Going into the season, not many people were talking about Oregon’s running game. All the attention was on the team’s transfer portal additions such as quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore.
Junior running back Jordan James seemed overshadowed in his first two seasons while playing behind Bucky Irving, who is now in the NFL. This year, James stepped into a bigger role as the Ducks’ lead running back and nobody has stood in his way.
Before the season, James was asked if he thought the country was talking about the Ducks’ running backs enough.
“Not really. I’m not gonna lie, I feel like they’re not talking about us enough, but you know, but we don’t care about that. We’re gonna show them Saturday,” he said.
In the first two months of the season, Jordan James has lived up to that statement and thensome. He’s rushed for 800 yards on 136 carries and eight touchdowns, along with recording 90 receiving yards on 13 receptions.
Against Illinois, James recorded 83 rushing yards and 17 receiving yards. The week before that at Purdue, James thought he scored a touchdown on back-to-back plays, but each play was called back. On the third try, he plunged his way into the endzone to finally put points on the board. James recorded 50 rushing yards and two touchdowns that night.
The most explosive performance from Jordan James came in Week 6 during the Friday night showdown at Autzen Stadium against Michigan State. He rushed for 166 yards including a 41-yard run and one touchdown.
“I’ve been waiting to break loose. A 20-plus-yard run. So you know, it felt good getting my knees up and getting up out of there,” James said. “My stats are just a reflection of their work up front, so [the offensive line] did a hell of a job, and it showed.”
After Oregon’s most thrilling win in Week 7 against then No. 2 ranked Ohio State, Head Coach Dan Lanning said, “We talked all week with our players about taking jabs. It’s not about throwing haymakers, it’s about being accurate and precise with jabs.”
Jordan James was a perfect example of this in that game.
One thing Lanning preaches more often than anything else is “We are not satisfied,” and “We are not done.”
This contagious mindset has been spread throughout the entire Oregon football team. When Jordan James was asked if he felt the team was playing up to their standard, he said, “There’s always room for improvement, you know, we have a lot to improve, but we’ve been getting after it at practice.”
As Oregon travels to “The Big House” at 8-0 to face the defending national champions, the Michigan Wolverines, there is no ceiling for Jordan James and the Ducks’ offense as they continue at full gas to make this season one to remember.