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.

MORE: Oregon Ducks Five-Star Commit Trey McNutt To Visit Ohio State Buckeyes?

MORE: Quarterback Justin Herbert Injury Update: Return to L.A. Chargers Before Regular Season?

MORE: Oregon Ducks Trenches: Three Defensive Linemen Making Impact, Impressing Coaches

MORE: Ohio State 2026 5-Star WR Commit: Oregon Ducks “Trying To Get Me To Flip”