Tez Johnson injury: Oregon WR shares encouraging update on recovery

No. 1 Oregon appears set to get back one of its top weapons as it heads down the stretch. Ducks receiver Tez Johnson posted a picture of himself on his Instagram story Tuesday morning with the caption: “He’s back.”

The senior is the top option for Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Despite missing two games, Tez Johnson leads the Ducks with 64 catches for 649 yards and eight touchdowns.

Johnson has been out since Nov. 2 when he was injured during a win against Michigan. He caught only one pass for 11 yards in that game before suffering a shoulder injury.

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning has not provided many updates about Johnson since his injury. However, a couple of weeks back he shared that he didn’t expect Johnson to miss too much time.

“I’m gonna tell you the same thing I always tell you,” Dan Lanning said on Nov. 5. “As soon as they’re ready to go, we’ll have them out there. 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.”

Tez Johnson is in his second season at Oregon after starting his career at Troy. He transferred to the Ducks after catching 56 passes for 863 yards and four touchdowns in 2022.

Johnson exploded during his first season in Eugene, setting the Oregon single-season record for receptions with 86. He also had 1,182 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.

Despite Johnson being out, Oregon has continued to pile up wins. The Ducks beat Maryland 39-18 on Nov. 9 and held off Wisconsin for a 16-13 win this past weekend. Oregon wasn’t overly explosive against the Badgers, but getting Johnson back should certainly help with that.

The Ducks have a bye this coming weekend, before closing out the regular season against Washington on Nov. 30. The Big Ten Championship game is also only a few weeks away and Oregon would love to have Johnson available for it as the Ducks could have a rematch with Ohio State.