Oregon is entering its bye week in stride.
After its heartbreaking loss to Auburn, the Ducks have churned out three straight wins and the defense has played at an elite level. The Ducks remains one of the Pac-12 favorites and playmakers at every level have stepped up their performance on both sides of the ball.
Offense
Jacob Breeland — Tight end
On a receiving corps that lost Mycah Pittman, Juwan Johnson and Brenden Schooler, Jacob Breeland has taken his game to the next level.
Simply put, Breeland has a legitimate argument for being the best tight end in college football in 2019.
He was a relative non-factor against Auburn with only four catches for 26 yards, but since then he has been the engine that drives the Ducks’ passing game. He exploded for 112 yards and a touchdown against Nevada. In the last two weeks, he’s been the No. 1 scoring threat for Oregon with four touchdowns.
Breeland, through four games, has already tied his career-best, five-touchdown season in 2017. Breeland and quarterback Justin Herbert proved to be the most effective connection in a passing game that has been successful, so far, in 2019.
Justin Herbert — Quarterback
Herbert has lived up to the pre-season hype that surrounded him after he declined an opportunity to, potentially, be picked early in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Oregon’s quarterback, already, has 14 touchdown passes through the first four games and threw five touchdowns in back-to-back games against Nevada and Montana. Against a struggling Stanford defense, he tossed three more scores. His accuracy has improved, too: After struggling all of last season, Herbert’s completion percentage has been above 70% in all four games so far.
Herbert is the Ducks’ leader, and the team will go as far as he takes them. If he continues to play the way he has in the early portion of the season, the Ducks should be right there at the top of the conference by the season’s end.
Defense
Troy Dye — Inside Linebacker
Year in and year out, Troy Dye has been the Ducks’ best defensive player.
Now, the senior inside linebacker is the leader of a revamped Oregon defense that consistently stifles its opponents. Dye leads the team with 25 total tackles in four games, including 15 tackles against Auburn. Dye also has four tackles for a loss, two of them coming against Nevada and along with a sack against Montana.
Dye has been special since the moment he stepped foot on campus. But for the first time, since that moment, he’s leading a defense that’s equally as special.
Jevon Holland — Safety
The sophomore safety has elevated his game in 2019 after a breakthrough freshman campaign in which he finished second in the Pac-12 in interceptions.
He’s been one of the key components in Oregon’s stingy secondary, recording 21 total tackles on the season — good for second on the team. And while his run support has been a much-needed aspect to his game, his play in coverage has been what’s made him truly special. He’s picked off Auburn’s Bo Nix and Stanford’s K.J. Costello and has been a factor in countless other pass coverages.
That, plus the added dimension of his success in the punt return game, makes Holland one of the most dynamic players on this Ducks squad and a true difference maker moving forward.
