Oregon’s offense has spent the last two weeks asking young players to grow up fast, and Dylan Raiola has seen the process up close.
With Dante Moore out, Raiola and Brock Thomas have split time at quarterback while the Ducks have also leaned on true freshmen receivers in key spots. That group was in the middle of the action again in Oregon’s 17-14 win over Nebraska in Week 7, when Jalen Lott and Messiah Hampton both got targets on the game-winning drive.
Raiola talked about that chemistry during his Wednesday media availability, and he didn’t dress it up.
“It’s been great. They come to work every day,” Raiola said.
“They show up, and they learn, and they grow. Tuesday and Wednesday, we get after it on the practice field and that gives them a lot of confidence being able to go against our defense.
They give us really good looks.”
He said the confidence in the room runs deeper than just the freshmen who happened to make plays against Nebraska.
“We’re really confident,” he continued. “We won’t roll out there any guys who we are not confident in and that’s our entire room. We’re all confident that they’re going to make plays when we need them to.”
Oregon needed those contributions because the receiver room has been hit hard. Jeremiah McClellan and Evan Stewart were both out against Nebraska, and that changed the shape of the passing game.
McClellan, who had been expected to be one of the team’s top options along with sophomore Dakorien Moore, broke his foot in warmups against Portland State and has now missed the last three games. Stewart sat out with an undisclosed injury and is listed out for the road trip to Illinois.
That opened the door for Lott and Hampton, and Raiola helped them make the most of it. He entered for Thomas in the fourth quarter, with Thomas making his first start of 2026, and finished 11-for-18 passing for 59 yards and the final touchdown.
On the decisive drive, Raiola hit Lott, who finished with three catches for 23 yards, and Hampton, who added a five-yard reception. Hudson Lewis also got a meaningful touch, hauling in Raiola’s two-point conversion pass.
If those freshmen are asked to take on even more against Illinois, the Ducks should already have some recent evidence that the connection is there.
The youth movement hasn’t been limited to the receivers, either. Tommy Tofi made a major second-half impact at left guard in the Week 7 win, and safety Devin Jackson has continued to see more snaps with Aaron Flowers out.
Dan Lanning pointed to that broader trend when he spoke about what Oregon is getting from its younger players.
“It's awesome that when you can have young players that are able to contribute and make an impact on your program,” Lanning said. “And we've had some guys that are able to show up. Sometimes that happens earlier for some, and sometimes that happens a little bit later.”
“Sometimes that happens the next year, which is harder and harder to get that to happen in college football,” he continued. “But it's great to be able to have young guys that are able to contribute.”
Lanning said the staff’s numbers show just how heavily Oregon has leaned into its homegrown talent. According to his count, 83 percent of the Ducks’ 2026 snaps have come from players who started their careers in Eugene out of high school.
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For now, the Ducks are left without a clear resolution, and there has been little public detail to work with. Coach Dan Lanning has acknowledged that a player was involved in an incident that did not meet program standards, but he stopped short of identifying Stewart or elaborating further. Until the legal process moves ahead, Oregon fans are still stuck waiting to see how the case will be handled inside the program. [Read more 🡒]