After Troy Franklin and Kris Hutson, Oregon football has questions at receiver position

After last season ended and Troy Franklin had returned from winter break, the wide receiver had a question for position coach Junior Adams.

“What do I need to get better at?” Adams recalled.

Thus began the process of breaking down Oregon’s top receiver, starting in January and carrying over into spring practices.

Franklin, who will be a junior next fall, led the Ducks with 61 catches for 891 yards and nine touchdowns in 2022.

He was named second-team all-Pac-12 and is looking to not only remain one of the elite pass catchers in the conference, but also elevate himself nationally.

“We dove into his film and his tape and we talked about some areas where he can improve at,” said Adams, Oregon’s co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. “What Troy has done between January and now, he's working on those things. He's putting himself in hard situations and difficult situations, and trying to win the routes. I always tell him it's like being a basketball player. You've got to be a walking bucket. Any time you get man (coverage), we've got to be able to go to you at any point.”

Franklin isn’t the only veteran back for the Ducks.

The mention of junior Kris Hutson, who was second on the team last season with 44 catches for 472 yards, brought a smile to Adams’ face.

"One thing about Kris, is that Kris does not shy away from competition,” Adams said. “Kris comes out every day to work and he practices hard. Kris is doing his thing. He's doing Kris. He’s making plays.”

Franklin and Hutson are the leaders among an otherwise inexperienced group of receivers, all of whom are attempting to make an impression this spring.

That includes transfers Traeshon Holden and Tez Johnson, who have been diligently working to get up to speed on life as a Duck, Adams said, with both players regularly in the building every morning by 6:30.

Holden, a junior who formerly played for Alabama, had 25 catches for 331 yards and six touchdowns for the Crimson Tide last season.

"He brings a lot of experience,” Adams said. “He’s played in big games. … He’s been really good. He's working really hard at it. He comes in and does the extra work.”

Johnson, a 5-10, 150-pound junior who starred for Troy the past two seasons, is coming off a season in which he caught 56 passes for 863 yards and four scores.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning said earlier this spring that Johnson needs to get bigger to handle the physical toll of playing receiver at the Power Five level, but in terms of ability, Adams said Johnson is improving.

"Tez is on his way to being a pretty good player,” Adams said. “The cool thing about Tez is that he's consistent. … He has good energy with him, which he brings to that room. He's been fun to work with.”

The receiver room will get a boost in the fall when freshman Jurrion Dickey arrives. The 6-3, 210-pound five-star freshman from East Palo Alto, Calif., was ranked as the No. 2 wide receiver in the 2023 recruiting class by 247Sports and the No. 13 player overall.

”When you look at his film, we're hoping that what we see on him film he can add and bring to that room,” Adams said. "Big and physical with sized and speed."

Besides Franklin and Hutson, only two other returning wide receivers caught a pass for Oregon last season as the Ducks lost five receivers off the 2022 roster, most notably Chase Cota (36 catches, 497 yards, three TDs) and Dont’e Thornton (17, 366, one).

Veteran Josh Delgado had one catch for 12 yards and then-freshman Kyler Kasper also had one catch for 4 yards before taking his redshirt season.

“The last few days he's been playing with a little more urgency,” Adams said of Kasper, a 6-5, 200-pound deep threat who came to the Ducks as a consensus four-star recruit out of Arizona. “He’s been playing big. He made a big play in the end zone (Tuesday), which I thought was good to see. He made a play in the middle of the field. He's getting better. He's also getting better in the meeting room. I think that's where it all starts at.”

Redshirt freshman Justius Lowe and freshman Ashton Cozart, who signed with the Ducks in December and enrolled early, are also in the mix this spring. 

Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: How is Oregon Ducks football receiving depth looking troy franklin