Dan Lanning evaluates the play of receivers Troy Franklin, Dont'e Thornton

Troy Franklin and Dont’e Thornton have been Bo Nix‘s two most reliable wide receivers through two games this season. With both making the most out of their true sophomore season, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning praised the two young wideouts for the improvements made over the offseason.

“I think it’s a great example of when you work really hard and the opportunity comes your way and presents itself, things go well,” Lanning said. “And both those guys, we were able to show a play today to our players that happened in practice. And then the exact same play happened in the game on Saturday. And I think that’s really the big emphasis.

“Troy ran a curl route on third down, and was able to convert it we’re able to go back to practice for the exact same coverage versus that route in practice, and then it carried over there to the game. So when you’re able to replicate and play the game, really before you play the game in practice, I think things like that will happen out there on the field. And you know, this past Saturday was Troy. He was able to do a lot of touches based on the looks that we were getting. Next Saturday might be somebody else, but both those guys did a good job in the game.”

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Through two games, the two wideouts have combined for 198 of Nix’s 450 yards through the air this season.

On pace for respective breakout seasons, the two have come a long way from their limited role in the Ducks’ offense in 2021. As true freshmen, Franklin and Thornton combined for 384 yards and four touchdowns – both are well on pace to exceed those numbers in 2022.

Franklin and Thornton have yet another chance to make a splash this weekend against No. 12 BYU travels to Eugene to battle the No. 25 Ducks in one of the most anticipated games of college football’s Week 3 slate.