Oregon two-sport standout Bryce Boettcher gets first career start with Ducks; 'It's a dream come true'

The journey from South Eugene High School to Autzen Stadium is a short one. By Google Maps' calculations, it's just a nine-minute connecting drive from Patterson Street to Martin Luther King. Jr. Blvd. For Bryce Boettcher, though, the journey has been anything but straightforward. Boettcher, a former three-sport star at South Eugene, has spent the past three seasons as an outfielder with the Oregon baseball team and the past year as a walk-on with the Ducks' football team. On Saturday, he made his first career start at inside linebacker and tallied four tackles and a fumble recovery in an 81-7 win over Portland State. So, how did a hometown kid who joined Oregon as a 200-pound walk-on safety last summer and spent the spring playing center field for Mark Wasikowski's Ducks manage to earn a starting nod along the front seven for a team with College Football Playoff ambitions?