There is no shortage of excitement surrounding Oregon\u2019s 2023 signing class ahead of Dan Lanning\u2019s second season at the helm of the program. <\/p>\n
But as the Ducks look to improve upon last year\u2019s 10-3 finish, they are going to need several of their \u201922 signees to make significant progress. <\/p>\n
Oregon\u2019s 2022 signing class \u2014 the first of the Lanning era \u2014 featured 17 commits and was the 11th-best in the nation, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. The group played sparingly, though; just six freshmen burned their redshirt last season, and only two exceeded the 100-snap mark. <\/p>\n
With fall camp just around the corner, the ScoopDuck staff is taking a look at where each of Oregon\u2019s second-year scholarship players might fit into the Ducks\u2019 2023 plans. First up is cornerback Jahlil Florence. <\/p>\n
Size: <\/strong>6-foot-1, 190 pounds<\/p>\n On3 Industry Ranking:<\/strong> No. 120 overall, No. 15 cornerback, No. 8 in California<\/p>\n 2022 stats: <\/strong>In eight games, Florence recorded eight total tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception, and one forced fumble<\/p>\n Despite battling for playing time amongst a deep, young group of cornerbacks, Florence emerged as a consistent contributor for the Ducks as a true freshman and overtook Jalil Tucker, Avante Dickerson, and Darren Barkins on the depth chart.<\/p>\n Florence was Oregon\u2019s most impactful true freshman last season by a wide margin. His 211 defensive snaps were 163 more than any defensive player from the \u201922 signing class. <\/p>\n His best performance of the season came against BYU in Week 3 when he played 34 snaps against a talented group of receivers. A week later Florence played 15 snaps against Stanford and delivered another encouraging performance that garnered a PFF grade of 87.7. <\/p>\n He was hindered by an injury late in the year but bounced back with a strong showing against North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl. <\/p>\n Florence spent the spring splitting reps at cornerback and nickel. While it\u2019s unlikely that he spends meaningful game reps at nickel this season due to the sheer amount of options the Ducks possess there, the experience has been beneficial, according to Florence. <\/p>\n \u201cBeing a physical corner, you always want to be in the run action,\u201d he said during an April interview. \u201cIt\u2019s about versatility. You want a cover guy who can tackle as well. When the coaches said, \u2018We need you at nickel\u2019 I was available.\u201d<\/p>\n Nearly all of Oregon\u2019s defensive backs spent the spring cross-training at multiple positions in order to help Lanning and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi \u201cconsistently get their best 11 players on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly it\u2019s helpful to the players and it\u2019s helpful to the team when\u00a0you can do multiple things,\u201d Oregon special teams and nickels coach Joe Lorig said this spring. \u201cYou\u2019ll see lots of guys back there. How it will shake out at the end of the day, I honestly don\u2019t know right at this point. If you need him more at corner, you\u2019ll have a different STAR, and if you have him more at STAR, you\u2019ll have a different corner. <\/p>\n \u201cYou have to look at the balance of all those positions together and make sure you\u2019re getting the best 11 on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite a bright showing from Florence during his true freshman campaign, playing time is far from guaranteed in 2023. <\/p>\n Trikweze Bridges played the third-most snaps among Oregon defenders last season and is expected to lock down one of the outside cornerback spots. Alabama transfer Khyree Jackson impressed during the spring and is aiming \u201cto be the Ducks\u2019 next lockdown corner.\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Former 5-star signee Dontae Manning is entering a make-or-break year with Oregon and will be looking to take hold of a starting job after playing just 242 snaps last season. <\/p>\n But Florence\u2019s size, athleticism, and aforementioned versatility all make him an incredibly intriguing option in the Ducks\u2019 secondary. He will undoubtedly be in the mix for significant playing time this fall. <\/p>\n The post Second-year surge: Oregon cornerback Jahlil Florence<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is no shortage of excitement surrounding Oregon\u2019s 2023 signing class ahead of Dan Lanning\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Freshman year recap<\/h2>\n
The Buzz\u2026<\/h2>\n
In 2023\u2026<\/h2>\n