In the history of the program, Oregon has never played a member of the Ohio Valley Conference. While that will change when the Ducks square off against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles on Saturday, Oregon’s secondary has already had a look at one of Tech’s biggest threats, wideout Da’Rick Rogers, during Oregon’s 48-13 win at Tennessee almost exactly two years ago.
During that matchup, Rogers took an end-around for 21 yards to set up a Volunteers field goal. When he faces off against Oregon again Saturday, circumstances will be different.
After leading the SEC in receiving yards, Rogers ran afoul of Tennessee’s drug policy and was suspended indefinitely by Volunteers head coach Derek Dooley before migrating from Knoxville to Cookesville earlier this year. Now, at Tech, he’s teamed with running back Adam Urbano and quarterback Tre Lamb (who both went to Rogers’ high school, though they were never all teammates).
After leaving Rocky Top, Rogers talked with Hal Lamb, Tre’s father and the Calhoun Trio’s high school head coach.
“I think that’s the role of a high school coach,” Lamb told The Tennessean. “Any time one of your former players needs help, you help him any way you can.” Lamb helped steer Rogers to Tech head coach Watson Brown.
Before Brown took a chance on Rogers, he consulted the seniors on the team. Urbano and Lamb also supported the addition of Rogers, who has outperformed expectations this year with 163 receiving yards and two touchdowns on just 11 targets. As his knowledge of the playbook grows and his understanding deepens, those targets figure to skyrocket.
Oregon’s No. 1 corner Terrance Mitchell has had a chance to see him on tape earlier this week.
“Da’Rick Rogers, he’s a top receiver, so that’s an opportunity for us,” Mitchell said after practice Wednesday. “I feel like he’s just like the other Pac-12 receivers. He’s a big receiver, you just gotta cover him.”
Although defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti will likely shuffle the secondary around, Mitchell could see significant playing time man to man against the 6-foot-3 Calhoun, Ga., native.
“Man, I hope so,” Mitchell says with a smile. “I would love to do that. … We have our system, what we do, but if it comes down to it, I’d love to take him man to man and follow him. That’s what cornerback is, play against the best receiver, so thats what I like to do.”
The Rogers test will offer a good look at what life without John Boyett in the secondary will look like for Oregon. Since the senior free safety announced knee surgeries would knock him out for the rest of the year, the rest of the Ducks’ defensive backs know they need to step up.
“I’m prepared to step up,” Avery Patterson said after practice earlier this week. “We all know what we have to do. Ifo, Terrance, Brian, even Erick, we all gotta step up.”
Whether the game is competitive or not, Rogers will show how ready they are to step up.