Oregon's Bradyn Swinson bouncing back after tearing meniscus against Ohio State
Bradyn Swinson got off to an incredibly bright start this season.
Oregon’s freshman edge rusher was sensational in Week 1 against Fresno State and delivered another strong performance in an upset win over Ohio State a week later.
But he missed the next three games due to an undisclosed injury.
He made his long-awaited return to the Ducks against Cal last week and contributed in a major way. On Tuesday, Swinson revealed what happened, and why he was sidelined for so long.
“My injury that I came back from, I tore my lateral meniscus,” Swinson said. “It happened in the third quarter (of the Ohio State game) and I remember feeling it. But then I just played through it; you know, the urgency of being in the game, you’re not really worried about that.
“You’re just trying to get the job done for your team and focused on being 1-0 every week.”
Swinson said he had surgery to repair his knee two days after the Ohio State game. He said he tore “just a piece” of his lateral meniscus and had a scope done.
He said he feels fully confident in his knee now that he has returned.
“I want to give a big shoutout to the training staff and everybody that took care of me,” Swinson said. “They had me in there rehabbing at least two, three times a day. I feel better than it was before I even hurt it. … I’ve still got the same movement and lateral quickness, and everything I need to do is still here.”
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Swinson played 41 snaps against the Golden Bears on Friday and recorded three tackles and one pass breakup. On the penultimate play of the game, he stuffed Cal quarterback Chase Garbers on a run at the one-yard line to prevent what might have been the game-tying touchdown.
“It’s good to get him back in the lineup depth-wise,” Oregon defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter said Monday. “We probably played him a little too much, because he was a little rusty coming back. But you can see he’s got some playmaking ability coming off the edge — that last series, he made a big-time play.”
The return of Swinson, along with that of Kayvon Thibodeaux, helped Oregon’s pass-rush efforts immensely.
This week, the Ducks are hoping to get Mase Funa back along the edge, too, and could further fortify their depth at the position.
“This defense will be very dangerous this week and it’s gonna look a lot different,” Swinson said. “We’re looking to get better every week. We’ve got numbers. Everybody has their role and we’re just going to dominate this front; that’s all we’ve gotta do.
“We’ve just gotta dominate the front, show who is more physical, and continue our 1-0 process.”
