Jordan Burch injury update: Dan Lanning reveals status of Oregon star

Oregon defensive end Jordan Burch was unavailable in the Ducks’ 32-31 win over No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday. After the game, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning provided an update on Burch’s condition.

“Jordan is certainly a loss for us,” Lanning said. “You don’t replace a Jordan. He’s been unbelievable this season. But in football, it’s about the next man up. And I know Jordan’s probably sitting at home just as proud of these guys being able to do next-man-up mentality.

“We thought there might be a chance that we would be able to see him out there. We weren’t able to see him out there, but we always want to protect our players first. You talk about the year that young man’s having, I hurt for him because I know how much he wanted to be a part of this moment. But, you talk about next man up, and some guys showed up tonight.”

Oregon didn’t expect to be without Burch against the Buckeyes. The senior standout reportedly suffered the lower body injury at practice on Thursday.

Despite not playing on Saturday, Burch still boasts a team-high five sacks this season, along with 19 tackles, three pass deflections and a fumble recovery. Burch is on pace for a record year.

In the 2023 campaign, Burch played in all 14 of the Ducks’ games and made 13 starts. He finished the season with 34 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. For his efforts, he was named an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention by the league’s coaches.

Oregon missed Jordan Burch’s pressure on Saturday evening, only recording one sack and three tackles for loss against the Buckeyes. Nonetheless, players such as Matayo Uiagalelei and Derrick Harmon stepped up in Burch’s absence.

Lanning couldn’t have been happier with his team’s resiliency.

“Talk about a heavyweight fight. A heavyweight fight was this game,” Lanning said. “It was a back and forth. When you play a really good team, you have to be all battling tight decisions that could go one way or the other… We played aggressive tonight. We played to win the game, went out there and executed in critical moments.

“Again, I can’t say enough great things about that team that we just played, that’s an elite football team that we just played,” Lanning added. “They don’t have weaknesses, but our guys did just enough tonight to go to edge it out.”