With the new redshirt rule, players are able to maintain a year of eligibility while still getting a few games of playing experience. Heading into the 2020 season, 23 members of the Oregon football team redshirted last year.
In this edition of DSA Roundtable, our group of experts, Scott Reed, Brandon Gibson and Dale Newton, give their picks of who will be the breakout redshirts on both sides of the ball.
Reed
Breakout redshirt players is going to be interesting this season. I like Lance Wilhoite and JR Waters to have strong seasons, but they are also going to be fighting a bit of an uphill battle with so many talented receivers already ahead of them on the depth chart.
So, I am going to go with the position that has the most likelihood of seeing an impact – tight end. The aforementioned depth issues at tight end and the new offensive philosophy of Joe Moorhead are going to create some opportunities for Patrick Herbert to shine. A couple of offensive linemen – Sala Aumavea-Laulu and Jonah Tauanu'u – seem more likely to get early starts and both could be big impact guys, but the tight end is going to be a key early on for the offense and I like Herbert to be ready to go by the start of the season; especially if McCormack is not at one-hundred percent by the opening of the 2020 season.
On defense it is even more difficult. Had Lenoir and Graham left, I think it would be an easy pick, but they did not so it is not. I am going with Keyon Ware-Hudson. He was playing out of position a season ago and showed promise in his limited action. With a full off-season of the Fourth Quarter program and some continued work with Joe Salave’a, I really like his potential to have an impact in relief of Jordon Scott.
Gibson
Oregon's new identity is focused around bully ball, and as a nod to that, both of my breakout redshirt players earn their keep in the trenches. On the offensive side of the ball, I like the long term potential and next year impact we could see from Jonah Tauanu'u. The Oregon coaches had the luxury of redshirting Tauanu'u thanks to a senior heavy offensive line. Expect Jonah to be pushing for one of the starting spots in 2020, and at worse he will be a major contributor.
On the defensive side of the ball, I really like the potential of Keyon Ware-Hudson as a breakout redshirt. His ability to provide relief on the defensive line will be a major factor for the 2020 season and will set Keyon up to take over in 2021. Ware-Hudson was overlooked a bit in high school, due to an injury, and he will be out to show other schools what they missed out on.
Newton
The breakout redshirt performer on offense is Devon Williams. At 6-5, 220 he's the smooth, athletic big receiver the Ducks hoped to get in Juwan Johnson before injuries limited the Penn State transfer to a few games. After a yeat on the sidelines Williams will be eager to show what he can do, equally eager to show SC made a mistake in slow playing his development. In his freshman year with the Trojans he caught 4 passes for 81 yards. Three of 77 came against the Ducks.
The most intriguing breakout redshirt candidate on defense is outside linebacker Adrian Jackson, who sat out 2019 with an injury. Ar 6-2, 232 Jackson is a workout beast with an SEC body. He was forced into action as a true freshman due to a rash of injuries. Physical and instinctive, he contributed 12 tackles, 10 solo. The departure of Lamar Winston leads a spot open at Will linebacker and this former four star from Colorado is the top candidate to fill it.
