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With Evan Stewart reportedly suffering a knee injury, Oregon’s depth will be tested at one of its least proven positions.
There were two things that helped Oregon’s offense power the Ducks to a 13-1 record in 2024.
The first is talent: six players from Oregon’s offense were selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, including a first-round pick in offensive lineman Josh Conerly Jr. and quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who went in the third round to Cleveland after finishing third in Heisman voting.
The second was availability. The Ducks stayed relatively healthy in 2024, with players like Gabriel, Jordan James, Traeshon Holden, Kenyon Sadiq, Evan Stewart, Tez Johnson and Terrance Ferguson playing in at least 12 games on the year.
With that in mind, it’s understandable why this week’s news about Stewart can feel like a bit of a gut punch for the Ducks two months before camp begins.
Stewart, Oregon’s top returning receiver after catching 48 passes for 613 yards and five touchdowns, reportedly injured his knee during offseason training this week and it’s feared the 6-foot-1, 175-pound senior could miss, at very least, a large portion of the upcoming season.
While the Ducks weren’t exactly worried about the talent they had at the position this spring following the departures of Johnson and Holden, experience was certainly lacking — take out Stewart and Oregon’s remaining returning receivers combined for just 28 catches, 267 yards and a touchdown a season ago. And sure, freshman Dakorien Moore was the talk of camp, junior Justius Lowe had a strong end to 2025 and the Ducks did bring in Florida State transfer Malik Benson (25 catches for 311 yards and a touchdown in 2024), there just aren’t many players for the Ducks at the position who are proven — and, as Gary Bryant Jr. said this spring, accustomed to the Oregon standard.
See, Bryant is in his third year with the Ducks after transferring from USC. He caught 30 passes for 442 yards and four touchdowns in 2023 before a lower abductor injury limited him to just a pair of catches in 2024. Though he wasn’t available to make an impact on the field, he’s a player who has closely studied why players like Troy Franklin and Johnson have had so much success with the Ducks over the last few seasons. It’s why after one practice back in April Bryant pulled aside the offense and, frankly, told them they needed to do better.
“We did a lot of competition periods [at practice] and I think the defense got the best of us,” Bryant said. “I talked to the offensive guys and let them know, like, man, it’s not the standard. Last year, them guys set the bar high for the offense and we got to match that. I was just letting the guys know that we got to come here and compete. It’s our job to dominate the defense.”
The fact that Bryant has stepped up as an off-the-field leader? Not shocking. Oregon coach Dan Lanning said Bryant’s hard work during his rehab, along with the way he helped the Ducks prepare for games last season didn’t go unnoticed. But whether Bryant can be one of the players who step up in Stewart’s absence this fall will come down to that one important thing.
“Gary looks as good as he’s looked since I’ve been here,” Lanning said. “Gary has always been a really talented player that we felt like could help us, right? And it’s just a matter of his availability and being able to be healthy.”
Bryant isn’t the same athlete as Stewart. He doesn’t have his breakaway speed or go-down-and-get-it potential. But his work ethic and experience can set the tone for a room that will now need new players to produce.
Moore, a five-star freshman, was already expected to play a big role. Redshirt freshman Jeremiah McClellan saw his stock rise in the spring and the Ducks will certainly welcome the return of the 6-foot-5 Kyler Kasper, who missed much of last season with a foot injury. There’s also Jurrion Dickey, the enigma of the roster. Dickey, a former five-star and the third-highest-rated receiver recruit in Oregon history, has just two catches across his first two seasons. Still, he’s only 19, and the Ducks remain hopeful he can tap into his potential.
“You’ve got to be able to know what to do and you’ve got to be able to do it at a high level,” Oregon OC Will Stein said of Dickey in the spring. “Jurrion has improved in that facet and I’m excited about his development, but just like anybody on our roster, they’re all in that same mindset of improvement.”
This isn’t the first time Oregon’s receiving corps has taken a blow right before a season of expectation. Heading into 2014, Bralon Addison was Oregon’s leading returning receiver after catching 61 passes for 890 yards as a sophomore in 2013. But after tearing his ACL in spring practice, the Ducks were left with a roster that, while talented, opened that fall with a group of receivers who caught 24 passes for the Ducks at the position the year prior — with 18 of those belonging to Keanon Lowe.
How did it go? The Ducks moved Byron Marshall from running back to receiver, where he led the team with 74 catches and 1,003 yards. The Ducks also saw the emergence of Darren Carrington (37 catches, 704 yards), Dwayne Stanford (43 catches, 639 yards), Devon Allen (31 catches, 562 yards) and Charles Nelson (25 catches, 327 yards).
Of course, those Ducks also had Marcus Mariota throwing them the ball.
A decade later, the Ducks are less proven at that position, too, which means it’s all the more important for vets such as Bryant to keep everyone’s noses to the grindstone.
“As the years go by, you get more comfortable being able to speak to certain guys and stuff like that,” said the 24-year-old Bryant. “They see the way I work every day and they’re like, ‘Man, I can depend on this guy.’”
— Tyson Alger, The I-5 Corridor
