The solution to Ducks' nagging tight end shortage is right there in the quarterback's face

Yesterday in this space Autzen Zoo proposed that Oregon take a flyer at Rice tight end Boden Groen, a two-star prospect from Rice who had entered the spring transfer portal.

Within hours or minutes of the crack team typing those carefully-crafted sentences the senior committed to Kansas. He's Jayhawk-bound, taking all 60 of his career receptions and three touchdowns to Lawrence, where the rain seldom falls on the plain.

His loss, though we wish him well. He could have been dancing with the Duck in Autzen, but at KU he'll have an opportunity to embellish his resume for an NFL tryout, starting every game for a team that went 4-5 in the Big 12 last year but did beat Coach Prime and Colorado 37-21 in November.

It's not that the Oregon tight ends are bad; it's just that there may not be enough of them. Two are coming off injuries, and two of the four have yet to play a snap of college football.

Kenyon Sadiq is even money to emerge as the best tight end in college football and the first tight end taken in the NFL draft. The Ducks need him to stay healthy for a full season, or they enter the latter half of Big Ten play like a Ford Mustang with no turbocharger.

Will Stein likes to confuse defenses with a variety of formations, employing 1, 2 or 3 tight ends depending on the matchup he wants to exploit.

That could be more difficult without a full stable, but there's an obvious solution that hits a skeptic like a Bugs Bunny mallet to the face:

Great Scott, Duck Knight, this is absolutely brilliant! Why didn't anyone think of this before? (Perhaps Stein has, doodling plays on the napkin for his lunchtime sandwich.)

Matayo Uiagalelei, also known as Young Concrete, a legit hip-hop music producer who works in the studio with his uncle Rob, stage name Concrete, was a five-star prospect in the class of 2023 at strongside defensive end, but he was also a 5-star prospect as a tight end coming out of St. John Bosco High in Bellflower, Calif.

When the Braves won the prep national championship in 2022, Matayo U. grabbed 24 passes that year for 335 yards and six touchdowns.

Think of it. He could be college football's next two-way sensation, a Travis Hunter with thrift-store common sense instead of flash, gold chains, a mediocre record and ceaseless hype.

Uiagalelei is smooth, powerful and athletic with good hands, 6-5, 270. The Ducks could use him in a package of plays, maybe 8-10 a game, at the goal line, in the Jumbo Formation, shake up the defense, get them pointing and shifting and wondering what happened

He doesn't have a pass reception or any snaps at tight end for the Quack Attack, but Uiagalelei did snatch a decisive interception against Wisconsin.

His father, Big Dave, quite naturally serves as his Hype Man and biggest fan:

Another option for the Ducks in certain situations would be to line up athletic tackle Gernorris Wilson as an extra blocker at in-line tight end, a play they've used before with perfect results: