2022 Oregon Ducks Football Spring Preview: Tight Ends

The Oregon Ducks have some young talent ready to contribute in both the pass and run game.

Author:
Dylan Mickanen
Publish date:
Mar 3, 2022 1:03 PM EST

In this story:

Continuing Ducks Digests' look at each Oregon position group ahead of spring football, today we look at one of the more interesting collections of talent on the roster: the tight ends.

In fact, the program clearly enters spring confident in the depth within the room as the Ducks did not take in a single tight end this offseason. 2022 tight end Andre Dollar flipped his commitment from Oregon to Washington State in December, and despite losing two rotation players from last season's team in Cooper Shults, who transferred to Nevada, and DJ Johnson, who appears poised for a full-time role on defense in 2022, this room is still oozing talent.

Expect to see lots of rotation between sophomores Terrance Ferguson, Moliki Matavao and junior Spencer Webb. The three accounted for 95.1% of receptions, 91.8% of yards and 100% of touchdowns credited to the position from 2021.

Terrance Ferguson Stony Brook 1 — Scott Boldt/Ducks Digest

Oregon Ducks tight end Terrance Ferguson vs. Stony Brook.

Leading the way was Ferguson, who caught 17 balls for 141 yards and two touchdowns as a true freshman, living up to his ranking of the nation's No. 10 tight end in the 2021 recruiting class.

Meanwhile, Matavao caught nine passes for 75 yards and a touchdown after being ranked as the No. 5 tight end in the same recruiting class.

Moliki Matavao Ohio State — © Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

Oregon Ducks tight end Moliki Matavao celebrates a touchdown vs. Ohio State with Dawson Jaramillo.

Both players have bright futures, but Webb figures to play significant snaps after hauling in 13 passes for 87 yards and a touchdown in 2021. Despite having redshirt junior eligibility, Webb enters his fifth season on campus and figures to be a leader within the locker room as the program undergoes another staff change.

During his career at Oregon, Webb has caught 31 passes for 296 yards and four touchdowns. Those numbers are affected by Webb only seeing action in a single game during 2020 due to injuries and redshirting in 2018 as a true freshman.

However, the wild cards in the tight end room are two Ducks coming off of season-ending injuries: Patrick Herbert and Cam McCormick.

Patrick Herbert 2021 Spring Game — © Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Oregon Ducks tight end Patrick Herbert runs after the catch in the 2021 spring football game.

The latter's season ended after his first catch in three seasons, an 11-yard gain to move the chains against Ohio State. McCormick has worked his back into the rotation after missing two full seasons in addition to nearly all of 2018.

As for Herbert, the younger brother of the Chargers' franchise quarterback, he's yet to catch an in-game pass at Oregon since enrolling in 2019. Knee injuries kept him sidelined for all of 2020 and 2021, but he still has plenty of talent as a former four-star recruit and the nation's No. 6 tight end according to 247Sports.

The only other tight end from the 2021 roster to not have transferred out of the program or switched positions is walk-on Tyler Nanney, who hasn't recorded a statistic while at Oregon.

Should the Ducks deal with injuries among the tight ends, it seems likely DJ Johnson would need to switch sides again, unless Oregon takes in a transfer or two.