After helping Oregon to a 28-27 win over North Carolina and earning defensive MVP honors in the Holiday Bowl, Mase Funa had good news for coach Dan Lanning.

Funa closed out the postgame press conference by proclaiming “I’m running it back,” drawing a huge “Let’s go!” from Lanning. The edge rusher was one of the best players on the field in the Holiday Bowl, recording a team-best seven tackles, two tackles for loss, and a sack.

A 6-foot-3, 255-pound pass-rusher, Funa will be in his fifth and final season with the Ducks in 2023.

With 8.5 tackles for loss as a freshman in 2019, Funa earned Freshman All-American honors from The Athletic. He made appearances in all seven of Oregon’s games in 2020, starting six times. He produced 31 tackles and 3.5 TFLs. He started all 12 games for the Ducks in 2021 as well.

In 13 appearances this season, Funa had a career-best 32 tackles.

With DJ Johnson moving to the NFL, Funa could step into a full-time starting job on the edge next season for Oregon.