EUGENE, Ore. — A year ago Terrance Ferguson extolled the upside of Kenyon Sadiq, saying he had “all the tools in the world to be better than me and better than anybody in Oregon history at the tight end position.”
By the sound of it, Sadiq has taken that message to heart, and given that Ferguson is the man who owns nearly every tight end school record, he knows the man he’s chasing very very well.
“Ferg left his legacy, and I’m chasing it every day. The standard he set, but also the records that Ferg left here. Every day I remind myself that those are the goals,” Sadiq said on Saturday. “About every record he has under the tight end category. The standard is high, and going in there and living up to the standard and elevating it too.
“He’s one of the best humans I’ve ever met, so just reaching that goal he’s set. I want people to see my name on those leaderboards and stuff and remember who I was.”
Ferguson isn’t the only one who has heaped praise and expectations on the junior tight end’s shoulders. Earlier in camp offensive coordinator Will Stein singled him out as “one of the best players in college football”.
And head coach Dan Lanning added earlier this week that Sadiq has handled his spring business with “a purpose”.
“He’s shown an ability to make great plays. I think he’s going to be a great playmaker again for us this year,” he said. “Even watching the way he took the field today, you realize, OK, this guy has a purpose, right? He’s coming out there for a reason.”
These are big declarations for a player who to date has made 440 snaps from scrimmage and has caught 29 passes for 332 yards over two seasons. But, they’re founded in the unique nature of his talents.
Sadiq is taking all of it in stride.
“At the end of the day, they’re kind of just words and you’ve got to go out there and prove it,” he said. “It is a high expectation that I have to come out every day and try to live up to.”
These aren’t baseless expectations. Folks have seen what he can do, and as his position coach said, there just aren’t a lot of dudes capable of the things he can at his size.
“I don’t know how many 247-pound 22.5-plus mile-an-hour people are out there in the world,” Mehringer said. “He’s a physical blocker on top of the fact that he runs fast and catches the ball and scores touchdowns. I think his best football is still to come.”
Sadiq wants to continue to improve his blocking, although Mehringer has noted that that isn’t the weakness some may think given his size profile. Perhaps most importantly, the junior is being pushed to lead a room that is exceptionally inexperienced, with just 80 combined Oregon snaps not belonging to him.
“As we move forward, the burden of leadership falls on Kenyon,” he said. “He’s not a terribly vocal guy, but we’re pushing him to be more and more vocal, and he does a little bit more of that that every single day. He’s growing into that role.
“I’ll continue to push him, not to be something that he’s not, but continue to push him to grow into that role is I think important for him. It matters when our best players practice really really hard and really really well, and they’re consistent. If they are, for the rest of the others it’s ‘what excuse do I have?’
Oregon held its fifth spring practice on Saturday. The team will have 10 more sessions this spring, including April 26’s spring game inside Autzen Stadium.
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