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Oregon

PFF Ranks Oregon a Top-Ten Secondary Entering 2025 College Football Season

Max Torres Author Profileby: Max Torres06/11/25mtorressports
Dillon Thieneman

Oregon’s secondary will look a lot different in 2025 than it did in 2025. After losing all five of its starting defensive backs, secondary coach Chris Hampton and cornerbacks coach Rashad Wadood are tasked with fielding a group that can help Oregon compete for a national championship.

The group was solid last season, but it wasn’t enough to get by the likes of Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka, who eventually went on to win the national championship. It also didn’t play well enough to defeat Washington in the 2023 season.

Jabbar Muhammad, Nikko Reed, Dontae Manning, Kobe Savage and Tysheem Johnson are all gone. But Oregon’s begun to produce and develop more NFL-caliber defensive backs in recent years and the Ducks are now well-positioned to continue that trend entering this season.

Max Chadwick of Pro Football Focus is particularly bullish on Oregon’s secondary and ranked the Ducks sixth trailing Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame, Alabama and Texas entering the 2025 season.

Here’s what he had to say.

“The Ducks added the best defensive back from the transfer portal when they brought in Purdue safety Dillon Thieneman. He’s PFF’s No. 3 safety in America, and his 89.4 PFF grade since 2023 ranks fourth among returning FBS safeties. 

Two other transfers may start in Oregon’s secondary: cornerback Theran Johnson (Northwestern) and slot corner Jadon Canady (Ole Miss). Johnson was ninth among Big Ten corners with a 79.4 coverage grade in 2024, while Canady’s eight pass-breakups tied for eighth among SEC cornerbacks. Jahlil Florence played only three snaps in 2024 due to a knee injury, but he earned a 72.6 grade in 2023 across 392 snaps for the Ducks. Oregon also has plenty of former highly-rated recruits to provide depth, including a couple five-star freshmen in cornerback Na’eem Offord and safety Trey McNutt.”

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