By Dylan Farrell

On Saturday afternoon, Oregon football will play its annual spring game in what promises to be a fun affair for fans, if nothing else. It’s going to be the first look we get at Oregon’s roster for the upcoming season, and it will be much different from the one we saw last year. From subtractions like Christian Gonzalez, DJ Johnson and staple center Alex Forsyth, the Ducks are going to be a much newer team than in years past. Here’s what to look out for in this afternoon’s matchup.

Offense

Ty Thompson and Bo Nix will be lining up against one another in the spring game for the second consecutive year, but Thompson will have to fight for the No. 2 spot on Oregon’s roster with incoming freshman and 4-star recruit Austin Novosad out of Texas. Listed by 247Sports as the No. 10 QB in his class, Novosad will be looking to make a splash at the game. Novosad is the No. 2 QB on the Green team this afternoon, where he’ll be backing up Bo Nix. Outside of Thompson, team yellow includes Matt Rush, wearing 12, who’s a senior transfer from Washington and Marcus Sanders, wearing 19, a 3-star recruit and redshirt freshman from California.

Outside of the QB position, Oregon’s offense has seen a lot of transformation, especially in the RB and WR rooms. Oregon has some holes to fill after the departures of Seven McGee, Sean Dollars, Byron Cardwell, Cam McCormick, Moliki Matavao, and Dont’e Thornton, but incoming transfers Traeshon Holden from Alabama and Tez Johnson from Troy will look to plug those holes alongside incoming freshman Ashton Cozart. Oregon’s backfield mainstay from last year, Bucky Irving, will be returning as well. He’ll be wearing green alongside Jordan James, Brison Cobbins, Preston Alford, and Kilohana Haasenritter. Noah Whittington will headline the Green Team’s RB Room alongside Dante Dowdell, Eliis Bynum, and Jayden Limar. On the offensive line,

Defense

Oregon has also had some notable departures on the defensive side of the ball, though the most impactful subtractions have been to graduation and the draft. Starting corner Christian Gonzalez was taken by the Patriots in the first round of this year’s draft, and edge rusher DJ Johnson was taken by the Panthers. Coming in to replace Johnson is freshman 4-star edge rusher Matayo Uiagaleilei out of California. The transfer portal is the primary place the Ducks have looked to shore up depth in their secondary, with 3-star transfer Khyree Jackson coming in from Alabama.

All said, it’s tough to read too much into the scores and outcomes of this game, so individual performances will be the most heavily scrutinized aspects of the game. The most high-profile position battles will be between Novosad and Thompson for the position of Oregon’s second-string quarterback and Troy Franklin and Traeshon Holden for Oregon’s No.1 wide receiver position. The game starts at 1:00 PST on Saturday.