Oregon Ducks Freshmen Na'eem Offord, Brandon Finney, Dorian Brew Standing Out At Spring Practice

The Oregon Ducks' spring football practices are underway. New faces are abundant on the 2025 Oregon football team, brimming with exciting transfer talent and elite recruits from high school. Oregon coach Dan Lanning and his staff have had a chance to evaluate the new Ducks after a handful of spring practices.

After practice on Thursday, Oregon Co-Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Backs Coach Chris Hampton gave his early impressions of transfer safety Jadon Canady and the three true freshman cornerbacks (Brandon Finney, Dorian Brew, Na'eem Offord.)

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning, center, during the Oregon Ducks team photo ahead of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Hampton has been reconnected with Canady, who comes to Oregon from Ole Miss. The redshirt senior also previously played at Tulane, where he played for Hampton.

"It's been great," Hampton said about reconnecting with Canady. "Jay is obviously a young man I had a chance to work with and coach at Tulane in 21 and 22. Very cerebral kid, high IQ, competitive, very tough, understands the game inside and out."

"He's only been here for half a week now, Hampton continued. "But so far he's looked fine. He's got to get in better shape to practice how we've been practicing. Coach Love had our guys in tremendous shape. So he's got some things to work on as as far as they had learned the scheme, but he's been good."

More from Hampton's press conference below.

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New co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Chris Hampton, right, joins the first practice of spring for Oregon football as they prepare for the 2023 season. Eug 031623 Uo Spring Fb 06 | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK

Is the defensive, specifically the secondary, lacking experience?

HAMPTON: I think the spring is about growth. That's the big thing. Like this is my favorite part of the year to coach during the spring. Spring is all about personal growth, each and every guy getting better... We don't have a whole lot of experience, but we got a lot of talent, you know, so 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. But I'm excited about them. We've got a really good-looking group. We've got a lot of work to do. You know, we're not there yet by any means right now, but I think we're on the right path.

How important is it to have the three true freshman cornerbacks (Brandon Finney, Dorian Brew, Na'eem Offord ) with the team practicing this spring?

HAMPTON: I think it's really important. They all fit the profile - height, weight, speed. They look the part for sure when you come out there and watch this practice. They don't look like true freshmen. They've all got size. They've got tremendous length, arm length. They're as talented as they come.

Obviously, right now it's new form, 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 them. But they've caught on really, really fast. Brandon (Finney) just got here this week, but he's worked extremely hard at home, you can tell.

Dec 6, 2024; Birmingham, AL, USA; Parker's Na'eem Offord (1) tries to get around Saraland's Arterus Moffett (4) as he runs the ball at Protective Stadium in the 6A State Championship game. Parker defeated Saraland 28-17. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

What has Hampton learned from last season to apply to this season?

HAMPTON: 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 in experience of never playing football at this level in college. So going from last year to this year, it's a totally different team. But the thing that I can take as a coach is how can I grow? How can I teach better? That's kind of what I'm challenging myself. How can I make the complex simple? ... Just as coaches, we're always challenging ourselves as how can we get better, become better teachers to the guys and make the complex simple to them so they can play fast.

Is there someone in the defensive backs room that stands out to Hampton this spring?

HAMPTON: Honestly, it's hard for me to single out one guy. They all are, being honest with you. I think when you walk into a room like ours that's talented, you really have no choice but to be hungry or you're going to get left behind. You walk in and you look through the room and every guy in here was kinda recruited pretty high. They all can play... But it's gonna be the same if you get to the NFL, those guys can play too. So I think that there's a lot of competition amongst each other. They push each other, and they want to be great.

So I just think it's kind of standard that Coach Lanning has set here. The way we take notes is different than any place I've ever been. And I've been involved with college football since 2004 when I played at South Carolina. I never took notes, all right? And that's probably why I was an average player. But these guys now take, like, elite notes. And so I've learned it from being here. It's the way you take notes. They take notes like the coaches do. And it's just everyone follows their place. It's part of the culture.

Oregon's annual Spring Game will kick off on Saturday, April 26 at 1 p.m. PT at Autzen Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.