Oregon Wide Receiver Devon Williams Declares for the 2022 NFL Draft

The Ducks will finish the season against Oklahoma without their top receiver.

Author:
John Rustik
Publish date:
Dec 17, 2021 12:28 PM EST

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As the Alamo Bowl draws near, the Ducks' receiving group will take another massive hit. Leading receiver Devon Williams announced that he will forgo his senior year of eligibility to declare for the NFL Draft and opt out of the bowl game.

Williams made the announcement official on Thursday via Instagram.

“Bryan McClendon, thank you for helping me polish myself on and off the field,” Williams wrote in his Instagram post. “All the tough love you showed me has made me accelerate in all my life experiences. With that being said, after long and restless nights and endless conversations with my family, and having the chance and opportunity to turn a dream into a reality, I have decided that I will be forgoing my senior year and the Alamo bowl game and enter the NFL draft, striving to follow my dreams.”

Williams will conclude his season with the Ducks with 35 receptions that totaled 557 yards and four touchdowns. He was the only receiver for Oregon this season to have over 100 yards receiving in a game, which came in the regular season finale against Oregon State.

The receiver out of Lancaster, Calif. had a relatively sluggish start to the season before he started to find his footing during conference play. He scored his four touchdowns in a five game stretch, with touchdowns against Oregon State, Utah, Washington and Colorado. As the season went on, he quickly started to become Anthony Brown’s top choice in the passing game.

Throughout the 2021 season, Williams had almost 200 more receiving yards than the player with the second-most, Travis Dye at 374.

Williams started his career with USC in 2018, but ended up transferring to Oregon in 2020. Throughout his two years at Oregon, he had 50 receptions for 843 yards and contributed with six touchdowns.

This is tough news for a Ducks receiving core that has already seen injuries to other top receivers Johnny Johnson III and Jaylon Redd. Oregon also lost Mycah Pittman to the transfer portal earlier this season.

Now without Williams and the other receivers lost to injury and transfer, the Ducks are now missing four of their top six receivers.

Without Williams, there will be a stronger reliance on the young guys. The Alamo Bowl is going to allow players like Isaah Crocker, Troy Franklin, Kris Hutson and Dont'e Thornton to get more opportunities to make plays and grow ahead of next season.

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