Skip to main content
Oregon
Join Now

Oregon Ducks missing multiple key players for Week 2 showdown with Texas Tech

Jarrid Denneyby: Jarrid Denney09/09/23jarrid_denney

The No. 13 Oregon Ducks will be missing some serious firepower for their marquee matchup with Texas Tech.

According to James Crepea of The Oregonian/OregonLive, Oregon will be without left guard Nishad Strother, linebacker Jestin Jacobs, and receiver Kris Hutson against the Red Raiders this evening.

Strother and Jacobs are both projected starters at their respective positions, while Hutson started 10 games last season and was expected to crack the two-deep this season. None of the three played in Oregon’s season-opening win over Portland State on Sept. 2.

According to Crepea, receiver Josh Delgado, offensive linemen Bryce Boulton, Lipe Moala and Michael Wooten are among the Ducks’ offensive players who did not make the trip. Defensive tackle Tevita Pome’e, safeties Daymon David, Kodi Decambra and Collin Gill, and kicker Andrew Boyle are missing from the defensive and specials teams units.

Tight end Casey Kelly, edge defender Mase Funa, and safety Evan Williams all missed the season opener but appear to be full-go in Lubbock.

During his Monday press conference, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning was asked about the status of a few players, including Strother and Williams. However, he has been adamant throughout the season that he will not discuss injuries.

“Yeah, I’m not going to talk about any inured guys,” Lanning said. “Whoever we’re going to roll in there with at Texas Tech, we’re going to roll in there with. Feel good about progress with those guys, though.”

When further prompted for an update on Hutson, who was a full participant during the open portions of practice this week, Lanning still declined to comment.

“Not going to talk about anybody that didn’t play this past week,” he said. “If they didn’t play this last week, I’m not going to talk about them.”

Oregon will be tasked with slowing down an up-tempo Texas Tech offense in a tough environment on Saturday, with temperatures expected to reach the upper 90s. Lanning said Monday that his team won’t be deterred by the conditions.

“Yeah, well I mean, there’s not a lot I can do for the heat,” Lanning said. “I’m not going to make the guys wear parkas out to practice or anything like that. At the end of the day, good, right? Good. We want a tough environment, we want to get to a place that’s going to be challenging like that’s, that’s what excited about college football when you get to a place where you know, the fans are going to care 6 pm I think they’re gonna be pretty amped up. You know, that’s exciting for us. That’s the kind of environment we want to play in. Beyond us preparing, that’s all we got to do.”

You may also like