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The 2024-25 college football season came to a close on Monday with the Ohio State Buckeyes’ victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the National Championship Game. The Oregon Ducks season came to an end nearly three weeks earlier, after a heartbreaking loss to the same Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl.
The Ducks’ success this year was all due to the fantastic roster assembled by Dan Lanning and his staff. Although Oregon may not have had the talent Ohio State did, this will go down as one of the best Oregon teams ever.
On Monday, ESPN named five Oregon Ducks to their list of the Top 100 college football players of the 2024-25 season. At No. 9 is Dillon Gabriel, and he’s followed by Derrick Harmon at 31, Tez Johnson at 33, Josh Conerly at 61, and Matayo Uiagalelei at 81.
All five of those players made massive impacts for Oregon this season, and the Ducks likely would not have gone undefeated if a single one of those players wasn’t on the team. Four of the five will certainly be drafted this April, and a year from now Uiagalelei — who has one year to play before he is eligible for the NFL Draft — will be talked about as a first-round pick.
On a list of the 100 best players in college football, it is surprising that the team that sat atop the AP Poll for eight weeks and finished No. 3 in the final AP Poll, only accounts for five percent of the players. Some notable omissions from Oregon are defensive end Jordan Burch and running back Jordan James — two players who were among the best at their position nationwide. Both will be drafted this spring as well.
It was a disappointing end to the year for Oregon, but 2024-25 was far from a disappointing season. The Ducks went undefeated in the regular season for the second time in their history, they put a Heisman finalist on stage in New York, and won the Big Ten…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/5-ducks-named-espn-top-185503762.html
Author : Ducks Wire
Publish date : 2025-01-23 18:55:00
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