Fall Camp Questions: Part IX – Is there star power at safety for Oregon?

Behold! Football season is nigh!

Believe it or not, mere weeks separate us between now and the start of fall camp for the Oregon Ducks. As preseason camp fast approaches, we at WFOD will be rolling out a series of previews to help fully prepare you for the upcoming season.

Sunday marks the continuation of our Fall Camp Questions series, which aims to address the most pressing questions surrounding each position group in the build up to the 2018 campaign.

Today’s question…

Is there star power for Oregon at safety?

Not unlike the impressive track record over the past several decades at cornerback, the safety position at Oregon has also been one that has featured its fair share of legendary names. Chad Cota, Michael Fletcher, Keith Lewis, Patrick Chung, and T.J. Ward are but a few notable players who have left their mark – quite literally in the case of Fletcher and Ward – on the Oregon program during their stints as Ducks.

But as a new chapter is set to begin for Oregon under first-year head coach Mario Cristobal, one prevailing question is whether the Ducks have that same caliber of star power currently on the roster.

At the very least, there’s no doubt the Ducks can claim encouraging depth at the position.

Entering his first year as the Day 1 starter at one of the safety positions is senior Ugo Amadi. The Nashville native committed to the Ducks sight unseen in 2015, beginning his career at corner and remaining there through the first few games of the 2017 season. After injuries began to mount at safety last season, the decision was made to shift Amadi to the position, which also allowed true freshman Thomas Graham to assume a larger role within the Oregon defense.

At safety, Amadi quickly emerged as a stabilizing force, giving the Ducks a player who was not only experienced but also extremely versatile defending both the run and pass. Amadi finished the year tying Graham for the team lead in interceptions (3), while finishing ninth in total tackles (43). He returns in 2018 as the undoubted leader and figurehead of both the position group, and the secondary as a whole.

Fall Camp Questions: Part IX – Is there star power for Oregon at safety? — Oregon DB Brady Breeze (Photo: Adam Eberhardt/Emerald)

Returning players vying for the starting safety position opposite of him are senior Mattrell McGraw and sophomores Brady Breeze and Nick Pickett. After seeing game action in only two games prior to last season, McGraw more than tripled his number of career appearances in 2017, appearing in nine games, including four as a starter. He’ll be pushed hard by Breeze and Pickett, who each endured injury troubles last season despite playing in 11 games a piece and combining for 45 tackles. Sophomore Billy Gibson also appeared in 11 games last season, though he will likely start fall camp further down on the depth chart and needing to outmaneuver the more established guys ahead of him.

Lastly, true freshmen Steve Stephens and Jevon Holland enter fall camp perhaps representing the future of Oregon at safety. The two players are two of the highest-rated safety prospects to ever commit to Oregon, though it’s entirely possible that both players see their first action competing at corner due to the woeful depth at that position.

WFOD’s Prediction:

Yes, there is star power at the position … but it likely won’t be revealed until a year or two down the line. Stephens and Holland are the players who will eventually be expected to grow into those roles, but until then, the Ducks will need to get by with their largely blue-collar group. The key piece is Amadi. Without him, there’s no question the Oregon secondary would be worse off, but I’m not sure he completely qualifies as a star – at least not in the classical sense. He is 100 percent the most experienced and versatile player in the secondary, which makes him perhaps the most irreplaceable (though Thomas Graham would have something to say about that), but he’s not quite on the level of the all-timers mentioned earlier in this article. The good news is he doesn’t need to be. As long as he remains his steady self and receives consistent contributions from the likes of McGraw, Breeze, and Pickett, the Ducks should be in great shape at safety this season.