The Oregon Ducks have been playing some of their best football of the season over the past two weeks, rising to No. 1 in the nation for the first time since the 2012 season, highlighted by a win over the Ohio State Buckeyes at home in Week 7.
What makes all of that more impressive is the fact that the Ducks did it without some of their best players on the field. Before the Buckeyes matchup, Oregon’s star defensive end Jordan Burch suffered a knee injury in practice, holding him out of the game. A week later, star tight end Terrance Ferguson had to have surgery to remove his appendix, forcing him to miss last week’s matchup against Purdue.
Both players are expected to return to the field this season, but will that be for this weekend’s top-25 matchup against the No. 20 Illinois Fighting Illini? Let’s take a look.
Terrance Ferguson injury update
Ferguson was a surprise scratch from the Ducks’ Week 8 game against Purdue, and head coach Dan Lanning revealed after the fact that the senior tight end had undergone surgery to remove his appendix.
“We’re expecting a quick recovery based on what that looks like for him and being smart with him,” Lanning said after the Purdue game. “I think he’ll be back relatively quick, but we want to do what’s best for Terrance.”
How long will Terrance Ferguson be out?
“Relatively quickly” is the key term here when trying to decipher Lanning’s quotes. Does that mean this week against Illinois, or in Week 10 against the Michigan Wolverines?
That’s still yet to be known. I am told by a couple of people within the organization that there is some optimism that Ferguson can see the field this week against the Illini, but it may be in an emergency fashion. Should the Ducks go up early on Saturday, I wouldn’t expect Ferguson to play.
Oregon Ducks tight end depth chart
If Ferguson is out again on Saturday, the Ducks should be able to manage with Kenyon Sadiq and Patrick Herbert splitting reps at the TE spot. We…
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