Although his adoptive brother, Bo Nix, has departed for the NFL, Oregon football breakout star Tez Johnson enters his second season with the Ducks with sky-high expectations.
In his first season with Oregon, catching passes from Nix, Johnson burst onto the scene with 86 receptions for 1,182 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was one of the brightest stars on the team and the fact that he decided to return for the 2024 season was huge for the offense.
Now he'll have Dillon Gabriel throwing him the ball and the Troy transfer may have lost Troy Franklin as his receiving mate after he, too, had a 1,000-yard season but he's replaced with Evan Stewart.
Who is Evan Stewart?
None other than a former five-star receiver coming over from Texas A&M after catching 91 passes for 1,163 yards and six touchdowns over the past two seasons. And he put these numbers up without having much help on offense. He had Conner Weigman, but the talented quarterback suffered some injuries and the offense was never consistent while he played for Jimbo Fisher.
Now Stewart will have his best quarterback situation along with arguably the best receiver he's lined up with. That's going to take a lot of pressure off his shoulders and now he can just live up to that elite potential.
So one year after going from Franklin and Johnson, Oregon transitions to Johnson and Stewart. Not too shabby. Actually, it may be the best receiver duo in the nation.
Both guys are supremely talented and we saw that with Johnson last year as a breakout star and I'd bet that Stewart approaches or surpasses the 1,000-yard mark this season while catching passes from the best quarterback he's ever connected with.
Big Ten defenses have to be dreading a matchup with Oregon for this reason and the receiving corps is deeper than just these two, but defending two potential superstars will be darn near impossible.