Several Ducks are off to the NFL after impressive years in 2018. While they mostly consist of seniors, such as edge defenders Jalen Jelks and Justin Hollins, Oregon’s leading wide out Dillon Mitchell is departing a year early as well. The most devastating loss, however, may prove to be defensive back Ugochukwu Amadi.
Amadi had a breakout season last year, as he was not only Oregon’s most versatile defensive piece — a Swiss Army knife in the secondary who also returned punts — but a valuable teammate. In 2018, he won the Lombardi Award for outstanding performance, leadership, character and resilience, and he became the first FBS player with two pick-6s and a punt return in the same season since Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick in 2015.
Despite his recent success, Amadi wasn’t always in the spotlight. A three-star cornerback from Tennessee, he struggled to grab consistent snaps through much of his first three seasons.
“Everything that Ugo’s been through, soaking in and being a sponge of all the teaching and everything people were pouring into him, that development and that perseverance and continuing to just work and doing what the coaches ask you to do,” co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Keith Hayward said.
Amadi’s capacity to play not just safety but cornerback and slot cornerback helped the Ducks tremendously. His ability to organize the defense and make calls is what may be missed most in 2019 as the Oregon defense begins the transition to a new scheme under recently hired coordinator Andy Avalos.
“What he does on the field matches who he is off the field, and I think the guys that have stepped in at nickel and are getting reps there have gotten off to a fast start because they have had a great leader and had a good vision of what that is supposed to look like both on and off the field,” Andy Avalos said of his brief but impactful impressions of Amadi.
One of those such players who seems to have benefited is redshirt freshman Verone McKinley III, who has been praised for much of spring practice by teammates as well as coaches.
“Verone is looking amazing,” junior cornerback Thomas Graham Jr. said. “He’s at nickel; I feel that’s his natural position, that’s where he fits at. Coach Avalos coming allowed him to blossom into the player that we all believed he is.”
While players like McKinley III, as well as other young defensive backs such as Steve Stephens, Brady Breeze, Billy Gibson and Daewood Davis, have all received plenty of hype, the question still remains of who will step up to replace the leadership lost with Amadi’s departure.
When asked of his thoughts on who could step up as a leader, Amadi made it clear that it will be no single player.
“This team is going to demand stuff out of themselves now,” Amadi said. “They will rely on each other to step up. They are going to want to play hard for each other.”
Oregon’s upperclassmen in the secondary seem to hold a similar belief.
“That was a big loss to us. He was our leader of the secondary. He helped because he was older and knew the defense just as well as anyone,” Graham said. “I feel me, Jevon [Holland], Deommodore [Lenoir], and Nick [Pickett] are all stepping up as a group. We put it all on each other. Where we want to go this year, we have to do that.”
While much is still up in the air and will be until the start of the regular season, Graham and Lenoir seem to have a steady hand on the two starting cornerback spots. In addition, it is expected that sophomore standout safety Holland will retain his starting job, along with free safety Pickett. McKinley III has a grasp on the nickel spot as of now, but as quick as his rise has been, he could be out of the deep, talented cornerback rotation even quicker come fall.
“Being young and not knowing the defense fully, I think that’s one of our weaknesses,” Holland said. “Everybody is coming together closer as a unit though. We all have a positive mentality. We all have bought into the culture and are learning to play as one team.”
