Getting Christian Gonzalez to Eugene was a big deal for coach Dan Lanning and his Oregon Ducks.

The former Colorado corner followed his position coach, Demetrice Martin, from Boulder and finds himself with a chance to play a key role in a remade secondary this season. Gonzalez started all 12 games for the Buffs last season, finishing fifth on the team in tackles and earning an honorable mention on the All-Pac-12 teams. He started immediately as a freshman in 2020 as well.

Now at Oregon, he gives the Ducks one of the most impactful transfer defensive backs in college football.

That’s according to On3’s Mike Huguenin, who tabbed Gonzalez as the fourth-most impactful corner transfer in the country. He wrote this on Gonzalez’s game:

Oregon lost both starting corners from last season, and intra-conference transfer Christian Gonzalez could end up being the Ducks’ best defensive back this season. Gonzalez started every game the past two years for Colorado, and he followed Buffs cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin to Eugene. Gonzalez was fifth on the Buffs with 53 tackles last season; he also had five pass breakups, giving him 10 in his Colorado career. He and former national top-40 prospect Dontae Manning are the likely starting corners for a Ducks secondary that was torched often last season.

Gonzalez was targeted often last season. Gonzalez saw a target about once every eight snaps. Among Pac-12 corners with at least 300 coverage snaps last season, that was the sixth-highest clip. In the same group, he allowed the fifth-lowest reception rate when targeted, according to Pro Football Focus.

The game needs to continue growing—he is still a young corner, after all—but the tools are there.

A 6-foot-2 corner, Gonzalez has good size. With thin depth behind the top-line corners on the two-deep, Oregon is hoping Gonzalez can live up to the hype.