EUGENE — Oregon has to replace all three of its starting safeties this offseason and while adding transfers Dillon Thieneman and Jadon Canady fills some of those voids, younger players are also going to be called upon at a higher volume than before.
Brandon Johnson, Tysheem Johnson and Kobe Savage are all off to pursue the NFL, leaving the Ducks without two of their top three and three of their top eight tacklers from last season.
Thieneman, who transferred in December, is by far the most experienced among the group, albeit from two seasons at Purdue. His 104 tackles (4.5 for loss) with one sack and seven pass breakups in nearly 900 snaps last season put Thieneman way ahead of the younger core of UO’s safeties.
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Canady, who arrived during spring break, had 38 tackles (2.5 for loss) with 12 pass breakups last season at Ole Miss. He’s played as a deep safety, outside corner and nickel, which is where he could be of most use at Oregon.
Clearly, those two veterans will be leaned on for high volume of plays this fall, but the majority of the group is younger and less proven, including Daylen Austin, Solomon Davis, Peyton Woodyard, Aaron Flowers, Kingston Lopa and Trey McNutt.
Secondary coach Chris Hampton said Woodyard, who had nine tackles as the only freshman defender not to redshirt last season at UO, is a significantly different player this offseason.
“He got here in late June, so he was a little bit behind as far as how much football he had missed with us, but now it’s a night and day difference from where he was last year,” Hampton said. “I think he’s got a bright future with us.”
If Canady does primarily play at nickel, Woodyard could be the other starting deep safety with Thieneman. Even if Canady sees time at deep safety, Woodyard figures to be in the rotation, at worst.
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Flowers and Lopa each had one tackle while redshirting last season and should see a jump in playing time, at the very least on special teams.
Savage is confident all three of the second-year players will contribute this fall.
“They’re all three really smart dudes,” Savage said. “King is super physical. He reminds me of Taylor Mays from USC. Aaron is very instinctive; he is a ball hawk. Peyton is truly a field general back there; he’s really smart.”
One of Oregon’s five-star signees, McNutt could also make an immediate impact, particularly since he was a mid-year enrollee.
Hampton believes McNutt is ahead of where Flowers, Lopa and Woodyard were at this point a year ago and feels strongly about the group of deep safeties.
“They’re growing the right way,” Hampton said. “I think we got a good group. They’ve got to continue to get better. Gotta continue to grow.”
-- James Crepea covers the Oregon Ducks and Big Ten. Listen to the Ducks Confidential podcast or subscribe to the Ducks Roundup newsletter.