Oregon football position breakdown: wideouts emphasize family, connection in loaded room

Oregon head football coach Dan Lanning has emphasized four program “DNA traits” throughout his three-year tenure in Eugene, crucial to what he sees as important for a successful program:

Connection, growth, toughness and sacrifice.

Connection, especially, has been a major point of emphasis for the Ducks in interviews leading up to the season. Though Lanning expects the entire team to be connected, Oregon’s wide receivers and position coach Junior Adams have devised their own way to stay connected as a group.

Inspired by the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which means “I am because we are,” the Ducks are aiming to have the best, and most connected, receiver room in the country.

“It’s a family thing that we say,” receiver Tez Johnson said. “We carry ourselves with that every day. It’s not just a word. It’s something that we live by in that room. We hold each guy in that room to that Ubuntu standard. We’re a family.

“It’s a loaded room, but together, we’re dangerous. We’re unstoppable, no one can stop us.”

Oregon wide receiver Tez Johnson works out during the Ducks’ fall camp Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex in Eugene, Ore.

Though the Ducks saw all-time great receiver Troy Franklin drafted into the NFL last season, they return Johnson, Traeshon Holden and Gary Bryant Jr. as key cogs from last season. They also bring into the fold former five-star recruit Evan Stewart from Texas A&M and will have a healthy Jurrion Dickey – the prize of Oregon’s 2023 recruiting class and another five-star receiver – to compete for catches.

With one of his deeper rooms since he’s coached in Eugene, Adams wants the receivers in his room to make his job hard.

“They understand the deal, too,” Adams said. “It’s not just you’re going to play wide receiver; you’re going to…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/oregon-football-position-breakdown-wideouts-110205060.html

Author : The Register-Guard

Publish date : 2024-08-11 11:02:05

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