Oregon's offensive coordinator open to using as many running backs as needed
When Kenny Dillingham met with local reporters after practice No. 4 of fall camp Monday evening, he was asked if he had any sense of a timeline for naming a starting quarterback, he simply curled his lip, shook his head back and forth, and said, “Nope.” Obviously, a quarterback competition is going to dominate the conversation for a football team this close to the season, but the Oregon offensive coordinator is quick to point out the Ducks are still early in this process of not just figuring out who will be where at quarterback, but who will be where around the rest of the offensive two-deep.
“We haven’t played football yet,” he said with a smile. “We’ve played 7-on-7 a lot, though.”
The Ducks have been in shell for two days, not yet to full pads. Separation in the quarterback competition will “take what it takes,” Dillingham said. The same can apply to other spots.
And Oregon sure has an interesting collection of running backs to try and order over the next three weeks.
Byron Cardwell, a former blue-chip recruit and second-year man, is widely projected to win the starting job. But he’s joined in the room by Sean Dollars, another former blue-chip recruit healthy again after missing 2021, and by Jordan James, another—you guessed it—former blue-chip recruit.
The Ducks also went out into the transfer portal and nabbed former Western Kentucky tailback Noah Whittington and former Minnesota back Mar’Keise Irving. The former ran for 617 yards (6.1 per carry) and two scores last season. The latter ran for 699 yards (5.3 per) and four scores.
Plenty of talent. Plenty of potential. How does Dillingham go about paring it down?
“We’ve used five before,” Dillingham said when asked about the backfield. “We’ve had four before all be impact players for us.”
So, maybe there doesn’t need to be any paring down?
Auburn had four running backs log at least 50 carries when Dillingham was there in 2019. (That hasn’t happened in Eugene in over a decade, for context.) When Dillingham was at Memphis in 2018, the Tigers had a pair of tailbacks both go over 1,000 rushing yards while Tony Pollard—a third running back—had 552 rushing yards and 458 receiving yards.
“I’m not saying that’s going to happen, I’m just saying we’re going to use whatever we’ve got, whatever our talent is that way we’re fresh in the fourth quarter,” Dillingham said.
At the end of the day, it comes down to consistency and efficiency. For the quarterback battle, for the running back rotation, for the wideout group, for any position battle it’ll be about who can consistently produce explosives while limiting the negatives.
“We chart explosives, negatives, consistent plays for us,” Dillingham said. “We chart almost every measurable possible—MAs, penalties—and we’re just trying to look for some consistency.
“It’s not about total touches for me, it’s about yards per carry and it’s about explosive plays. We want to keep guys fresh that way at the end of the game we have fresh legs. So, the more running backs you have, the better.”