Transfer help could spark Ducks’ safety position

After a couple of long off-season months, the grass is starting to grow and trees are getting ready to bloom. Spring is coming in Eugene, and with it comes the long-awaited return of football for the Oregon Ducks. A lot will look different in this new year for Dan Lanning and his team, with several of last year’s top players moving onto the NFL, including guys like Bo Nix, Troy Franklin, Bucky Irving, Jackson Powers-Johnson, and Brandon Dorlus. All of that is not to mention the fact that the Ducks are joining the Big Ten, and have a new-look conference to get used to on top of a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff to strive for. 

It’s safe to say that there are a lot of things to talk about going into this spring season, and a lot of storylines to discuss. To get things started, we want to give a position-by-position breakdown of Oregon’s current roster, getting readers up to date on which players left, which players are returning, and what the overall outlook is going into the spring. 

Already this week, we’ve covered the quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, offensive line, interior defensive line, edge rushers, linebackers and cornerbacks. Now we’ll examine the safeties group.

The back end of the defense could be one of the biggest question marks on the entire team as the Oregon Ducks look to replace a lot of experience and talent. Most notably, Oregon will be missing Evan Williams and Steve Stephens IV and while the Ducks still have experience with Tysheem Johnson, behind him are a couple of really good transfers and young talent. The transfer portal might have saved the Ducks’ bacon here, but only time will tell.

Here is a complete breakdown of the names you need to know going into the 2024 season at the safety position.