Dakorien Moore’s 62-yard winner against Boise State did more than send Autzen Stadium home happy on Saturday. It sparked a bigger conversation about where this Oregon receiving room fits in program history.
The moment hit George Wrighster almost immediately. As Moore shook two Boise State defensive backs and finished off the Ducks’ 34-27 win, a text from former Washington State safety Hamza Abdullah came through asking a question that sounds simple enough: Who is Oregon’s greatest wide receiver of all time?
Wrighster, the former Oregon and NFL tight end who co-hosts the Ducks Confidential podcast with OregonLive’s Aaron Fentress, didn’t land on a single name when he answered. He went somewhere bigger, and maybe more startling.
“Honestly, I think this is the best wide receiver corps in Oregon history,” Wrighster said. “These three and then you add the tight end too. Lord have mercy.”
The trio he was talking about is obvious enough after watching the Boise State game: sophomore Dakorien Moore, senior Evan Stewart and junior Jeremiah McClellan. And the tight end Wrighster folded into that group is senior Jamari Johnson.
That kind of claim carries real weight at Oregon, where the receiver history includes some heavy hitters. Ahmad Rashad, known as Bobby Moore at Oregon from 1969-1971 and mostly a running back there, remains the program’s gold standard and the only Oregon wide receiver to go in the first round, taken No. 4 overall by Minnesota in the 1972 NFL Draft.
After him, the next measuring stick was Patrick Johnson, Oregon’s only second-round receiver, selected by Baltimore in 1998.
Wrighster and Fentress worked through the rest of the list on the podcast, and the strongest previous case for a great Oregon receiver group may be the one from 2001, when Joey Harrington was throwing to Samie Parker, Keenan Howry and Demetrius Williams. Parker later went in the fourth round to Kansas City in 2004, Howry was a seventh-round pick by Minnesota in 2003, and Williams, who redshirted in 2001, eventually became a fourth-round pick of Baltimore in 2006.
The 2013 Ducks also had a strong pairing in Josh Huff and De’Anthony Thomas. Huff was a third-round pick by Philadelphia in the 2014 draft, while Thomas went in the fourth round to Kansas City that same year.
But Wrighster’s point was that this current group has a different kind of depth and NFL projection. He said Oregon has had very good receivers before, but never one like Ohio State All-American Jeremiah Smith - the kind of player who defines an era, draws double coverage and shows up in the NFL with major hype.
Oregon may still not have that one singular, era-defining receiver. But Wrighster believes the Ducks have something else: the best trio they’ve ever put on the field, with all three capable of making noise at the next level.
“It’s never looked like this,” he said. “This is one of them Ohio State-type wide receiver rooms where you got so many guys that are going to be drafted highly in the NFL and at least one of them might turn out to be an NFL star. There’s that sort of potential in this room.”
Fentress agreed, saying he couldn’t point to another time in program history when Oregon had three productive wide receivers at once who also carried real draft buzz.
The Boise State game gave that argument some immediate backing. Oregon’s run game never really got going, so the passing attack had to carry more of the load. It did exactly that.
McClellan finished with six catches for 150 yards and a touchdown. Moore had six receptions for 93 yards and the game-winning score.
Stewart added eight catches for 72 yards. Johnson chipped in with four catches for 57 yards and a touchdown.
That’s the real takeaway here. With this much talent on the perimeter, plus a tight end in the mix, defenses can’t simply crowd the box and dare Oregon to throw.
The Ducks have long made their passing game a strength by system. Right now, they may have a talent edge that looks unlike anything the program has had before.
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Oregon Has A Bigger Problem Than The Halftime Score Against Oklahoma State
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Dante Moore has not been able to settle the offense, completing 5 of 15 passes for 45 yards without a touchdown, and the passing game has been hampered by drops as much as accuracy. The ground attack has not offered much relief either, leaving Oregon with a lot to clean up if it wants to avoid letting a shaky half turn into something much worse. [Read more 🡒]