Oregon released its depth chart for Fresno State Tuesday, and among the surprises it contained were true freshmen Troy Franklin and Moliki Matavao earning starting nods at wide receiver and tight end.
The Ducks are young overall. Just 18 of their scholarship players are juniors and seniors.
Even so, it's remarkable to see so many freshmen stepping in to leading roles on an experienced and talented roster: Franklin, Matavao, Dontae Manning, Trikweze Bridges, Keith Brown, Bradyn Swinson, Kingsley Suamataia, Trey Benson, Byron Cardwell, Dont'e Thornton Seven McGee and Jayson Jones are all going to be heard from this season.
If this group flashes enough of their awesome promise in 2021, it could be a special season, particularly because this is only a partial list of the potential early contributors. Quarterback Ty Thompson has ability that's hard to hold back. Jaylin Davies, Jeffrey Bassa, Darren Barkins and Avante Dickerson all made noise in fall camp.
With the quirky everyone-gets-a-free-pass eligibility rules following the 2020 Covid-marred campaign, even Oregon's twin monsters at inside linebacker, Noah Sewell and Justin Flowe, are still classified as freshmen.
As always, the young players' first opportunity to make an impact is on special teams. But Franklin and Matavao are opening day at Autzen first-game starters, each with a prominent role in the Oregon attack. Matavao is a big-time target at tight end, 6--6, 263. Franklin has the speed, body control, hands and moves to be a gamebreaker.
The recruiting impact of their early emergence is a very big deal. It signals to 2022 recruits like Tetairoa McMillan, Kelvin Banks and T.J. Dudley that even though Oregon has a star-studded and deep squad after four years of top recruiting classes, the opportunity to show out and play early is very real.
Under the Friday Night Lights, several of the newest Oregon commits are signalling their intention to do exactly that.
In a game against top-rated Los Alamitos, Florence held highly-touted wide receiver DeAndre Moore to 0 catches for 0 yards on Friday night.
