Dan Lanning addresses the role of Kenyon Sadiq moving forward

Kenyon Sadiq is one of several tight ends making an impact on the offense for Oregon. Still, Dan Lanning wants to highlight all three of them as a trio rather than one or two over the others.

Lanning received a question about the Ducks’ use of Sadiq this season during a press conference this week. While he likes how they’ve employed the sophomore, he also doesn’t want to take anything away from the efforts from their seniors in Terrance Ferguson, who’s in his fourth year, or Patrick Herbert, who’s in his sixth collegiate season.

“I love the way that we’re utilizing Kenyon right now but I also love the way that we’re utilizing Pat and Terrance,” said Lanning.

Through four games this season, Sadiq is Oregon’s fifth-leading receiver. He has 11 catches for 112 yards, including two games with four receptions apiece. While not having a touchdown yet, those statistics still double, or even more as far as yardage, his production as a freshman last fall through just a third of this one.

Even so, Ferguson and Herbert are having their impact on the unit as well.

Ferguson is tied for third in receiving, first among the tight ends, with 14 catches for 162 yards. That has him on pace for a career-best season with the Ducks. Herbert then has six receptions for 42 yards of his own. He, as the reporter noted in his question, also provides protection in the form of blocking for Oregon.

Each tight end for the Ducks has their own aspects to their games while being quality overall at the position. That makes using Sadiq, Ferguson, and Hebert as a focus in the game plan for Lanning.

“Yeah, every one of our tight ends bring a lot of different strengths,” said Lanning. “When you have multiple guys that can do multiple things, I think it’s really important that you, you know, tap into those. It also makes it really hard for a defense to hone in on what a guy can do.”