5 true-freshman who are in line to play in 2022

Game week is here for the Oregon Ducks, and while the team looks ahead to the Georgia Bulldogs, it gives us a chance to take a second and reflect on the past few weeks of fall camp.

In particular, we want to focus on the young players — the true freshmen who have impressed enough to be in a position where they might see the field this coming season.

With the relatively new redshirt rules in college football, a player can now compete in up to four games without burning a year of eligibility. While a few games in the season are likely to be lopsided, giving young players a chance to get some experience in garbage time scenarios, there are a handful of freshmen who will likely see the field a bit more than that.

We looked at the incoming class of 2022 and tried to identify five players who will play enough this year to not use a redshirt. Here are our predictions:

OT Josh Conerly Jr.

Josh Conerly is the easy No. 1 pick here. The former 5-star OT that ranked at the top of his position in the 2022 class comes to Eugene with a ton of hype surrounding him. Although the Ducks have a veteran offensive line that returns a ton of starters from last year, Conerly is working hard to crack that starting lineup and get some time on the field.

Head coach Dan Lanning admitted as much when talking about Conerly last week.

“I think Josh is gonna be a really good player for the Ducks,” Lanning said. “I mean, I think he’s gonna be a phenomenal player for us. He’s shown that he has a worker’s mentality, has a growth mindset. When his time comes, I think he’ll be prepared for it you know, and that could be relatively soon we’ll see.”

I don’t think that Conerly is going to be starting at the LT position in week 1, but it’s been made pretty clear throughout fall camp that the freshman is impressing the coaching staff, and could be in line to see a lot of time on the field this season.

WR Kyler…