Matthew Bedford injury update: Dan Lanning casts doubt on Oregon OL's status for season opener

Oregon offensive guard Matthew Bedford suffered a knee injury earlier this month during Ducks fall camp, and his status for the season opener is still up in the air.

Head coach Dan Lanning has been forced to make some changes along the offensive line ahead of the season opener against Idaho on Saturday. He updated Bedford’s injury timeline after practice on Wednesday. Good news for the Ducks is — he was able to get back on the practice field this week.

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Lanning originally projected the injury to hold out Bedford for multiple weeks, but he was suited up at practice with what appears to be a wrap on his right knee.

“He’s able to move around,” Lanning told reporters. “But I don’t know that he’ll be able to help us in game one or not. We’ll see what it looks like. We’ll continue to assess it.”

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Bedford, a transfer from Indiana, started 39 of 41 career games with the Hoosiers between 2020 and 2023. That included 11 of 12 games this past season when the former Honorable Mention All-Big Ten guard was coming off of a knee injury the year prior.

In the meantime, center Iapani Laloulu has slid into the right guard spot, while left guard Marcus Harper II and walk-on Charlie Pickard have been received snaps at center over the past couple of weeks. However, Lanning did not name a starter at the center position on Wednesday.

“Yeah, we’ll see on Saturday,” Lanning said. “There’s a lot of guys that I think can play winning football. You guys want to know every single starter. For me, it’s about how many guys can play winning football for us, and you can see more than one guy in those situations.”

Oregon will have to move forward with the players they have available as they take on an Idaho The Vandals squad that finish 9-4 in 2023, seeing them advance to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs.

The status of Bedford’s availability for Week 2 against Boise State and beyond are also in question, but having him back on the field ahead of the season opener is a good sign nonetheless.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET live on the Big Ten Network.