Oregon Snap Count: Who is Rising and Who’s Getting Left Behind?

The Oregon Ducks have played two-thirds of their regular season, entering the stretch run with a 7-1 record after eight games. It’s time to check in on the snap counts and other key stats to see how the playing time has been distributed. Who has risen up the ranks and cemented themselves as key contributors? Who has fallen off or seen their role diminished?

We’ll take a look at the position groups that are in flux, checking things like carries, targets, and total snaps. This review will focus on running backs, wide receivers, defensive backs, the defensive line, and the offensive line. No point in looking at quarterback or tight end this time. Let’s get into it.

Running Backs

We’ll start with an easy one. Most fans can tell you how the season has gone so far for this deep and talented room. Oregon began the year with a lot of questions about who would be getting the snaps in the backfield. The Ducks brought in preseason All-American Makhi Hughes, and most fans and media figured he’d be the starter.

Not so fast, my friend.

Hughes is redshirting—most likely done for the season (and maybe done with the Ducks). He finished with 42 snaps and 17 carries. That left a big hole in the rotation, but it’s been more than adequately filled by Oregon’s two true freshman backs.

Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill Jr. have been revelations through the first eight games, and their play has energized both fans and media. Davison currently leads the running back room in snaps with 161 and 51 carries. Hill has logged 72 snaps and 39 carries.

Jayden Limar ranks second with 144 snaps but has missed the last two games due to injury. Noah Whittington is third with 136 and missed the Northwestern and Oregon State games. Limar and Whittington have 42 and 51 carries, respectively. It will be interesting to see how much work Limar gets when he returns from injury.

Either way, it’s clear the rotation for the rest of the season will heavily favor Jordon Davison and Noah Whittington, with Dierre Hill sprinkled in for his big-play ability.

Wide Receivers

The Oregon receiver rotation hasn’t been as clearly defined this season. Dakorien Moore leads the room with 353 snaps, which isn’t much of a surprise to anyone following the team. The two veteran receivers are next—Gary Bryant Jr. with 309 snaps and Malik Benson with 219.

What is surprising is what’s happened over the past three games and who has climbed into that third receiver slot. While Benson still has the third-most overall snaps, Jeremiah McClellan is right behind him with 197. He’s played 86 snaps over the last three games and was listed as the third starter against Wisconsin. Benson only logged 60 in that span. JMac has seemingly passed Benson in the rotation.

Benson has had some exciting moments with the Ducks this season, but it’s encouraging to see McClellan rising up the depth chart. Benson is a senior and will not be back next year, while McClellan figures to be a large part of the rotation in 2026.

Another notable change from 2024 is that Justius Lowe has almost completely fallen out of the rotation. It’s unclear whether he’s been injured or simply fallen behind, but he has just 39 snaps on the season while true freshman Cooper Perry has 94. That suggests the Ducks see a bright future for the four-star from Scottsdale, Arizona.

The targets pretty closely match the snaps. Moore leads the team with 43, Bryant Jr has 27, Benson has 26 and McClellan has 21. It will be interesting to see how many targets Benson and McClellan get for the rest of the season. I suspect that JMac will become more integral in the offense.

Offensive Line

The Ducks have leaned heavily on the transfer portal this season to patch up their offensive line after losing several players to the NFL. Somewhat concerning, though, is the lack of playing time for the young guys and backups.

While the coaching staff has managed to spread around the snaps on the defensive line, they haven’t had the same success on the offensive line.

The top five players in terms of snaps this season are all starters: Alex Harkey (479), Isaiah World (477), Dave Iuli (470), Iapani Laloulu (470), and Emmanuel Pregnon (433). The only other player with more than 100 snaps is Gernorris Wilson with 111. Compare that to the defensive line, which has eight players with over 100 snaps this season.

The next-highest players are Matthew Bedford with 79, Charlie Pickard with 67, and Kawika Rogers with 53. Those players have seen their snaps drop off in the last four games, which makes sense given the tougher opponents, but this lack of reps suggests Oregon may once again dip into the portal in 2026.

Defensive Line

Reviewing the snap counts for the defensive line and edge/outside linebackers, it’s clear that Oregon has tightened its rotation in the back half of the season. While games against Penn State, Indiana, and Wisconsin featured shorter rotations and limited bench reps, the Ducks have made a concerted effort to get younger players on the field in games that were decided by halftime.

The players with the highest snap counts won’t come as a surprise. Matayo Uiagalelei has 358, Teitum Tuioti 341, and A’Mauri Washington 325. The only other player above 200 is Bear Alexander with 262. After that, we start to get a picture of who the Ducks view as potential starters in 2026.

Blake Purchase, a redshirt sophomore, has 195 snaps this year—the most among non-starters on the D-line. It seems he’s being groomed for a starting role next season.

Next are Tionne Gray (145), Terrance Green (140), and Ashton Porter (122). Gray is a redshirt freshman, Green a redshirt sophomore, and Porter also a redshirt sophomore. Based on their increasing snap counts, all three figure to be major contributors next season.

The other two players who have seen limited snaps this season are Elijah Rushing (66) and Aydin Breland (51). The two highly rated linemen haven’t seen the same opportunities as Gray, but Dan Lanning and Tosh Lupoi are clearly working to get them on the field when appropriate.

Defensive Backs

Similar to the wide receivers, the defensive back room is filled with talented young players eager for more reps. Also like that group, the Ducks have an extremely gifted true freshman who’s taken the Big Ten by storm.

Surprisingly, it isn’t five-star cornerback Na’eem Offord. While Offord has earned considerable playing time for a freshman, it’s Brandon Finney Jr. who’s made the biggest name for himself. Finney currently ranks third in snaps among DBs with 288. Offord has 137.

The Ducks’ secondary has been lights out this season, ranking No. 1 in the nation for passing yards allowed per game. Finney has been a huge part of that success, as has redshirt freshman Aaron Flowers, who ranks second with 362 snaps. Leading the room is Dillon Thieneman with 364, followed by Jadon Canady (239) and Ify Obidegwu (185).

While those five lead the group, transfer Theran Johnson has recently surpassed Obidegwu in the rotation, with 182 total snaps—140 of them coming in the last four games. He was injured against Montana State and Oklahoma State, and didn’t make his debut until the Northwestern game.

The Ducks have done a great job spreading the workload, with 10 defensive backs logging 100 or more snaps this season. This room might have the brightest future of them all, with Finney, Offord, Flowers, and Obidegwu forming a young core for years to come.

Linebackers

We already covered the outside linebackers and edge rushers above, so this section focuses on the inside linebackers. Bryce Boettcher leads the position group with 349 snaps. The next-highest totals belong to Devon Jackson (241) and Jerry Mixon (239).

After that, it’s a mixed bag. Gavin Nix has 36 snaps, K’Mar Mothudi 24, and Will Straton 24. That’s really it—the Ducks have essentially relied on three main contributors at inside linebacker all season, which says a lot about the current depth.

To be fair, the Ducks only recently got redshirt freshman Dylan Williams back from injury. He played 19 snaps against Rutgers. Another redshirt freshman, Brayden Platt, has yet to see the field this season.

Oregon has been working hard to add talent at the position in the 2026 class, landing commitments from four-star linebackers Braylon Hodge and Tristan Phillips (Ventura, California).

Nix is a true freshman, Mothudi a redshirt freshman, and Straton a redshirt sophomore. This is definitely a position group that needs reinforcement, with Boettcher graduating after the season and both Mixon (junior) and Jackson (redshirt junior) nearing the end of their eligibility.