Occupying a very small corner within one of the wildest years in modern human history has been a college football offseason and now season that has appropriately reflected our current day and age. The twists and turns have been numerous and well documented over the past several months, as COVID-19 continues to hang like an anvil over the viability of a 2020 college football season. In addition to that, college football’s player empowerment movement and the multiple opt-outs from high profile players across the country (including a handful who were on the Oregon roster) has also contributed in shaking the foundation of a decades-old American institution.
The extent to which these factors will change the previously accepted landscape of college football is unknown. What is known, however, is that after previously postponing the 2020 football season, the Pac-12 has decided to change course and proceed with an abbreviated conference schedule, joining the vast majority of the FBS on the gridiron this fall.
With October 9 set as the official start date of fall camp for the Ducks, WFOD is here to help preview and bring you up to speed on the upcoming season by providing its position-by-position breakdown of the Oregon roster. The series continues Thursday, as we take an in-depth look at the running backs.
As always, you can find the most up-to-date look at the Oregon depth chart by visiting our Living Depth Chart page.
The Headliner
Since the ouster of Mark Helfrich and his coaching staff at the end of 2016, it has taken some time for a true star to emerge at the running back position for Oregon. In many ways, this is quite the departure from what Duck fans have been used to dating back to the mid-90’s when the program seemingly churned out one stud running back after another.
Former running backs coach Gary Campbell, the man often overlooked for his efforts in keeping Oregon’s running back stable well stocked, retired at the end of that ill-fated 2016 season, though his fingerprints remain on the Oregon backfield to this day. Though Campbell never got the opportunity to coach him, redshirt junior CJ Verdell represents that final link that tethers the Oregon running back room to the legendary position coach who initially recruited him. Entering his third season as the Ducks’ starting running back, Verdell now has a chance to vault himself into rarefied air occupied by some of Campbell’s most distinguished pupils.
That statement might raise some eyebrows for more than a few Oregon diehards. Sure, on the whole, Verdell has been productive during his tenure in Eugene, but his career hasn’t had the same kind of panache compared to former Duck rushing greats like LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner, Jonathan Stewart, or Royce Freeman. Some of that has had to do with the relative time share Verdell has had with other backs on the Oregon roster the past two seasons. Some of it also has to do with Verdell’s penchant for picking up nagging injuries, not to mention wild spats of boom or bust play that have struck like lightning from one week to the next. Still, despite the ups and downs, Verdell is just 654 yards away from cracking the top five in terms of all-time career rushing yards at Oregon. It may be a tall order considering the seven-game schedule, five new faces along the offensive line, and an abnormal offseason when it comes to adapting to a new offensive scheme under a new offensive coordinator, but if anyone is capable of springing a surprise, it’s probably CJ Verdell.
The Supporting Ensemble
Verdell may have more or less established himself as the primary rushing option out of the Oregon backfield, but that doesn’t mean that Ducks running backs coach Jim Mastro will be bashful about employing a steady rotation at the position throughout the season. In fact, if the past two seasons are any indication, you should probably expect to see a handful of players earn regular carries at the position over the course of the year. Chief among those non-Verdell options are juniors Travis Dye and Cyrus Habibi-Likio.
Since 2018, Dye has often been the first player to spell Verdell in the event of fatigue or injury, providing the Oregon rushing attack with a bit more speed, quickness, and elusiveness compared to Verdell’s more well-round overall game. At 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds, Dye’s lackluster size doesn’t make him the most effective short yardage, between-the-tackles runner, but he is tough, and like Verdell, can be an effective receiving weapon out of the backfield. With more than 1,600 career yards from scrimmage to his name, expect Dye to once again assume a change of pace role in 2020. Similar things can be said of Habibi-Likio, who saw his role in the expand in 2019 beyond that of just a short yardage or goal line back. His second half performance against Washington last season helped spark a comeback victory for the Ducks in Seattle and entrenched Habibi-Likio as a regular contributor for the Ducks on offense. With 17 career rushing touchdowns, the 6-foot-1, 215-pounder could break into the top 10 all-time for career rushing touchdowns at Oregon with just six more scores.
After arriving as highly-touted true freshmen a season ago, Sean Dollars and Jayvaun Wilson hope to somehow force their way onto the field despite the reduced number of games this season and the glut of established players ahead of them on the depth chart. Of the two, Dollars might be the best bet, as he showed flashes of big play potential in four games last season and is perhaps the most multi-dimensional running back on the roster. Wilson, on the other hand, has the reputation for being a big, physical back cut from a similar cloth as Habibi-Likio. However, another fall on the scout team may be required before the logjam ahead of him perhaps clears up some heading into the 2021 season.
The Intriguing New Cast Member
Seldom is the occasion in which Oregon dips into the state of Mississippi to pluck local talent from the clutches of SEC programs, but that’s exactly what happened last December when Mastro and Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal inked three-star prospect Trey Benson to their 2020 recruiting class. Standing 6-foot-1 and 204 pounds, Benson possesses a combination of speed, power, and balance that doesn’t currently exist on the Oregon roster, though it’s anyone’s guess as to when we’ll see those athletic attributes in action.
The most likely scenario is that Benson spends a year on the scout team adjusting to the speed of the college game and refining his body before maybe seeing his opportunity for playing time come in 2021. Short of that, however, Benson could be hard pressed to see the field his first year in Eugene, as a severe rash of injuries or a COVID-related depletion of depth at the position are the only likely ways Benson makes an impact in 2020.
The Stirring Subplot
How does Jim Mastro find carries for the staggering depth in the backfield?
Some might say that the running game’s ability to find traction behind a completely re-built offensive line is the biggest question heading into the season. And they’re not wrong, but that’s more so a conversation about the offensive line than it is the Ducks’ group at running back. In our eyes, the biggest question surrounding this group specifically is how Mastro will find a way to keep all the hungry mouths fed.
Verdell, Dye, and Habibi-Likio are virtual shoe-ins to once again receive the lion’s share of the carries this season, as the trio was responsible for just over 76 percent of the carries in 2019. With so few games and all of which will come against Pac-12 competition, it’s hard to imagine that number going down in 2020. It’s an especially hard pill for players like Dollars, Wilson, and Benson to swallow, as they’re likely to spend another fall grinding their way though weekly practices with little to no pay off on Saturdays. Fortunately for them, 2020 is a free year that won’t advance the clock on their eligibility, though the downside is that it also applies to everyone else on the roster. Verdell could be a candidate to turn pro early with another strong season as the Ducks’ lead back, but that still leaves the group at five strong without Verdell in the mix and not counting any additions from the 2021 class. It’s a good problem to have, but also a delicate, if not impossible, balance for Jim Mastro to strike.
WFOD’s 2020 Fall Camp Preview – The Quarterbacks
Top Photo: Oregon RB CJ Verdell (Jenny Rydstedt/Whole Flock of Ducks)