'That moment when' reaches new level with Kenjon Barner embracing Dierre Hill

Sep 27, 2025; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Oregon Ducks running back Dierre Hill Jr. (23) is tackled by Penn State Nittany Lions cornerback Zion Tracy (7) during the third quarter at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-Imagn Images
Sep 27, 2025; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Oregon Ducks running back Dierre Hill Jr. (23) is tackled by Penn State Nittany Lions cornerback Zion Tracy (7) during the third quarter at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-Imagn Images | James Lang-Imagn Images

In this week's "Ducks vs Them" there's a moment after the Ducks' 30-24 double overtime win when Oregon all-time great Kenjon Barner congratulates Dierre Hill at midfield.

It is wordless. Neither the star running back or the ten-year NFL veteran with three Super Bowl rings says anything. They just stand eye-to-eye and embrace. Each knows what the other knows: work, sacrifice and triumph.

It's a simple hug of congratulation but it's more than that. It's a passing of the torch, a brotherhood, a welcoming to an inner circle. In the game Hill outrushed two preseason All-America candidates from Penn State, Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton.

The freshman from Centralia, Illinois tallied 82 yards on ten carries. He broke a 24-yard run and lined up at wide receiver and scored on an 8-yard tunnel screen to give the Ducks at 10-3 lead in the third quarter.

In his four years at Oregon Kenjon Barner helped lead the Ducks to three PAC-10/12 Championships and a 46-7 record, He's third on the all-time career rushing list with 3,623 yards, 41 rushing touchdowns, an explosive, big-game player who returned a punt 80 yards for a touchdown against Tennessee and a kickoff 100 yards for a TD against UCLA.

In 2012 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum he gashed USC for 321 yards and five touchdowns, still the best single-game performance by a Duck running back in school history.

Hill has some of the same vision and explosiveness, the one-cut-and-go style. He's on the same path. Kenjon Barner said so without saying a word.

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