Oregon Football RB Preview: CJ's Doak Walker SZN
The current status of College Football be damned, I’m writing previews at every single position for the 2020-21 Oregon Ducks. And it’s time to talk about runningbacks.
Despite massive changes along the offensive line, and a nearly identical backfield from a year ago, the Oregon run game should see itself level up big time in 2020.
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, CJ Verdell is RB1. If it wasn’t clear to Duck fans and the rest of the country throughout 2019, CJ has removed all doubt heading into his Junior campaign. He has proved his dominance again and again in the biggest moments of his career.
From his overtime-Husky-beating vision in 2019, to that time he won the Pac-12 title by running for 208 yds and 3 TDs over Utah’s self-proclaimed “best run defense in the country,” CJ Verdell is unquestionably the top back on the roster, and has been for the last three years.
He has also grown tremendously as a player since his first day on campus. Any assumptions that he was a pure power back were silenced on multiple occasions when CJ showed serious breakaway speed with 70-80+ yard homeruns.
If Verdell wasn’t the best runningback in the Pac-12 last year (he was, regardless of how yards Zack Moss racked up over BYU), he will definitely be at the top of the conference in 2020. And don’t be surprised when he also finds himself at or near the top of every preseason, midseason, and postseason Doak Walker Award watchlist.
Even though I’ve been CJ’s top advocate since day one—credit to me—I will admit that he disappeared in the middle and end of a couple of games in 2019 due to mysterious injuries. Do I think that his overall durability is in question? I’d hope that another summer of strength and conditioning under Aaron Feld—virtual or otherwise—should take care of that. Especially as he begins to workout with the NFL in the back of his mind.
All of that to say: Welcome to CJ SZN.
With such a clear frontrunner at the starting spot, it’s even more incredible to think that Oregon has two other backs in the RB Room that could start for any other team in the conference.
As was the case last year, Juniors Cyrus Habibi-Likio and Travis Dye will most likely be 2 and 2A on the depth chart (in either order, honestly). Expect to see them stepping up in different situations, as well as just generally playing relief for Verdell.
Cyrus will come in whenever Mario wants to pound five consecutive run plays down the opponent’s throat. And Dye will appear whenever we need someone to catch a wheel route out of the backfield and then shoot out of cannon for 20+ yds.
Both Cyrus and Dye will see significant time throughout the year. The rotation between the three might even threaten CJ’s chances of racking up true big boy stats, but Oregon’s ability to throw three different types of runners into the mix will be tough to stop for any defense, especially behind a Cristobal-coached offensive line.
Before looking at the rest of the backs, I’d like to address a widespread theory that Noah Sewell, Oregon’s landmark five-star linebacker, will be playing a role in the run game as a goal line/William Perry-type touchdown vulture.
As much fun as I think that would be—and while I know that Sewell was an accomplished ball carrier in high school—I don’t think anyone should hold their breath on that idea being a cornerstone of the 2020 Oregon Ducks.
I’ve said it before, but Mario Cristobal isn’t exactly known for taking big risks or being real creative, especially on offense. And that’s okay. Joe Moorhead will certainly bring a little more variety in the run schemes, and with how the quarterback fits into all that, but when it comes to the ground-and-pound culture, Mario is pretty set in his ways.
Maybe Sewell will come in for two or three situations, in low-stakes moments/games, but since he’s set to be an absolute stud at linebacker—in the best defense in the conference—the staff wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) risk a guy like Sewell getting injured while doing anything other than bashing skulls on defense.
Plus, Verdell (and Cyrus, for that matter) has already proven that he should be the one that gets the ball in short yardage, big-time situations. Mario is all about giving CJ the ball, and never looking back.
Redshirt freshman Sean Dollars is the considered by many as the “Next Great Oregon RB,” but I’m worried about where he fits in this year’s RB Room. If he can be RB4, or even find himself some playing time between Dye or Cyrus, then I think Oregon has a chance at keeping him on the roster. Otherwise, I’m worried he could be a transfer portal flight risk.
Oregon is has a long history of great running back’s getting stuck behind even greater runningbacks. Kenjon Barner is a top five Oregon back, but he split time alongside the greatest of all time, LaMike. Lache Seastrunk left and made some waves at Baylor. Thomas Tyner moved to Corvallis after getting caught behind Royce. Darrian Felix transferred to his home state team USF just last year. If Oregon can’t find a way to keep Dollars involved and interested this year, I’m worried we might lose him, too. And here’s a scary thought, Dollars is from LA, so one can only hope that he wouldn't consider becoming a Trojan.
The gigantic Jayvaun Wilson and Big Boi’s son, Cross Patton, are both redshirt freshmen, and they make an already deep backfield even deeper. Seeing as how only one of Verdell-Cyrus-Dye (read: Verdell) will declare early for the NFL, and Dollars is the golden goose of their class, this year is probably another development year for Jayvaun and Cross.
We probably won’t see much of him, but Wilson, at 6’2”, 220 lbs, is the biggest back on the roster and could end up becoming THE top short-yardage bruiser in less than two years.
Freshman three-star from Greenville, MS, Trey Benson, announced that he was officially enrolled at UO as of last week. As the young buck in a jam-packed running back class, he’ll get a redshirt year, develop for another season after that, and find himself in a prime position to be one of two or three feature backs when his redshirt sophomore campaign rolls around.
Among the group of Dollars-Wilson-Patton, I think Benson is the least likely to transfer out. That’s not just because he’s been on campus for the least amount of time—or because Patton is a preferred walk-on—but rather because he’s in a generation of his own. He has plenty of time and experience ahead of him to carve out a significant role for himself when the opportunity comes.
Rounding out the rest of the position group, Junior KJ Maduike is perhaps the most unknown/under-the-radar back. He hasn’t gotten many chances at all in his career, but I’m excited to see if he can find his way onto the field against one of the cupcakes like NDSU, Hawaii, or Washington.
All accounts and Rob Moseley practice reports show that KJ has been grinding on the practice field for the last few seasons, and as a Visual Arts major/upperclassmen, I think he’ll definitely be in Eugene until graduation.
Look for KJ to be a strong candidate for the next non conference MVP (AKA the Kani Benoit/Remene Alston Award) when he busts out ~80 yds and 2 TDs in the second half of the Hawaii game.
All of that to say that the present and future of the Oregon run game is bright as hell.
Go Ducks.