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Dan Lanning provides injury updates on Byron Cardwell, Justin Flowe

Jarrid Denneyby:Jarrid Denney•09/17/22•

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(Photo by Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Oregon’s injury issues along the offensive line were apparent in the hours leading up to Saturday’s showdown with BYU.

But it came as a surprise to many that two of the Ducks’ star players, linebacker Justin Flowe and running back Byron Cardwell, did not see the field during the win in Eugene. Flowe started at Mac linebacker for Oregon during its first two games, and Cardwell has been a key piece of the running game early in the season.

When asked about the status of each player during his post-game press conference, Lanning provided an update that will come as a relief to many Oregon fans.

“Really, Byron was day-to-day throughout practice this past week,” Lanning said. “He test himself, wanted to be able to push, on Thursday. He’s a warrior. He came out and went through warmups and I think it was still lingering. You could see he wasn’t 100 percent. We didn’t want to jeopardize his health.

“If we had asked Byron, I promise you he would have (played). That’s a great example of his character and what he’s willing to do for this team. That being said, we don’t want to put our guys in a position where they’re not going to be healthy.”

With Cardwell out, Oregon continued to divvy up their carries, just as they have all season. Bucky Irving led the Ducks with 97 yards on 14 carries, and Noah Whittington ran for 66 yards on 13 carries. Jordan James (33 yards, six carries) and Sean Dollars (three yards, one carry) also contributed.

Flowe was sidelined for the Ducks after playing 14 snaps in Week 2, which was similar to the playing time of most of Oregon’s defensive starters during the blowout win. But Flowe was not seen at practice on Tuesday.

Lanning said the redshirt freshman linebacker’s situation was similar to that of Cardwell’s.

“Really the same thing for Justin. If we had to push Justin, he was able to go through warmups today,” Lanning said. “He could have definitely contributed today and helped us.”

Jackson LaDuke, Keith Brown, and Jeffrey Bassa all saw significant playing time at linebacker on Saturday with Flowe out.

Receiver Seven McGee was on the field frequently for punt return and kick return duties, but didn’t get many offensive snaps. McGee picked up a slight injury last week but practiced during the week.

Lanning said that Oregon’s offensive personnel packages played a large part in McGee’s lack of playing time. He was complimentary of the sophomore’s mentality.

“Seven was able to go for us at times, but we ran a lot of 12 personnel. We were in some personnel groups that didn’t always put him on the field,” Lanning said. “His unselfishness — it’s a great example of Seven saying, ‘I don’t care how we do it, I just want to win the game.'”

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