong and hard to move off the ball.

Near the end of last year Coach Tuioti called him his best defensive lineman, only Washington had the misfortune to play behind two NFL players. Aydin Breeland, Jericho Johnson, Tionne Gray and Terrance Green were all four-star recruits-- the Ducks have the depth to play a deep rotation.

It's imperative that the team exercise the game control in the early part of the season that allows them to develop this young roster.

Behind Tuioti and Uiagalelei on the outside there is a group of incredibly promising young pass rushing talents, Blake Purchase, the aptly-named Elijah Rushing, Xadavien Sims, Ashton Porter, Nasir Wyatt. True freshman Wyatt, from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California, is explosive and twitchy. Really, they all are.

Oregon's offensive tackles are going to get a workout in practice.

At linebacker there is a similar dilemma: Promising talent but uncertainty about experience. Oregon has a proven guy in the middle in extra-year senior Bryce Boettcher, 6-2, 235, 94 tackles last season with eight TFL and two sacks. He grabbed his first career interception against UCLA.

Boettcher's leadership is unquestioned, but a big concern for the Ducks remains who will fill the slot next to him. Lupoi employs a base 4-2-5. Junior Devon Jackson possesses 10.54 speed in the 100 meters but he's been hampered by injuries and a tendency to get a bit lost in his assignments. He'll start fall camp limited again this fall.

If Jackson doesn't take the next step in his development, his snaps fall to a group of four-star possibles, Bryden Platt, Kamar Mothudi and Dylan Williams, three four-star redshirt freshmen from 2024.

Jerry Mixon is in his third year in the program and he's logged 19 games, chiefly on special teams. Gavin Nix is a four-star freshman from IMG Academy, a late flip in the 2025 class who enrolled for spring ball.

Someone has to step up and be a starter, proving themselves capable of not getting caught in the wash. It's the biggest question mark on the Oregon defense until someone stands and delivers.

At secondary is new, five new faces after the Ducks sent seven to NFL training camps. Dillon Thieneman could be Oregon's defensive MVP this year, the transfer safety from Purdue who's racked up 210 tackles and six interceptions in his first two years of college football.

Thieneman's a monster in the secondary, a tone-setter in the way Uiagalelei and Boettcher will be in their units.

At Big Ten Media Days Lanning told reporters, "When you really get to know Dillon, that's when you fall in love with Dillon. What kind of worker he is, what he does. Those are the things that tape don't tell, but you can figure it out quickly through the relationship — hop on the phone, having the guy to visit, being around his family."

That presence is so important because the rest of his unit is young, relatively inexperienced and new. Though transfers Jadon Canady and Theran Johnson were all-league players at their last stops, the rest of the two-deep are freshman and sophomores.

The beauty of it is, they're all long, fast and supremely talented. Na'eem Offord and Trey McNutt were five-stars in the class of 2025. Ify Obidegwu and Brandon Finney were Top Ten cornerbacks, both over 6-1. Safety Kingston Lopa is 6-5, 200. Sione Lalulea didn't play much last season as a JUCO transfer but he's 6-4, 190 and made one of the plays of the year picking off Illinois' Luke Altmyer.

What's exciting about this group is their athletic ability and superior ball skills. They make plays on the ball and contest the catch. Aaron Flowers and Peyton Woodyard are two more promising young safeties. Jahlil Florence is back from injury, maybe Oregon's best cover guy.

With Thieneman back there to direct traffic, set the pace in film study and clean things up, this is going to be a secondary with a lot of tenacity. The depth is tremendous. They're about to lock (stuff) down.

And with Uiagalelei and Tuioti leading the pass rush, the opportunity for havoc and turnovers is enormous. Despite the youth, this could be Oregon's best defense. Cream rises to the top.

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