Josh Conerly Jr. got the best birthday present on Saturday.

On the Ducks’ first possession of the game against Colorado, the freshman offensive lineman was on the receiving end of a Bo Nix touchdown pass. You read that correctly. Oregon offensive coordiantor Kenny Dillingham had the perfect play design for a first-and-goal from the Colorado 5 — an unbalanced line out of the jumbo package, a run fake, and then a throw back to Conerly standing all alone in the endzone.

The 6-foot-4 lineman was a consensus 5-star recruit and top-35 prospect nationally out of the 2022 recruiting class. He was the consensus top recruit in Washington and the 15th-ranked recruit in the industry-generated 247 Composite. Oregon beat out USC for his services, closing hard on a recruitment that stretched into April.

Conerly had played about 100 offensive snaps heading into Saturday’s game, mostly as a reserve offensive lineman and a utility player in Oregon’s jumbo package. The Ducks have high hopes for what he can develop into during his time in Eugene.

That might even include some more receiver!