Dan Lanning pressed for comment on Tez Johnson injury recovery post

The Oregon Ducks have been without star wide receiver Tez Johnson for the last two games as he’s battled injury. So, when he posted to social media a picture of himself and the words “He’s back,” it got Ducks fans excited.

At his press conference on Wednesday, head coach Dan Lanning was pressed about Johnson’s status. However, he insisted that he doesn’t talk about injured players. So, everyone would have to wait and see if he made his way onto the field on Saturday.

“Yeah, I’m not gonna talk about injuries,” Lanning said. “You guys will see them on the field when they’re ready to go.”

This season, Johnson has become a massive weapon for quarterback Dillon Gabriel. He leads the Ducks with 64 catches for 649 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s despite missing the Maryland and Wisconsin games entirely after leaving the Michigan game early with his shoulder injury. He only had one catch in the game against Michigan.

In the win over Maryland, the Ducks put up 39 points. That was a good performance where the Ducks didn’t seem to miss Johnson. However, the offense did struggle on offense the week after that with just 16 points in the win over Wisconsin. In that time, Evan Stewart has largely stepped up in Johnson’s absence. He has 16 receptions for 147 yards and a touchdown in those two games.

In early November, Lanning said, “We’re going to put player safety first. Tez will be down, certainly, right now in the near future but I do anticipate us getting Tez back here soon.” While that was overall positive, it was also vague so getting the seemingly positive post to social media from Johnson himself was exciting.

This is Johnson’s second season at Oregon. A transfer from Troy, Johnson put up massive numbers last season. In 2023, he played in 14 games and had 86 receptions for 1,182 yards and 10 touchdowns. That came with Bo Nix and not Dillon Gabriel at quarterback, though he clearly has had good chemistry with both of his quarterbacks at Oregon.

At 11-0, Oregon only has one regular season game remaining. That will come on November 30th when the Ducks host rival Washington. After that, the Ducks will have the Big Ten Championship Game and, presumably, the College Football Playoff. That’s a run that Lanning knows getting his star receiver back is going to be vital for.