Chase Cota is returning home. The Medford native, and son of former Oregon star defensive back Chad Cota, will finish his career with the Ducks after spending four seasons at UCLA.
Cota started 10 games for the Bruins last season with 12 appearances overall. He caught at least three passes in five games with his best performance of the season coming against Utah as he finished with 62 yards receiving on three catches.
The 6-foot-3 receiver caught just one touchdown pass in the 2021 season, a 14-yard catch against LSU. He went over 35 yards receiving in five separate games last year.
In his career, Cota has caught 67 passes for 883 yards and six touchdowns. His best season came in 2019 when he caught 25 passes for 350 yards receiving and three touchdowns.
In that season, Cota's most productive game came against Washington State when he had four catches for 147 yards receiving and a touchdown.
Cota has been on the field often during his collegiate career, and he will enter his final season having made over two dozen starts. He played in 43 games overall while with the Bruins.
The transfer process took close to a month for Cota, who opted to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal back on Jan. 17.
Cota was ranked as the second-best prospect from Oregon by Rivals in the 2018 class behind only Crescent Valley High School star Talanoa Hufanga. He was rated as the 110th-best recruit overall that year and carried a four-star ranking as a standout player at South Medford High School.
“I appreciate any school that is interested in me but to get an in-state offer from a school my dad played at means a lot,” he said back in 2016 after he was offered by the Ducks. “I think it is very special.”
Most of the programs in the Pac-12 offered Cota by the end of his high school recruitment, including USC, Utah and Oregon State, with addition offers from programs such as Georgia, Notre Dame, Louisville and Nebraska among others.
Cota, who is also cousins with former Oregon safety Brady Breeze, will bring experience to a young receiving group for the Ducks this season. Oregon returns a talented crop of pass catchers including Troy Franklin, Dont’e Thornton and Kris Hutson.
The unit is not short on talent but will be tasked with making up for several key losses.
Oregon lost numerous receivers after the season either to lack of remaining eligibility (Johnny Johnson III and Jaylon Redd) or the NFL Draft (Devon Williams). Mycah Pittman decided to leave the Ducks for Florida State as a transfer back in December.
Lake Oswego receiver Justius Lowe signed with the Ducks earlier this month as a member of the 2022 class.
Head coach Dan Lanning and the Ducks have supplemented a smaller recruiting class in 2022 with several transfer additions. Since taking over the program, Lanning and his coaches have added five players from the transfer portal including Auburn quarterback Bo Nix.
The Ducks have also added defensive linemen Jordon Riley (Nebraska) and Sam “Taki” Taimani, cornerback Christian Gonzalez (Colorado) and kicker Andrew Boyle (Washington State).
