Watch: Oregon football coach Dan Lanning talks after spring game
Oregon football coach Dan Lanning speaks after the Ducks’ annual spring game at Autzen Stadium in Eugene.
The Oregon football offensive line is rarely shy about what they define as their standard.
The group has achieved much: Back-to-back seasons as a Joe Moore Award finalist — given annually to the nation’s best offensive line — two NFL Draft picks and another two starters receiving rookie minicamp invites from April and a Rimington Award winner at center in Jackson Powers-Johnson in 2023.
Alex Harkey, a transfer from Texas State who is projected to start at tackle for the Ducks, saw what tackles Josh Conerly Jr. and Ajani Cornelius did over the last few seasons and set lofty standards for himself for 2025.
“They set the standard,” Harkey said after Oregon’s spring game April 26. “Watching film, it was good ball, but they brought me in to do better than that. The standard keeps rising and that’s what I would like to do.”
A fifth-year senior from Austin, Texas, Harkey started his collegiate career as a tight end at Tyler Junior College in Texas before moving over to the offensive line. He played one season at Colorado in 2022 before transferring closer to home at Texas State, where he really came into his own in 2024.
Harkey has one year of eligibility left and plans to make it count at Oregon, where his connection with offensive line coach A’lique Terry has already grown.
“It’s what he can bring to me as a player,” Harkey said of Terry. “Not even like development, but like the juice he brings, it turns me up. That’s what it needs to do for me mentally to get to where I need to get.”
Though Terry knew what the Ducks were getting in Harkey on tape, he said he was surprised at his nimbleness and size when the 6-foot-6, 335-pound tackle finally arrived on campus.
Harkey is one of several transfers, along with guard Emmanuel Pregnon (USC) and tackle Isaiah World (Nevada), who are being asked to fill in holes left by four departing starters on the offensive line from 2024.
Conerly and Cornelius served as bookends at left and right tackle from 2023 to 2024 and were each drafted for their strong play in Eugene. Guards Marcus Harper II and Nishad Strother weren’t drafted but will compete at NFL rookie minicamps throughout the spring to hopefully make an NFL roster in the fall.
The only returning starter, center Iapani Laloulu, will be joined by Pregnon, World, Harkey and a slew of young talent to replace one of the best offensive lines in college football.
The trio of transfers hopes to bring experience to a room that desperately needs it heading into the 2025-26 season. Though Harkey is working on his development to eventually make a run at the NFL Draft in 2026, right now he’s focused on building rapport with his fellow teammates and enforcing his play style and mentality on opponents.
“You can run behind me, that’s what I want,” Harkey said. “That’s what I want my identity to be at the end of the day. I’ll run through someone’s face.”
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.
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EUGENE—As the women’s 100-meter hurdles started on Saturday at the NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships, Oregon’s Aaliyah McCormick found herself with a clear path to victory.
Florida’s Habiba Harris, the NCAA leader this spring in the event, was not among the finalists. Then as the race began, UCLA’s Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck — the No. 2 runner in the country this season — crashed into the first hurdle and fell to the ground.
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OPB reporters are covering “No Kings” protests in Portland, Newberg and Hillsboro on Saturday, and we will also be working with news partners to provide coverage from across the Pacific Northwest. Watch this story for live updates throughout the day.
Opponents of President Donald Trump’s administration are set to rally in cities and towns across the U.S. during a military parade in Washington, D.C., Saturday to mark the Army’s 250th anniversary, which coincides with Trump’s birthday.
Organizers say these “No Kings” protests are set to counter what they are calling Trump’s plans to feed his ego on his 79th birthday and Flag Day.
In Oregon, more than 50 “No Kings” demonstrations are scheduled, starting as early as 5:30 a.m. Washington state organizers have scheduled more than 80.
Nationwide, protests are expected in more than 2,000 locations, according to organizers.
These “No Kings” gatherings come after days of nationwide protests against federal immigration raids, including in Portland, in Spokane, and in Los Angeles — where Trump’s deployment of the National Guard further agitated his opponents.
The Trump administration has said the raids are necessary for removing “violent criminal illegal immigrants from communities.”
The “No Kings” protests are expected to be the largest anti-Trump demonstrations in the Pacific Northwest since the “Hands Off” rallies held more than two months ago.
FILE: Thousands of protesters descended on Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland, Ore., April 5, 2025, as part of a nationwide “Hands Off” demonstration. Troy Brynelson / OPB
Rochester, N.Y, — Wide receiver Messiah Hampton, the top-ranked football prospect in New York in the Class of 2026, has committed to Oregon over Syracuse.
The four-star recruit announced his commitment in Rochester on Friday afternoon, nearly one week after his final visits to Syracuse and Oregon.
Hampton, who plays for Rochester’s James Monroe High School, had his seven finalists pictured on a wheel and spun it, with the wheel ultimately designed to land on Oregon.
The announcement was live-streamed by recruiting website On3.com and attended by local television reporters.
In remarks on the livestream, Hampton said it was Oregon wide receivers coach Ross Douglas Sr. that was the deciding factor for the Ducks.
Douglas coached last year at Syracuse before taking a job with Oregon.
“Couch Douglas, he came from Syracuse,” Hampton said. “We built a great bond.”
Hampton is one of two highly-coveted 2026 wide receivers Syracuse is pursuing, along with five-star recruit Calvin Russell, who is expected to make his college decision on July 5.
A 6-foot-1, 180-pound receiver, Hampton is ranked just outside the top-100 players nationally, according to 247Sports.com.
Syracuse and Oregon were considered by recruiting experts to be the top-two teams on Hampton’s list thanks to Douglas.
The other schools he listed as finalists included Michigan, Penn State, Miami, Georgia and Ohio State.
Hampton can formally sign an agreement to play for Oregon in December.
Syracuse’s 2026 recruiting class is currently ranked No. 24 in the country by 247 Sports. That places the Orange seventh in the ACC.
Only 15 schools in the country have more players ranked as four-star prospects than the Orange’s four.
Syracuse and Fran Brown were trying to land New York’s top recruit for the second straight year.
Syracuse freshman defensive lineman Quante Gillians finished as the top-ranked prospect in 2025 in the 247 rankings, the first time that happened in more than 15 years.
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