Oregon Players With the Most Hype Heading Into the 2024 Season

Oregon has been getting a lot of national hype heading into the 2024 season and understandably so. Dan Lanning went into the transfer portal and grabbed a massive haul of elite players to supplement and already strong roster that just welcomed the program’s best recruiting class in program history.

With the start of the season just about three weeks away, the Ducks are looking to rise to the occasion each week. I’m taking a look at which players on the roster have the most hype around them.

Dillon Gabriel

Gabriel had to be on this list. He was one of the best quarterbacks available in the transfer portal and he’s looking to go out on top in his final year of college football. Maybe adding to the hype is the No. 8 that he’ll wear, becoming the first Duck quarterback to don the number since Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota.

When you talk about teams that have legitimate national title hopes, it always starts with the quarterback. Oregon has one of the best and most experienced signal callers in the sport that should be able to keep them in every game.

Jordan Burch

Burch had a bit of a rough end to the 2023 season after getting dinged up early on in the Pac-12 title game. The Ducks really could’ve used his help on defense but he missed nearly the entire game.

He was able to play in the Fiesta Bowl and really turned a new leaf from his days at South Carolina. Lanning and this staff look like they’ve been able to unlock some more tools in his skillset and expectations are high for him in 2024 as he could be the best defensive lineman on the roster.

Kenyon Sadiq

Sadiq is easily one of the offensive players fans are most excited to see this year. He’s a freak athlete and was listed on the updated roster at 6’3″, 245 pounds, a 10-pound increase from his weight a season ago.

He’s been mentioned in a similar scope of Brock Bowers. Not that he’s as good as the former Georgia standout, but that he has all the tools to become that caliber of a player. Whether it’s sweeps out of the backfield, hurdling defenders or putting them on their back with a pancake block, fans are hoping the Idaho native can develop into another dangerous weapon for offensive coordinator Will Stein.

Derrick Harmon

It would’ve been hard to include Burch here and not Harmon. Harmon played some great ball at Michigan State, which is the main reason he’s on this list. But if you followed his recruitment I think you’d understand me when I say the battle to GET Harmon adds another layer to the excitement around him.

Now Tony Tuioti has a player who’s proven it at the Big Ten level and should given Oregon a front four that also includes Houston transfer Jamaree Caldwell and Matayo Uiagalelei.

Evan Stewart

Stewart joins the Ducks after two years at Texas A&M, where he signed as part of a class that featured a record seven 5-star prospects. He had some pretty solid production in those two years amid a pretty chaotic quarterback situation.

Well he doesn’t need to worry about that at Oregon. The duo of Stewart and Tez Johnson looks like it should be one of the most explosive in the country, at least on paper. Johnson has a lot of hype in his own right after the phenomenal season he had last year, but we’ve seen what he can do in an Oregon uniform. We haven’t really gotten that with Stewart.

Stewart was the top available receiver in the portal for a reason and his addition is a big part of the reason why the Ducks are in the conversation for the best wide receiver room in college football.

Jabbar Muhammad

Oregon has had pretty solid cornerback play the past couple of years with standouts like Christian Gonzalez and Khyree Jackson. The problem has been they haven’t had multiple players of that caliber on the same defense.

It seems like the cornerback depth this year should be the best it’s been since 2019 (Deommodore Lenoir, Thomas Graham Jr.) and Muhammad is considered to be the best of the bunch after helping Washington reach the national championship last season. He isn’t the biggest or the fastest corner, but he’s a technician that can match up with any receiver in the country and plays with a swagger that is contagious. A solid year with the Ducks should help elevate his draft stock.

Noah Whittington/Jordan James

I didn’t want this list to get too long, but it’s hard to include one without the other here. Whittington is looking to bounce back from a season-ending injury and his combination of speed, toughness and pass catching out of the backfield make him a major asset to this offense.

As for James, he just might be the best back Oregon has produced in recent memory. Now that depends how you evaluate it, but I’d probably say Royce Freeman and Bucky Irving are the best ones I’ve seen Oregon produce in recent memory. I know there’s been a lot of great backs, you could also mention Jonathan Stewart and De’Anthony Thomas—but Thomas didn’t do much in the NFL.

James is the complete package and has been ready for any and everything that the staff has asked him to do after playing a fairly small role as a freshman in 2022.

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