The 2025 season opener was full of excitement for fans of Oregon Football. With so much roster turnover, speculative fans and experts waited long for this day to hopefully answer their big question. Who’s going to play? The answer: everyone.
The biggest surprise? The number of freshman playmakers who got snaps in this first game. The Ducks rotated players at every position, allowing twelve true freshmen an opportunity to showcase the talent that brought them to Oregon.
“We’ve always said it, if you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” head coach Dan Lanning said. “If you’re good enough, you’ll get an opportunity to play, and we have a lot of guys that are good enough right now.”
While the season is just underway, this freshman class already looks like they could end their careers as Oregon’s best to date.
Oregon’s 2025 recruiting class ranked fifth in the nation according to 247Sports, boasting an average rating of 94.35. The Ducks were the only team with a class ranked in the top 15 to have under 20 signees (19). Four-star quarterback signee Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele transferred to Cal in the winter portal window.
The class was led by the country’s consensus number one receiver, Duncanville product Dakorien Moore. Moore had been expected to see the field immediately, but with the injury of junior wideout Evan Stewart, his route to playing became even clearer.
“Dakorien is going to be a really special player for us,” Lanning said. “I don’t think anybody is surprised to know that.”
Moore became a week one starter out wide, finishing the game with three catches for 26 receiving yards as well as two rush attempts for 17 yards. His elusiveness in the open field was eye-popping despite his small yardage total. Oregon fans have much more to be excited about in the freshman receiver. Today, he proved himself as a willing blocker, establishing a huge pancake to set up Gary Bryant Jr.’s third-quarter score.
“I’m really proud of that play,” Lanning said. “He was blocking the wrong guy, but he was blocking his ass off.”
Freshman receiver Cooper Perry from Notre Dame Prep in Arizona also saw the field, hauling in one catch for six yards. Inside linebacker Gavin Nix from IMG Academy saw some snaps today, but he will have to wait for his first career tackle.
In contrast, former Mater Dei outside linebacker Nasir Wyatt wasted no time getting comfortable. On his first career snap, he was sent as a blitzer off the left edge and blew up Bobcat quarterback Justin Lamson, recording his first sack. Defensive end Matthew Johnson from De La Salle in California also reached the field in the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the offensive line began rotating in some of the new freshmen in the trenches. Guard Ziyare Addison from Carrollwood Day in Tampa saw the field, as well as former Bishop Gorman tackle Douglas Utu and former Bellevue tackle Demetri Manning.
Some of the biggest questions regarding Oregon football this season catered specifically to the entire secondary outside of Purdue transfer Dillon Thieneman. The cornerback room specifically seemed to be a toss-up between the experienced players and the highly ranked true freshman Na’eem Offord and Brandon Finney Jr.
With the experience at corner of Northwestern transfer Theran Johnson, Sione Laulea, Daylen Austin and Jalil Florence, most fans figured it was safe to assume those players would be considered starters and the freshmen would be rotational pieces. That proved not to be the case when Finney started on the opposite boundary from redshirt freshman Ify Obidegwu.
While Finney earned the week one starting spot, the former five-star recruit Offord was one of the first defensive backs to rotate into the game. Offord was 247’s No. 3-ranked cornerback. The Ducks’ secondary rotated just as much as any other position group, but the youth in the corner room showed they’re earning their stripes.
In likely the most exciting performance from a freshman today, former Mater Dei running back Jordon Davison may have established himself as Oregon’s goal-line back. The aggressive power-back scored three touchdowns on just six carries. He contributed 26 yards to Oregon’s massive 253-yard total.
Another one of Oregon’s seven different backs to take carries was former Althoff Catholic running back Dierre Hill Jr., who was Oregon’s second leading rusher, finishing with 48 yards on five carries. Hill showed off his shifty running while surprising fans with a Noah Whittington-esque truck through a Bobcat Defender. The Illinois native also returned two kickoffs, showing another opportunity for him to fit into the game plan.
“It wasn’t any surprise to us,” Whittington said. “This is what Dierre does on a daily at practice, so I’m expecting to see a lot more of that this year from him.”
Just a freshman class of 18 players, but when a program is able to recruit at the level of Dan Lanning and his Ducks, quality over quantity seems to be the clear goal.
“That’s going to be our challenge as a coaching staff,” Lanning said. “When you have a lot of talent, where do you give those snaps – how are you creative in a way that you can keep everybody involved?”
Oregon hasn’t ever seen a recruiting class show this much immediate impact. The 2025 class was the highest-ranked in Oregon history with a rating of 292.18 according to 247Sports (surpassing 2024’s 288.04). But as all fans know, ratings don’t mean anything on the field.
Will this Oregon class prove to be the best ever? Will even half of these freshmen play next week against Oklahoma State? The answer to the initial question will only lead us to more questions. One thing we know for certain is that the talent has started to translate.
Have your questions answered and start asking some new questions on Sept. 7 when Oregon hosts the Oklahoma State Cowboys, kicking off at 12:30 pm.