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Will 5-Star Safety Trey McNutt Make his Oregon Debut Against James Madison?

Max Torres Author Profileby: Max Torres6 hours agomtorressports

Oregon has had no shortage of true freshmen make an impact in 2025. Cornerback Brandon Finney Jr. and Dakorien Moore were named to the On3 True Freshman All-American team earlier this month for their contributions to the Ducks 11-1 regular season and No. 5 seed in the College Football Playoff.

But we haven’t heard from one particular highly-touted true freshman this season. Former 5-star safety Trey McNutt hasn’t played a snap this year after suffering a leg injury with the Ducks in fall camp.

However, he was fully dressed out and participated in the portion of Oregon’s Monday’s practice that was open to the media.

Dan Lanning was asked about how the coveted defensive back has attacked his rehab process throughout the season.

“Yeah, he’s done a great job. He’s done a great job,” the Oregon head coach said of McNutt on Monday. “And all these guys have been really eager, again, it’s about us protecting them from themselves at times, but have been really eager to get out there and do the work.”

The head coach was asked about the possibility of a return for McNutt this season back in October and said simply, “There’s certainly a possibility.”

The Ducks have had a fairly tight rotation at safety this season with Dillon Thieneman and Aaron Flowers functioning as the two starting safeties and Jadon Canady commanding reps as the team’s primary nickel back.

Safeties Daylen Austin, Kingston Lopa and Peyton Woodyard have played in 11, 12 and 12 games respectively this season, but occupied much smaller roles than the aforementioned starters at safety.

Should McNutt wind up being available for Oregon against the Dukes on Saturday, would he see a lot of meaningful reps?

It’s probably a stretch to say he’d get a lot of reps at safety, but one could certainly could make the case for him to get some snaps on special teams. The staff could also choose to deploy him at safety or nickel later in the game if it’s a situation where Oregon runs away from James Madison and has the game in hand.

McNutt was the No. 2 safety in the 2025 On3 rankings and was expected to carve out some sort of role on the Oregon defense as a true freshman. And he probably would have had it not been for an injury that derailed much of his 2025 season.

It’s also worth noting that postseason games do not count against a redshirt year, which is more than likely what his season will end up being for the Cleveland native.

It’s likely that McNutt still has his share of rust to knock off, but getting him on the field in any capacity this Saturday could prove valuable for Chris Hampton and the Ducks later on this season or even as we look ahead to next year’s secondary, which could lose Thieneman at one of the starting safety spots.

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