Spring Position Preview: Evan Stewart, Tez Johnson lead WR room stacked with talent
After a couple of long off-season months, the grass is starting to grow and trees are getting ready to bloom. Spring is coming in Eugene, and with it comes the long-awaited return of football for the Oregon Ducks. A lot will look different in this new year for Dan Lanning and his team, with several of last year’s top players moving onto the NFL, including guys like Bo Nix, Troy Franklin, Bucky Irving, Jackson Powers-Johnson, and Brandon Dorlus. All of that is not to mention the fact that the Ducks are joining the Big Ten, and have a new-look conference to get used to on top of a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff to strive for.
It’s safe to say that there are a lot of things to talk about going into this spring season, and a lot of storylines to discuss. To get things started, we want to give a position-by-position breakdown of Oregon’s current roster, getting readers up to date on which players left, which players are returning, and what the overall outlook is going into the spring. So far, we’ve looked at the quarterbacks and the running backs. Now we’ll examine the Ducks’ receivers’ room.
The Ducks have had some great receivers in the past, but this particular group might be the most talented and deepest receiver corps Oregon has ever had. It’s not often that you see arguably the best WR in school history come and go in one season, and expect the talent level to rise the next year, but that could be the case in Eugene with this group that is ready to wreak havoc on Big Ten defenses.
Led by Tez Johnson, Evan Stewart, and Traeshon Holden, Oregon’s receivers have all the qualities a coach would want. There are big, speedy, and tall ones for Gabriel to choose from. The only problem might be there is just one football to spread the wealth with. Fortunately, it’s a problem most teams would love to have.
Here’s a full breakdown on everything you need to know regarding the receiver position, from who left, who joined, and some of the biggest storylines to follow.
Player Departure: Troy Franklin (NFL)
Career Stats: 160 catches, 2,483 yards, 25 touchdowns
When Troy Franklin stepped onto campus for the first time, no one probably thought he would be the best receiver in Oregon history. His remarkable sophomore and junior seasons turned him into an early-round NFL draft pick and the Ducks will certainly miss him.
Player Departure: Kris Hutson (Washington State)
Career Stats: 80 catches, 936 yards, 2 touchdowns
Hutson had tremendous potential that was never really fulfilled at Oregon. He had solid seasons in 2021 and 2022, but was lost in the shuffle in 2023 and played in just five games. Unfortunately, Hutson’s claim to fame in Eugene might be having Mario Cristobal yell at him on national television which prompted ESPN analyst Rod Gilmore to chastise the former Duck coach for doing so. Hopefully Hutson plays well in Pullman.
Player Departure: Josh Delgado (Transfer Portal)
Career Stats: 15 catches, 195 yards
The former 4-star recruit never played up to his talent, unfortunately. He dealt with injuries and then this past winter. Delgado is still in the portal looking for a new school to play for.
Player Departure: Ashton Cozart (SMU)
No Stats
Cozart redshirted the 2023 season before transferring out and going to SMU. He is a 6-foot-3, 195-pound freshman that was a Top 100 player when recruited.
Transfer Addition: Evan Stewart (Texas A&M)
Career Stats: 91 catches, 1,163 yards, 6 touchdowns
Stewart was a major part of Texas A&M’s No. 1 recruiting class of 2022 and while he was good as an Aggie, he didn’t play up to his tremendous potential for a variety of reasons, including injury. Now healthy, expect Stewart to be one of Gabriel’s favorite targets. If anyone can fill in for Franklin, Stewart could very well be that guy.
Returning Players: Tez Johnson
Career Stats: 227 catches, 2,991 yards, 18 touchdowns
Once Johnson found his way into the Oregon offense, there was no stopping him. He caught 86 passes for 1,182 yards and 8 touchdowns last season. It’ll be interesting to watch how Johnson does without Nix at quarterback and as a primary target that opposing defenses will know to prepare for.
Returning Players: Traeshon Holden
Career Stats: 83 catches, 1,022 yards, 13 touchdowns
Like with most transfers, Holden got off to a slow start but came on in the latter half of the season and played well in his first season as a Duck. Entering 2024, he could be one of the top options offensively for Oregon and it’s exciting to see what kind of season Holden can have playing full-time.
Returning Players: Jurrion Dickey
Career Stats: 1 catch, 7 yards
Dickey was a 5-star recruit and the No. 2 receiver in the 2023 class when he was recruited and was expected to play a role last season before being injured and missing most of the regular season. He played in the bowl game where he caught one pass.
All eyes will be on him this spring and he’s one freshman that could likely play a major role in 2024.
Returning Players: Gary Bryant, Jr.
Career Stats: 83 catches, 1,087 yards, 4 touchdowns
Expect Bryant to play a bigger role in 2024. The former Trojan was a part-time role player for the Ducks last year. He was a Top 100 player when he was recruited, now he just needs to show off those skills during the games. He should get plenty of chances to do so this season.
Returning Players: Kyler Kasper
Career Stats: 3 catches, 5 yards
The 6-foot-6 receiver from Gilbert, Ariz. was a high-end 4-star recruit and 2024 could be the year where Kasper finds a permanent role in the offense. His height makes it tempting to just throw the ball up and let him get it over a smaller defender. This spring could be a key to how much he plays this season.
Returning Players: Justius Lowe
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Lowe was a highly-rated 4-star recruit in the class of 2022, but he hasn’t been able to realize his talents just yet at Oregon. We will be watching closely this spring to see if he can find more of a role in the offense and get on the field.
Incoming Freshman: Jeremiah McClellan
McClellan was a consensus four-star recruit and top-100 recruit nationally. He was also rated as the No. 36 overall recruit and No. 11 wide receiver prospect by Rivals, a top-50 prospect according to the 247Sports Composite, and a top-15 wide receiver recruit.
Incoming Freshman: Dillon Gresham
Craig Strobeck-USA TODAY Sports
Gresham is a consensus four-star recruit and was rated as a top-200 recruit nationally by both Rivals and the 247Sports. He was also ranked the No. 167 recruit by Rivals, and the No. 20 recruit out of California.
Incoming Freshman: Ryan Pellum
Pullum, who was a last-minute flip from USC, was a consensus four-star recruit and viewed as a top-100 prospect according to the 247Sports Composite, ESPN and Rivals. He was the No. 70 overall recruit nationally and top wide receiver recruit in the state of California according to Rivals.
Incoming Freshman: Jack Ressler
Ressler was rated a four-star recruit and a top-300 prospect by ESPN and viewed as a three-star prospect by 247Sports, the 247Sports Composite and Rivals. He was also selected for the Under Armour All-American Game.
Biggest Storylines: Who Takes Over For Troy Franklin as WR1?
Troy Franklin left some big cleats to fill for the 2024 season, but fortunately the Ducks have several receivers on the roster who could easily fill his role as WR1.
Tez Johnson showed late in the season and in the bowl game that he has the ability to do just that. But as an undersized slot receiver, there are questions about his ability to be the No. 1 option in the passing game.
Evan Stewart wasn’t brought in just to sightsee. He was recruited as a top receiver at Texas A&M and the same will be expected at Oregon. In Stewart’s favor, he’ll have plenty of talent surrounding him. Defenses can’t cover everyone.
It might be a mystery player such as Traeshon Holden who someone else. There’s usually a player who breaks out in the spring and has a better-than-expected season. Gary Bryant Jr. could also fit the bill.
Biggest Storylines: How Much Of An Impact Will Jurrion Dickey Make?
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The question of whether Jurrion Dickey will play this week occurred nearly every week last season, and it wasn’t until the bowl game that we saw him on the field. He is the second-highest-rated WR to ever commit to the Ducks, and fans are anxious to watch him perform. A lot of the same questions will be asked this season as Dickey is expected to play a significant role, but how big will that role be? It could go from him being a starter to being relegated to a lesser role for the 2024 season.
Biggest Storylines: Can The Sophomores Find A Role?
Justius Lowe and Kyler Kasper have all the talent in the world, but in a deep roster such as this, can they find a role with this squad besides special teams? It’s going to be difficult to crack the lineup and move up the depth chart, so spring camp is going to be especially important to these players. In case of injury, Lowe and Kasper need to be ready and be productive at a moment’s notice.
Biggest Storylines: Who Establishes the Gabriel Connection?
Tez Johnson and Troy Franklin were in sync with Bo Nix all season long and the stats showed it. But with new quarterback Dillon Gabriel, whichever receiver develops a connection with him could go a long way to the success of the 2024 team. A certain receiver could have all the talent in the world, but if Gabriel doesn’t feel comfortable throwing it to them, that talent doesn’t matter a whole lot. This Spring camp might be the most important spring in the Lanning Era because of this one tangible.
Overall Position Outlook
(Photo Courtesy of Ethan Landa)
For decades, the University of Oregon has been viewed as a running backs school, and it rarely was a place for high-level, 5-star wide receivers to land and hope to have an impact. Troy Franklin changed that, and we are now seeing some of the best pass-catchers in the nation choose the Ducks.
It’s having an outsized impact on the depth of talent on the roster, where there are truly too many mouths to feed. Oregon has blue-chip players up and down the WR depth chart, and an incoming 2025 recruiting class that is already stocked with some of the best receivers in the nation committed to Oregon.
Is Eugene home to a WR school? That just might be the case.
