EUGENE, Ore. — From a recruiting ranking standpoint, Oregon has never had more cornerback talent on its roster than it does this year. The Ducks carry seven of the 13 best corner recruits in program-history, with two of the top three joining the team as parts of the 2025 signing class.
They’ve rarely had a less experienced room though, and that is the challenge Chris Hampton, the school’s co-DC and defensive backs coach, faces this offseason. Yes, the Ducks believe they have elite cornerback talent, but that talent contributed just 93 snaps last year, and five of those seven blue-chip recruits have not played a single snap at Oregon.
“We don’t have a whole lot of experience, but we’ve got a lot of talent,” Hampton told reporters after Thursday’s practice. “It’s my job as a coach, all of our job as coaches, to get them caught up and get them to play up to the Oregon standard. I’m excited about them. Again, we’ve got a really good looking group. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’re not there by any means but I think we’re on the right path.
“I think last year we played pretty good football with a lot of new guys. And they were new to Oregon as well. This year, we’re just young, inexperienced of ever playing football at this level, in college. So going from last year, this is a totally different team.”
Perhaps no players are more intriguing than those in this year and last year’s freshmen classes. That group consists of redshirt freshmen Ify Obidegwu and Dakoda Fields and recently-enrolled true frosh Na’eem Offord, Brandon Finney and Dorian Brew. All three true freshmen were five-star recruits at one point during the process, and Offord finished as one, and as the school’s top-rated corner signee to date.
“They all fit the profile, height, weight, speed. They look the part, for sure,” Hampton said of the three first-year frosh. “When you come out there and watch practice, they don’t look like true freshmen. They’ve all got size. They’ve got tremendous length, arm length and they’re as talented as they come.
“Right now its new to them, adjusting to college, it’s still football, but the speed of the game changes, the terminology changes, the tempo of practice. All these guys are probably used to being the best player on their team, and then they’re around a bunch of good players, so that’s an adjustment for him, but they’ve caught on really, really fast. Brandon [Finney] just got here this week, but he’s worked extremely hard at home, and you can tell.”
Obidegwu missed all of last season with injury, as he transitioned from elite recruit to college football novice, but was singled out by linebacker Bryce Boettcher earlier this spring as “a freak”.
“He’s a really competitive player; competitive, tough, loves the game, doesn’t say a whole bunch, just kind of laid back demeanor, and does his job consistently. That’s the thing that you love about him,” Hampton said of him. “He’s got long arms, tremendous wingspan. Get his hands on guys. He’s physical. He has the right mentality and mindset too. I mean, he’s made of the right stuff, and I think he has a really bright future here at Oregon.”
Hampton knows his room is uber talented. He also knows that doesn’t necessarily translate to wins and losses. On Thursday, he cited a passage from a book about college basketball coach John Calipari to convey that fact.
“[Calipari] talked about how he had all these five star players and maybe 10 of them got drafted, but they didn’t win a national championship. They were the most talented team, but talent doesn’t always win,” he explained. “It’s about applying the talent and going in the right direction. So that’s kind of what we’re trying to get done now. It’s learning the fundamentals, playing with elite technique, understanding my assignment, my alignment, my keys, and going from there. But I think that the sky’s the limit. I really do. How soon can we get there, is the challenge.”
Oregon held its fourth spring practice on Thursday morning. The team will have 11 more sessions this spring, including April 26’s spring game inside Autzen Stadium.
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