You’ve got to admit, it was looking a little dicey for a second if you’re a Duck fan who was refreshing your news feed only to find that another key player had decided to opt-out of the upcoming 2020 season due to the uncertainty in this COVID-19 environment.
Fortunately for those Duck fans, a bit of good news arrived Monday, as Oregon senior cornerback Deommodore Lenoir announced he has decided to opt back IN to the 2020 campaign.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS “Im Not Leaving” #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/EWN3MBr2qX
— BumpMilly (@Dede_lenoir) October 5, 2020
After debating whether to turn pro or return to school for his senior season immediately following the 2019 season, Lenoir joined Thomas Graham, Jordon Scott, and Austin Faoliu in January to announce that all four were returning this fall to help the Ducks pursue a national championship. Then COVID hit, and the world as we know it was shifted on its axis and the outlook of a potential season in the fall appeared awfully grim.
With time beginning to run out on the Pac-12 in terms of being able to squeeze in some semblance of a season, Lenoir made the decision that many of us in the same position would have made; the decision to opt-out of 2020 to instead focus on preparing for the 2021 NFL Draft. However, with the Pac-12 reaching an agreement with Quidel Corporation to acquire daily rapid testing for its student athletes, the path to football was cleared considerably, providing Lenoir an opportunity to jump back in. And boy are Mario Cristobal, Andy Avalos, Rod Chance and the rest of the Oregon faithful glad Lenoir did, as depth in the secondary was becoming critically thin following the opt-outs from Lenoir, Graham, Jevon Holland, and most recently, Brady Breeze.
It’s worth noting that the Ducks still have legitimate depth concerns in the defensive backfield, as Lenoir’s return doesn’t necessarily fix some of the question marks Oregon has at safety and nickel, but it is an extra body, and one that provides tremendous experience, leadership, and production for a group that could really use a dose of all three.
A Pac-12 All-Conference selection a year ago, Lenoir will enter the fall as the starting cornerback opposite super sophomore Mykael Wright and with 27 consecutive starts under his belt. He’s also a player with five career interceptions and 21 career pass breakups while also serving as one of the surest tacklers in the Oregon secondary, having missed just three tackles in 137 opportunities in his first three seasons, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).
This won’t be the caliber of secondary that Cristobal and the Ducks were banking on before the delay of Pac-12 football in the fall, but with Deommodore Lenoir back in the mix, Oregon moves a little closer to fielding the kind of vaunted defense that was promised pre-pandemic.
Top Photo: Oregon CB Deommodore Lenoir (Tony Avelar/AP)