Ducks hike Spencer's Butte to honor fallen teammates Spencer Webb, Khyree Jackson
It's a ritual, a tradition, a rite of passage. For the second year in a row now Dan Lanning has taken the team to Spencer Butte, six miles south on the outskirts of Eugene, to signify the end of summer training and remember teammates who can no longer take the journey.
Solemnly the Ducks file up the 2,058-foot outcrop of volcanic rock. From the bare top a hiker has a panoramic view of the Willamette Valley, downtown Eugene, Autzen Stadium. It's a place to reflect from which you can almost see the future.
Lanning told the team, "So look, we do this every single year. Some of you guys know, some of you don't know why we do that. We have a fallen brother."
"Spencer Webb and Khyree Jackson don't get to sit where you sit right now. Part of this team, lost too soon. We don't get to enjoy that moment with them anymore so part of this is to remember those guys who were part of our team."
"Once you're a part of a team you're forever a part of that team."
Closing the summer with a tribute to our fallen brothers.
— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) July 19, 2025
Next up: Fall Camp. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/YLTYLWnImL
"The other thing you walk away with is that this is the end of summer. We just finished our summer workouts. Right now you should have a sense of accomplishment. But you've also got to realize there's more on that plate. And you want to finish the plate."
A year ago on Wednesday July 10 the Ducks conducted a memorial service for Jackson inside Autzen Stadium. Teammates Tysheem Johnson, Dontae Manning and Tez Johnson spoke. Tez Johnson said his friend had been, "one of those guys that you wanted to be around every day. If you are around Khyree, you are going to have a good day."
Dontae Manning gave a heartfelt, vulnerable tribute.
Jackson died near Upper Marlboro, Maryland early Saturday morning July 7, 2024 in a three-car crash after leaving a bowling alley with two of his high school teammates. He was a passenger in a Dodge Charger, their car demolished by a drunken driver who has since been indicted on 13 counts including vehicular manslaughter.
It happened three weeks before Jackson was leaving for training camp with the Minnesota Vikings.
Webb died July 13, 2022 of a head injury, cliff-diving at Triangle Lake. The popular, outgoing tight end had been raised by his aunt, brother and sister-in-law after his parents had abandoned him due to drug addiction.
Webb told Scott Reed of Duck Sports Central, "My parents left me; skipped town; left me at my 70-year-old grandmas house at a very young age. I was maybe three or four years old and my aunt stepped in," he continued. "Yeah, I guess it made me feel like they passed away more than they chose to pick substance abuse over raising kids."
The two were great players at Oregon with promising futures. That Lanning and the team take time out each summer to remember them and honor their uncompleted journey is a credit to them all and a source of resolve in the unfolding journey of a new season.