Oregon wide receivers will “get what they earn” in terms of playing time

For all the talent Oregon has at wide receiver, Bryan McClendon has made it clear that recruiting rankings and hype don’t mean anything until his players prove they can produce.

“I say this all the time in our receiver room — talent doesn’t mean production,” McClendon, Oregon’s receivers coach, said. “I would much rather you say, ‘Hey, man, you’ve got a really, really productive room’ over ‘you guys are really, really talented.”

With fall camp winding down, McClendon is going to have some tough decisions to make as the Ducks aim to settle their depth chart for week one. On Thursday, he gave a bit of clarification on what Oregon’s receiver rotation might look like, and how it will be decided. 

Two-and-a-half deep

McClendon has an embarrassment of riches at his disposal with Oregon’s current group of receivers. No matter how the depth chart shakes out, there are going to be multiple talented players who are on the outside looking in for playing time this season. 

Ideally, McClendon said, the Ducks will settle on a “two-and-a-half deep.”

“So you can constantly rotate guys at all three, maybe even four, of those receiver positions and not have to pull from one position to give you depth at another position,” McClendon said. 

The Ducks want to play fast and they want to keep guys fresh and healthy. If they can, they would like to avoid pulling from one position to provide depth at another position. 

McClendon said that means the Ducks will probably settle on a rotation of seven to nine players. 

How the depth chart is decided

Competition from within is one of the hallmarks of Mario Cristobal’s program. 

He wants his players to push each other as much as possible each day, and that “iron sharpens iron” approach very much trickles down to the rest of his staff. It’s no different in McClendon’s receiver room. 

Oregon keeps a production chart that informs players where exactly they stack up in the hierarchy of their position at any given time. Simply put: the most productive players will play. 

“It’s really up to them; you get what you earn,” McClendon said. “I tell them, at the end of the day, this isn’t the YMCA. Everybody doesn’t play. The guys that give us the best chance to win are the guys who are going to get into the game.”

That production chart tracks a number of factors. 

“Critical errors, loafs, drops, catches, how technically sound somebody is, assignment grade,” McClendon said. “You get a technique grade. You get an effort grade. It’s a bunch of different things that you can look at.”

Where specific players fit

There are a few players who could probably fit into multiple receiver spots in Joe Moorhead’s offense. On Thursday, McClendon gave some insight into where a few Ducks might fit in Moorhead’s scheme. 

Sophomore Mycah Pittman might be Oregon’s most versatile receiver. McClendon said he is capable of playing the X, Y or Z spots effectively. 

“Mycah is smart enough to learn them all,” McClendon said. “He really is. Regardless of what it is, you always want your best guys on the field. You would like a two-deep at times, but there’s certain times that a guy might have to move from one spot to another to constantly keep your best players on the field.

“(Pittman) being smart enough to be able to handle a bunch of different positions gives you the ability to do that with him. We want to take advantage of that. … he could play a number of different spots.”

True freshman Isaiah Brevard shone during Oregon’s first scrimmage, and seems to be very much in contention for playing time this season. McLendon said Brevard fits best at the X spot. 

Josh Delgado is dynamic both at receiver and in the return game, and it sounds as though McClendon has settled in on using him for one specific role. 

“He’s still in the slot,” McClendon said of Delgado. 

Youth vs. experience

This may be the biggest question surrounding Oregon’s receiver room. How do you strike the perfect balance that gets seniors Johnny Johnson III and Jaylon Redd, and sophomores Pittman, Delgado, Isaah Crocker and Devon Williams the snaps they all deserve?

At the same time, Brevard, Troy Franklin and Dont’e Thornton are a trio of electric true freshmen who have all had stellar camps. Between those two groups, that’s nine players, which sounds like the max that McClendon will want to roll with on his two-and-a-half deep.

That doesn’t take into account the likes of Kris Hutson, Lance Wilhoite and a few others. 

Finding a way to get all of those players enough snaps is a good problem to have. Long story short, it’s all going to depend on production and consistency. 

“Everybody understands that, no matter what, we’ve got competition and it’s welcomed,” McClendon said. “The competition has made those guys play a little bit better. We just want to take advantage of how well everybody is playing. … We want to be able to put guys in where there’s no drop-off, and we feel comfortable doing that right now.”