Oregon

Checking in with the Oregon Ducks WR room ahead of the 2025 season

Published

8 months ago

July 18, 2025

Checking in with the Oregon Ducks WR room ahead of the 2025 season

We are less than 50 days away from the start of the 2025 college football season, and fewer than two weeks stand between us and the beginning of the Oregon Ducks’ fall camp getting off the ground in Eugene. While coaches and players wrap up their final couple of offseason weeks, we’re ready to jump back into things and take a deep dive into what’s set to take place at Autzen Stadium this year.

The Ducks are coming off of an incredible season that saw a 12-0 regular season, a Big Ten Championship, and the No. 1 seed in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. The offseason brought significant roster turnover as Oregon sent a program record 10 players into the 2025 NFL draft; however, those players have been replaced by a young yet incredibly talented group of players ready to uphold the standard in Eugene.

Will they be able to complete the job? Expectations are high, but it won’t be an easy task.

Over the next few weeks, many questions will be asked, and a significant number of them will be answered. Once we get a look at things during fall camp, we will be able to predict more accurately how things shape up. However, we already have our depth chart projections for offense and defense from spring. As we continue our preview of the 2025 season, leading up to the kick-off vs. Montana State on August 30, let’s take a deep dive, position by position.

Previous Position Previews

Now let’s take a closer look at the running backs as we prepare for fall camp.

Overall Oregon Ducks WR Check-In

There are numerous positions on Oregon’s roster where talent is abundant, but experience is lacking. That may be no more true than at the WR spot. After losing both Tez Johnson and Traeshon Holden to the NFL, the Ducks were expecting to go into the 2025 season with Evan Stewart leading a young group of pass-catchers into the new season.

Then Stewart suffered an offseason knee injury, putting his 2025 campaign in doubt. Now the Ducks will have to rely on a young group of players with a lot of talent, but very minimal game experience. That group contains high-upside guys like Dakorien Moore, Jeremiah McClellan, Jurrion Dickey, Justius Lowe, and Kyler Kasper, all of whom could be potential gamebreakers. At this point, however, we need to see it before we can accurately project just how good the Ducks’ WR room is going to be this season.

Departing Oregon Ducks Wide Receivers

Tez Johnson

Career Stats: 310 catches, 3,889 yards, 28 TD

Although he was at Oregon for just two seasons, Tez Johnson quickly became the heart and soul of the Oregon program. He had wanted to be a Duck for a long time, and when his adopted brother, Bo Nix, came to Eugene, Johnson followed. The Ducks are thankful he did just that. He turned from a possession receiver to WR1 in his senior season, where he flourished. In his time as a Duck, Johnson had 169 catches for 2,080 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Traeshon Holden

Career Stats: 128 catches, 1,740 yards, 18 TD

Holden turned into a solid No. 2 receiver in 2024 and had a career-high of 45 catches, 718 yards, and added five more touchdowns to his resume. As a big-bodied receiver, Holden was a great complement to both Troy Franklin and Tez Johnson during his time in Eugene.

Returning Oregon Ducks Wide Receivers

Evan Stewart (Injured)

Career Stats: 139 catches, 1,776 yards, 11 TD

Going into the 2025 season, Stewart was projected to be the No. 1 WR for Oregon and among the top pass-catchers in the nation. However, an offseason knee injury derailed that, and now there are questions about when he will return, if at all, this season. We will continue to monitor the recovery timeline, but it seems more likely than not that Stewart will take a medical redshirt this season and instead focus on returning to the field in 2026.

Justius Lowe

Career Stats: 21 catches, 201 yards, 1 TD

Lowe probably would have been a starter on most teams, but most teams didn’t have the receivers Oregon had last season. When he finally got his chance, Lowe delivered. He’ll have plenty of opportunities in 2025, as we expect his workload to be significantly heavier than in years past, especially with Stewart sidelined. If he can be a reliable receiver, it will only help out guys such as Dakorien Moore and Jeremiah McClellan to get into single coverage.

Jeremiah McClellan

Career Stats: 3 catches, 24 yards

McClellan was among the top receivers in the Class of 2024 and was mainly on the scout team last season. But in 2025, he should see the field regularly; that’s how highly the Oregon coaching staff thinks of him. At 6 feet and 190 pounds, he has the chance to develop into a dynamic player for the program. The only question is how quickly he achieves that.

Kyler Kasper

Career Stats: 4 catches, 26 yards

It seems as if Kasper has been in Eugene for a long time. He was just 17 when he saw the field for the first time. Now, as a redshirt junior, the 6-foot-6, 210-pounder should have a more prominent role within the offense. You can’t teach height at the receiver position.

Jurrion Dickey

Career Stats: 2 catches, 14 yards

Dickey came into the Oregon program as one of the top receivers in the Class of 2023, but injuries slowed his progress, and he has been unable to crack the depth chart so far in his career. But in 2025, Dickey has as good of an opportunity as ever to show why he was a 5-star recruit and become an offensive weapon for the Ducks.

Gary Bryant Jr.

Career Stats: 85 catches, 1099 yards, 11 TDs

Bryant returns for one more year in Eugene after being sidelined with an injury for the better part of the 2024 season. He will be a valuable veteran in the WR room, but it remains to be seen whether or not he will be able to establish a prominent role amidst all of the talent around him.

Dillon Gresham

Career Stats: None

Dillon Gresham was one of the few blue-chip receivers that Oregon brought in as a member of the 2024 class, and while he redshirted last year, he showed in the spring game how dynamic of a receiver he can be. It may be tough for him to earn a top spot in the offense, but he is one of the many promising, young pass-catchers on the roster.

Jack Ressler

Career Stats: None

Ressler was another member of Oregon’s 2024 class who redshirted as a freshman and will be looking to work his way up in the depth chart this season.

Incoming Oregon Ducks Wide Receivers

Dakorien Moore

Career Stats: None

Expectations are high for 5-star WR Dakorien Moore, who was the No. 1 rated receiver in the 2025 class and one of the top-ranked recruits in Oregon history. With Evan Stewart sidelined for the foreseeable future, some extra weight is being placed on the freshman’s shoulders to step up and be “the guy” in Oregon’s offense. That may be unfair to ask of a player with no college experience, but based on everything we’re hearing and what we saw at the spring game, he should be up to the task.

Malik Benson

Career Stats: 38 catches, 473 yards, 2 TD

With all the inexperience currently on the roster, it was smart to explore the transfer portal and secure a receiver like Malik Benson. He had a nice season for a poor Florida State team with 25 catches, 311 yards, and a touchdown. He’ll most likely be WR2 or WR3 behind Moore, and with a better quarterback and players around him, Benson’s numbers should rise dramatically.

Cooper Perry

Career Stats: None

Cooper Perry is a blue-chip player in the 2025 class who was rated as the No. 20 WR in the nation. He garnered a lot of positive attention this spring for his ability to make contested catches over the middle, but he will likely redshirt in 2025 before entering the mix in 2026.

Predicting Oregon Ducks Starting Wide Receivers

Dakorien Moore
Jeremiah McClellan
Justius Lowe

The injury to Evan Stewart certainly threw a wrench in Oregon’s starting wide receiver plans this year. What was once envisioned as a trio of Stewart, Moore, and either Lowe or McClellan has now shifted. Moore, McClellan, and Lowe are the most likely candidates to take over as starters, all of whom have minimal to no experience in actual gameplay. Other guys like Jurrion Dickey, Kyler Kasper, Malik Benson, and Gary Bryant will likely get a lot of reps, but my best bet is that trio of guys at the top.

Overall Oregon Ducks WR Outlook

While the outlook for Oregon’s WR group is somewhat uncertain going into the 2025 season, there’s hope and a belief that the players on the roster will flourish with the opportunity and break out. If that’s the case, then the Ducks could easily have one of the best receiver groups in the nation going into the 2026 season. On top of that, the Ducks’ WR recruiting has remained elite under new receiver coach Ross Douglas, who has pulled in 4-star Jalen Lott (No. 33 nationally) and 4-star Messiah Hampton (No. 99 nationally) in this class. On top of that, the Ducks will finally bring in 5-star WR Gatlin Bair next year after his LDS mission comes to a close. Long story short, Oregon’s WR group is loaded with talent; we need to see it play out on the field.

Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.

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Oregon

Merkley Announces Additional Oregon Town Halls April 2-4

Published

9 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

Merkley Announces Additional Oregon Town Halls April 2-4

Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley announced today he will hold seven in-person town halls for Oregonians in Gilliam, Sherman, Klamath, Lake, Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties between Thursday, April 2 and Saturday, April 4. These events follow previously announced town halls between Monday, March 30 and Wednesday, April 1. “I’m looking forward to again visiting wonderful communities […]

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Oregon

Oregon Supreme Court overturns JonBenét Ramsey photographer conviction

Published

21 hours ago

March 26, 2026

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Oregon Supreme Court overturns JonBenét Ramsey photographer conviction

The Oregon Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a Lane County man who once photographed child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey and was convicted in 2021 on several child pornography charges.

Randall DeWitt Simons, 73, of Oakridge, was charged in 2019 with 15 counts of first-degree encouraging child sex abuse. He was later convicted on every count and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Simons was first arrested after authorities began investigating a report from a restaurant in Oakridge that someone had been using the restaurant’s Wi-Fi to download inappropriate and concerning images.

Law enforcement officers directed the business to track, log, and report all of the user’s internet activity to the investigating officer for more than a year, without a warrant.

Police tracked the computer’s IP address from the restaurant’s Wi-Fi system, which led officers to a man who lived near the restaurant and had given Simons a computer, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Lane County Circuit Court. Investigators obtained a warrant to search the laptop in Simon’s home, relying on information they had collected over time. He was subsequently arrested.

On March 26, the court ruled warrantless internet surveillance on public Wi-Fi violates privacy.

In an opinion written by Justice Bronson D. James, the court held that the Oregon Constitution recognizes people have a right to privacy in their internet browsing activities and the right is not extinguished when they use a publicly accessible wireless network. It’s even true in cases where that access is conditioned on a person accepting a terms-of-service agreement that says a provider may monitor activity and cooperate with law enforcement, James wrote.

During criminal proceedings in the Lane County Circuit Court, Simons moved to controvert the warrant and suppress the evidence obtained by police, arguing the business was a “state actor for purposes of Article I, section 9, and that its year-long warrantless surveillance was an unconstitutional, warrantless search attributable to the state,” the Supreme Court opinion said.

The Circuit Court denied Simon’s motion. The Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision in part and stated Simons had no cognizable privacy interest in his internet activities performed on a third-party network.

The Oregon Supreme Court rejected the state’s argument.

“The mere fact that a person accesses the internet through a public network does not eliminate their Article I, section 9, right to privacy in their online activities,” according to James. “Even when access is expressly conditioned on a user’s acceptance of terms-of-service provisions purporting to alert the user that the provider may monitor activity and cooperate with law enforcement.”

Justice K. Bushong suggested in a partial dissent the Court should reconsider its approach in a future case to what constitutes a “search” under the Oregon Constitution. The court’s decision reverses the Court of Appeals and sends the case back to the Lane County Circuit Court for further proceedings.

Simons has maintained his innocence since he was arrested in 2019.

Simons had been a photographer for 6-year-old Colorado beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey a few months before her still-unsolved 1996 murder, the Associated Press reported in 1998.

In October 1998, Simons was arrested on a charge of indecent exposure in Lincoln County, Colorado. According to the book “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town” by Lawrence Schiller, Simons was arrested in 1998 for allegedly walking nude down a residential street in the small town of Genoa, Colorado. Simons allegedly offered to the arresting deputy unprovoked, “I didn’t kill JonBenét.”

Haleigh Kochanski is a breaking news and public safety reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at HKochanski@gannett.com.

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Umatilla, Morrow counties establish Young Republicans of Oregon chapter – East Oregonian

Published

1 day ago

March 26, 2026

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Umatilla, Morrow counties establish Young Republicans of Oregon chapter

Published 8:00 pm Wednesday, March 25, 2026

IRRIGON — Young Republicans living in Umatilla and Morrow counties now can join a local chapter of the statewide Young Republicans of Oregon organization.

The Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans will advance Republican values and leadership in young residents through political training, networking opportunities and connection to Republican leaders. The group is focused on young adults, generally attracting college-aged people, though it includes people aged 18 to 40.

The five Young Republicans of Oregon members living in Umatilla and Morrow counties elected three officers to lead their new chapter. Irrigon’s Evan Purves was elected chair, with Connor Roberts of Hermiston as his vice chair and Kaelyn Moore of Milton-Freewater serving as secretary.

“I am super grateful for this opportunity to lead my neighbors,” Purves said. “It’s going to be really fun. We have some good events planned.”

Purves, 19, is a student at Blue Mountain Community College who eventually hopes to pursue a four-year degree in public administration. He initially became interested in the Young Republicans during an internship with Oregon state Rep. Greg Smith, of Heppner. He said it was an experience that showed him how the legislature works.

The internship also inspired him to step into a leadership role with the Young Republicans and help establish a local chapter of the organization. The newest chapter of the Young Republicans of Oregon, which was announced Monday, March 23, has been in the works since November 2025.

The Young Republicans of Oregon State Chair, Tanner Elliott, said the new chapter — the fourth chapter statewide — indicates momentum for conservative values.

“In less than a year, we’ve continued expanding because young conservatives are stepping up and getting involved in their communities,” Elliott said. “I want to congratulate the chapter’s leadership team on their election and especially commend their new chair Evan Purves for taking on this role. I’m confident this group will make a meaningful impact in Eastern Oregon and help drive our organization forward.”

Future plans in Umatilla, Morrow counties

The leadership team of UMYR already is making efforts to effect change.

In early May, Purves said, Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans will host a door knocking campaign in support of Smith’s reelection campaign. There also will be an official kickoff event the same weekend celebrating the new chapter and outlining priorities for the future.

“If there’s anything that we might struggle with is membership,” he said. “The recruiting part is us going out there and hosting events and socials, having opportunities for people to come out and do something fun that anybody’s invited to.”

Regarding other priorities, voter engagement is important to Purves,

“Even though we live in a big conservative area, there’s not a lot of politically engaged people, especially in my generation,” he said. “We want to get them involved.”

He said one of his concerns is businesses leaving the state due to policies that aren’t friendly to corporations, a common issue raised by Republican lawmakers. The decisions being made impact every community, he said, and he wants to have a say in what the leaders are doing.

“These bills affect all of us,” he said. “It’s just important to get people involved and get people to vote and be a part of it.”

People interested in updates on the efforts of the Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans can follow the group on Facebook or Instagram or become a member at yro.gop.

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