He was a starry-eyed 15-year-old who bet on himself.

He convinced his parents to make sacrifices and send him out of Compton, California, to attend St. John Bosco High School, one of the nation’s top prep football programs. His parents were willing to take the risk because he craved a chance to play at a program that has remained atop southern California high school football for the last decade.

In his sophomore season, an opportunity presented itself. He couldn’t bear another second standing on the sideline. He worked up the courage to approach his head coach when his older teammate was struggling to make plays.

“That guy’s not ready and I am,” Kris Hutson said to St. John Bosco head coach Jason Negro. “He ended up taking the guy’s job,” Negro said.

Then he did the same thing at Oregon. 

In his second season, he answered the call when wide receivers Johnny Johnson III and Jaylon Redd sustained season-ending injuries and Mycah Pittman entered the transfer portal.

That confidence stems from his perfect mixture of fearlessness and inner arrogance — two personality traits that all successful wide receivers must possess.

That mixture was developed on the streets right outside his house. Hutson would compete in a loving, yet rough game of street football with his older brother Nicholas and his friends. 

At a young age, Nicholas and his friends, along with his high school coach and parents, identified Hutson’s unique edge. 

Sometimes his demeanor has resulted in mistakes, such as Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal yelling at Hutson after his excessive celebration cost them a field goal against Cal. More often, it’s given him a leg up on his opponents.

It was his way out of Compton. It earned him playing time and the trust of his coaches and teammates at every level. It made him aggravating, yet undeniably lovable.

Playing with your older brother and his friends can get a little too rough. Hutson rarely escaped these games without sustaining an injury, but that never swayed him from returning.

“You can’t have fear when you’re outside with your bigger brother and friends,” Hutson’s childhood friend and former Cal defensive back Trey Beck said. “We never took it easy, and Kris was never afraid to show us up all the time.”

One time, Beck and Nicholas tackled him into their neighbors’ gate, but he bounced right back up and wanted to finish out the game, Beck said. Later that day, his parents took him to get stitches in his knee from the collision.

Streetball built Hutson’s fearlessness. It also helped elevate his game to the next level.

Streetball is predicated on creating space, catching the ball and making your man miss. Beck believes it honed his on-field instincts, shaping him for Saturdays in the Pac-12. 

For Hutson, it helps him create leverage on his routes and makes him elusive in the open field. It also created an opportunity to escape from the outside influences growing up in Compton had to offer.

“Being able to be outside and bond over football together, it kept us out of trouble and showed us the amount of talent we truly had,” Beck said. “It changed the trajectory of our lives. Football was our saving grace.”

Hutson heeded the advice of his parents and made the most of their sacrifice to send him out of Compton for high school. Marcus and LaJean Hutson supported their son’s passion for the game, so they sent him to St. John Bosco, the all-boys preparatory school that has sent eight players to the NFL and countless recruits to Division I colleges.

“One of the things that I experienced from the kids that came from that area is how much time they actually want to spend in school,” Negro, the head coach, said. “It is a much better environment than where they lived at home.”

From all the success he experienced at a young age and the confidence he gained from competing at the level of his older brother and his friends, Hutson’s sense of inner arrogance grew.

Earlier this season, he made a crucial first-down grab on a two-minute drill as the Ducks sought a field goal to end the half against Arizona. After making the catch, Hutson’s excessive celebration led to a 15-yard penalty and drove the Ducks out of field goal range.

Head coach Mario Cristobal was not happy. He let Hutson know it. Cristobal yelled at his freshman receiver as he trotted to the sideline and hurled his headset to the ground. 

Hutson took the discipline just like his parents had taught him to. Knowing he had messed up, he looked his coach in the eye and never broke eye contact. 

“When Kris does something good on the field, he likes to celebrate,” Marcus said. “My wife and I always taught him, regardless of when you’re wrong or right, you always respect your coaches.” 

Hutson has experienced growing pains in his adaptation to the college game, with multiple dropped passes and two fumbles — one coming against UCLA and the other in the red zone against Cal — that almost cost the Ducks two wins. 

Yet Cristobal trusts his receiver to bounce back and give the Ducks the best chance to win each week. 

“Coach Cristobal has a lot of respect for Kris, and vice versa,” Negro said. “I think a football team is very similar to a family. There are many times in a family unit where things break down, and you have arguments and things like that. It doesn’t mean that you cast them to the side or never use them again. At the end of the day, you’re going to put your arm around the young man and say, ‘Listen, I still love you, I still care about you.’”

Hutson’s ego has certainly led to mistakes, but it’s also the reason he has the mentality to move on to the next play right away. It’s what gives him the fortitude to scream across the field on a slant route and catch the ball in stride, knowing he’s going to take a big hit.

Like his learned fearlessness, the inner arrogance is a product of streetball. After besting Nick and his friends, his older brother could tell it gave Hutson the tenacity to outperform the kids his own age.

Excelling at the game on the streets has translated to success in college.

After leading the team in receiving yards with 96 against Utah, Hutson built on that performance. In the Ducks’ 38-29 victory against Oregon State, he hauled in a team-high seven catches which turned into 82 yards and the first touchdown in his young Ducks career.

“Kris understood that he needed to step up,” Oregon safety Verone McKinley said. “He’s a super competitive guy, and when he unlocks that edge he’s one of the best receivers on this team.” 

As the roster thinned out, the Ducks coaching staff entrusted the freshman receiver with an expanded role. In turn, Hutson has delivered in his on-field production and gained vital experience that will give him an advantage when he is a starter next season.

Hutson found his love for football challenging his older brother and friends on the streets of Compton. Those games created a player who is fearless, poised and willing to put everything on the line for his team. Now he’s brought his streetball mindset to Autzen Stadium, providing a much-needed spark to a depleted position group for the Ducks.