It’s been a while since Oregon Ducks junior Noah Whittington ran a route for Oregon Football in full pads. His comments on returning to contact play for fall camp may make you feel like he has a screw loose.

“It feels great,” Whittington said. “It feels like everything I’ve been missing. You know, I’m just excited. It feels good to get tackled. I don’t even know how to explain it after not getting hit for a long time. It’s kind of like nervous the first time about to get hit after, it’s kind of like, feel like I never left.”

The running back has been heavily involved with the Ducks on the field since entering as a sophomore transfer from Western Kentucky. He played in all thirteen games his first season and came in second on the team that year for rushing yards with 779. Whittington also racked up 139 carries and five rushing touchdowns on said yard.

However, Whittington tore his ACL in Oregon’s contest versus Colorado, cutting his junior season short during only the fourth game of the 2023 campaign. Whittington utilized a redshirt after this injury.

It stands to reason Whittington might have been apprehensive to have his body hit the turf again.

“Yeah, I was kind of mentally like, ‘uhhhhh,’ but after I got tackled the first time, I was able, you know, actually hit the whole lot harder. So now it’s just like, it’s really no hesitation,” Whittington said.

Whittington confirms that he is at one hundred percent for fall camp, after Oregon coach Dan Lanning told the press before spring practices that Whittington was quickly progressing in his physical therapy treatments.

“My goals?” Whittington said. “It was kind of just, you know, to be back out there and be able to actually practice, and I feel like, Yeah, I’m doing a pretty decent job.”

With a fully-stacked running back room, Whittington has a challenge ahead of him to compete for that starting job. Whittington admits that the coaches are also putting on the pressure to perform.

“How we attack adversity. You know, our coach really been challenging us a lot, you know, to stack good days, and when we don’t have them, he can really, like, rip into us. So it’s just like being able to overcome that and actually accept his challenges and come out the next day. I feel like mentally, we’ve done a great job at doing that,” Whittington said.

Under first-year Oregon Football assistant head coach and running backs coach Ra’Shaad Samples, there’s a balance of tough love.

“I mean, it’s been how it should be, you know, like we have times where it’s laid back, it’s chill, you know, we get to connect and know him on a personal level. Then when we’re not upholding the standard of the room. He let us feel it,” Whittington said.

Whittington wants a slice of kick-off action as well in the fall.

“I would love to, but it’s not up to me,” Whittington said. “It’s up to coach, Joe Lorig, and he gon’ tell me. He might say something about, like, how I’ve catched the ball, but, I mean, I’ve been trying to catch it how he want me to catch it. So he’ll put me back there.”

And though kick returns have been an issue for the Ducks in the past, Whittington is ready for a revenge tour that includes aiding the special teams.

“Yes, it’s a big emphasis on that in the special teams meeting. And I feel like we gonna get the job done this year. We might get a goal, I say, like five, five or four. Oh, for real. We really been getting, like, detailing it like it’s been on the front end of like, what we need to get better at,” Whittington said.

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About 70% of Oregon schools will offer free breakfasts and lunches to all students during the upcoming school year, up from around 55% a year ago, the state Department of Education said Monday.

Their ranks now include almost every school in the metro area, including all in Portland Public Schools, the state’s largest district, and the Beaverton School District, its third largest, both of which offered free meals only in higher need schools last year.

Universal school meals are having a national moment, after briefly being on the menu coast-to-coast for all students during the pandemic’s immediate aftermath. The federal government discontinued that effort in October, 2022.

Most recently, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, soon to be the Democrats’ formal nominee for vice president, went viral after being inundated with hugs from children when he signed a bill to make school breakfast and lunch free for all in 2023.

The topic isn’t without controversy though. Only eight states, all of them led by Democrats, have passed legislation guaranteeing free school meals regardless of income. Republican governors and legislators have pushed back, arguing that the program wastes money giving free meals to children from families who can afford to buy school food or pack a lunch from home.

Anti-hunger advocates have pointed to studies showing that making meals at school free for all students can reduce the stigma associated with getting them and that feeding all students translates to better behavioral and academic outcomes.

In Oregon, a bill that would have funded free school meals statewide died in the 2023 legislative session. But advocates are planning to renew that request in the 2025 session, said David Wieland, a policy advocate for Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. It would cost less this time, Wieland said, because of changes in federal reimbursement policies that helped fuel this year’s expansion in Oregon.

The proposed bill is still taking shape, but advocates envision grants to help districts for whom it is a logistical struggle to serve meals — for example, to purchase more scratch cooking equipment, Wieland said. There are also ongoing conversations about how to ensure that students have time to eat cafeteria meals and meal choices appeal to their palates to cut down on waste, he said.

Last October, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that if at least 25% of students in schools and districts were enrolled in government assistance programs like food stamps or Head Start or were homeless, migrants or in foster care, the entire school or district could qualify for free meals and get reimbursed for up to 90% of the cost of providing them. Previously, the threshold had been set at 40%. Oregon lawmakers pitched in an extra $17 million to help schools defray the extra costs.

Another big factor that aided the expansion, said Matt Newell-Ching, a policy manager for the Oregon Food Bank: a federal pilot program that has allowed all Medicaid-eligible Oregon children to be automatically registered for free school lunches, taking the paperwork onus off of their parents.

In schools that aren’t offering universal free school meals this year, a family of four needs to make under $90,000 annually to qualify for their students for free lunches. Every school district sets its own prices for lunch, and costs can vary widely. There are no free meals planned in ???

In addition to Portland and Beaverton, free meals will also be offered in North Clackamas, Tigard-Tualatin and Hillsboro.

“Everyone’s food budgets are high right now, and this helps all families,” Newell-Ching said. “Instead of putting in means tests about who needs it, this is a recognition that food costs are high for everyone.”

— Julia Silverman covers education for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her via email at jsilverman@oregonian.com or find her on X.com at @jrlsilverman.

EUGENE — At the top of the stairs leading away from practice fields in the Hatfield Dowlin Complex, Oregon Ducks football players pass in waves. Another day of fall camp in the books.

Fresh out of the cold tub, linebacker Jestin Jacobs discusses the physicality of the Big Ten — a conference he’s all-too familiar with, having transferred to Oregon from Iowa following the 2022 season. Jacobs is an imposing presence at 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, but is quickly cut down to size by teammates walking by.

“Oh my gosh,” bellows the voice of fellow inside linebacker Jeffrey Bassa. “It’s Jestin Jacobs.”

“You’re a beast, bro,” center Iapani Laloulu quips. “You’re my idol.”

A wide grin spreads across Jacobs’ face. And he has more than just his teammates’ jests to smile about: Jacobs is fully healthy after missing the first half of Oregon’s 2023 season due to injury. Bassa has said he envisions himself and Jacobs being the best linebacker duo in the country.

Lofty expectations are the norm around this Ducks football team.

“We talked about that when I first got here, because that is the standard,” Jacobs said. “You don’t play football to be mediocre or be in the middle. You play to be the best. Last year, with me missing the games, we got off to a slow start. But this year we had a full offseason, we’ve been around each other for a year, took trips together and became close.

“So, now, it’s time to put the pieces together and become the best linebacker duo in the nation. It’s not just something we say. It’s something we want to achieve and need to achieve.”

Jacobs grew up in Dayton, Ohio, eager to find new experiences elsewhere by the time his decorated high school career was over. As a four-star recruit, he signed with Iowa after fielding offers from a range of programs, including Ohio State.

“It’s kind of what I wanted when I was in high school, to be somewhere else,” Jacobs said. “Being in Ohio for 18 years, if anybody’s been to Ohio, they know there ain’t a lot to do. I wanted to go explore the world and meet new people.”

It wasn’t for lack of support that Jacobs wanted to spread his wings: His father, Seth, raised Jacobs on his own for the most part and was in his son’s corner from the time he started playing football in first grade. Jacobs’ dad pushed him on the field while also serving as a role model and “hero” off of it. And Jacobs lived by the lessons his father imparted. It wasn’t just talk.

Jacobs was an Oregon fan, too. He said that as a kid, he loved watching Marcus Mariota and company whenever they’d dazzle on national television — which was often. When he first arrived in Eugene, Jacobs spoke about the oddity of being an Oregon fan surrounded by Ohio State fans.

That game between the Buckeyes and Ducks on Oct. 12 — circled over and over again on the calendars of many college football fans — should bring back some of those emotions for Jacobs, who also took an official visit to Columbus as a high schooler.

One thing is for certain: Jacobs and Bassa say they welcome what will be a steep challenge against a high-powered Ohio State offense. And they give the impression they’re built for it, physically and mentally.

“Really smart, really intelligent guy,” Bassa said of Jacobs. “Sideline to sideline backer. I love having him in my room and I love playing next to him. Me and him outside of the facility hang out a lot and have become really close. Going out to eat, stuff like that. Building that type of bond.”

With health no longer a pressing concern, Jacobs can focus on deepening that bond with teammates like Bassa and improving on the field where coaches see fit. Pad level is something Oregon linebackers coach Brian Michalowski noted as a point of emphasis for Jacobs this fall.

But it is the friendships and joy this team provides — amid all the hype and expectations — that Jacobs seems to value most. Particularly after clearing the mental hurdles of his prior injury.

“Just coming in every day, laughing in the locker room,” Jacobs said. “Coming in, we know we have to work every day, but it doesn’t seem like work. Everybody is in the locker room laughing and connecting with one another. One of our biggest pillars is connection, and I feel like we’re really connecting. Just being brothers.”

— Ryan Clarke covers the Oregon Ducks and Big Ten Conference for The Oregonian and co-hosts the Soccer Made in Portland and Ducks Confidential podcasts. He can be reached at rclarke@oregonian.com or @RyanTClarke.

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