Oregon Football: The 9 most intriguing storylines going into spring

It’s been a few long months since Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks took the field against the Liberty Flames in the Fiesta Bowl to close out the 2023 season, and the last month or so has been void of a lot of news. But at long last, football has returned with the beginning of the 2024 spring season, which officially begins for the Ducks on Thursday morning with their first practice of the year.

This 2024 season brings a lot of newness with it as the Ducks transition away from the Bo Nix, Bucky Irving, and Troy Franklin era and look to usher in new players at major positions. On top of that, Oregon is heading to the Big Ten Conference after the collapse of the Pac-12, where they will compete for a spot in the newly expanded College Football Playoff.

With all of the newness comes a litany of storylines that have us intrigued going into this new season of football. Here are some of the things that we are looking at closely going into the spring for Oregon.

The Ducks brought in two of the five best available quarterbacks from the transfer portal, landing both Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel and UCLA’s Dante Moore. While Gabriel enters the 2024 season as the perceived favorite to win the starting spot, and stands as one of the most experienced players in all of college football, Moore is no slouch, and should not be expected to just accept the QB2 role.

Moore was a former 5-star recruit rated as the No. 4 overall player in the 2023 class. One interesting thing to watch over the coming weeks is how close that QB battle really is in Eugene, and if Moore can push Gabriel for the top spot. It feels like we will know pretty quickly based on how they look in practice and the spring game, but it could provide some serious intrigue for the summer months if Moore can prove something early on.

The Oregon Ducks have a very good problem att he cornerback position currently. With the undisputed CB1 leaving from 2023 in Khyree Jackson, the Ducks have starting spots to fill, and a lot of guys who are capable of stepping up.

Right now, popular beliefs are that Jabbar Muhammad, Kam Alexander, and Jahlil Florence are going to be at the top of the depth chart, with guys like Dontae Manning, Rodrick Pleasant, Daylen Austin, Sione Laulea, and Ify Obidegwu are all going to compete for spots on the depth chart. Depending on the defensive package, there could be as few as two CBs on the field.

Who gets those spots? And who is next in line to see field action behind them? That’s what I want to watch play out this spring.

Evan Stewart is one of the most high-profile additions to the Oregon roster this offseason, coming over as the No. 2 available player and the No. 1 WR in the portal. Stewart is coming off of an injury, so we don’t know how big of an impact early on, but there is hope among fans that the former Texas A&M Aggie can take over in Eugene and help fill the shoes left by Troy Franklin, which is no easy task.

If Stewart does get an opportunity to play this spring, can he show some flashes and live up to the hype?

Jurrion Dickey was one of the most hype true freshmen we’ve seen at Oregon for quite some time. However, he didn’t see much of the field in 2023 because of an injury, delaying his potential breakout. So where are we at with Dickey now? The WR is fully healthy, and there is an opportunity for him to crack the rotation despite highly talented players currently ahead of him on the depth chart.

If Dickey is as good as we’ve been made to believe, though, this could be a fun spring season to watch.

The Ducks are in a far different spot on the offensive line compared to where they were a year ago, with three starters returning in 2024 as opposed to just one starter returning a year ago. However, there are two very important spots to fill, with center Jackson Powers-Johnson and right guard Steven Jones off to the NFL. There’s an expectation that sophomore Iapani Laloulu will take over as the starting C, but who gets the RG spot?

Nishad Strother is a prime candidate after transferring last year, and the Ducks also brought in veteran guard Matthew Bedford from Indiana via the portal this offseason. For starters, my eyes will be on those two as we begin spring practices.

The hype train started early for Kenyon Sadiq during his freshman season, and it continued after the Fiesta Bowl vs. Liberty when he got into the endzone for the first time in his career. Sadiq is an incredibly talented player, coming to Oregon last year as the No. 4 ATH in the 2023 class, but will 2024 be the season that we see him have an outsized impact on the offense?

He’s going to have to work hard for a spot in the rotation, with both Terrance Ferguson and Patrick Herbert currently ahead of him on the depth chart. This spring will be a good opportunity for us to find out how much of an impact he can have.

There are 26 true freshmen joining the Ducks this year, many of whom have enrolled early and will be with the team for spring practices. I’m curious to see which ones really pop early in their careers and contend for a spot in the rotation during the 2024 season. Last year, it was Iapani Laloulu that the coaches couldn’t keep off of the field. Who will it be this year?

If I had to list a few likely candidates, I’d say, Elijah Rushing, Aaron Flowers, Jeremiah McClellan, and Ify Obidegwu. But of course, not many people would have predicted Laloulu would have been the guy a year ago, so I can’t wait to see which guys pops early on.

A quarterback can have all of the talent in the world - and it appears that Dillon Gabriel is not lacking in that aspect of the game - but if they can’t mesh with a system and struggle to pick things up, they won’t reach full potential. So assuming that Gabriel ends up getting that QB1 job over Dante Moore, how quickly can he pick up the Ducks’ offensive system and gel in Will Stein’s offense?

I don’t expect this to be a problem, but it will definitely be something to keep an eye on going forward.

The Ducks were incredibly successful in the first half of the offseason when it came to utilizing the transfer portal to improve the roster, and they currently have the No. 3 portal class in the nation despite adding just 11 players. For the most part, it seems that they’re pretty set when it comes to their roster construction, with the necessary talent at each position. However, I want to see this spring if some more needs arise. Whether it’s due to injury or simply players not panning out, we could enter the second transfer portal window with the Ducks needing to go out and find additional players. Right now, that’s not the case, but we will see what can happen.