Oregon Ducks' Running Back Da'Juan Riggs Reveals Opportunity At New Position

How He Feels When He’s Called Upon In The Passing Game:

“Coming from high school, I played receiver, so I really didn't play that much of running back, but when I played running back I just did whatever they asked. Playing wide receiver is normal to me. So, getting a playbook, it was really easy, real simple. So, them using me at wide receiver and running back is actually a humongous opportunity to show everybody I'm not just a running back. I could do more than just that.”

What Sold Him On The Position Change:

“It's not really a position change, because I still be in the (running back) room all the time. It's just that now I'm more at the eight position, something like Tez (Johnson) did. I'm more there running flat routes, corners, sometimes screen plays. It's amazing because I can do more than just run the ball from the backfield. I can create space for myself and things like that. So, I think it's good.”

How The Running Back Room Has Mentored Him Through Change:

“Everybody in that room can go from T to A to Z to X. It's not really a huge change. It's just that now that I'm able to play another position, it’s also a big opportunity. And not only am I doing it, everybody else in the room is doing it as well, but I feel like it's huge for our room, especially with running backs. I feel like running backs are overlooked.”

What He’s Learned From Makhi Hughes:

“Makhi, we call him mouse. He don’t really talk a lot. But my weakness right now is pass protection. I went to Memphis, drill over and over and over again. I just kept losing, kept losing, kept losing. And Makhi, after practice, he seen me over there striking the bags, and he came to me. He was telling me specific drills to do, to get my hands right, get my feet in the right place," Riggs said.

"Makhi, he don't talk a lot, but when he talks, it means something. So, when he told me that I learned pass protection from him and my coach as well, but he really was the one that told me the drills and stuff that he learned from Tulane that he carried over here.”

How Last Season Prepared Him:

“I came in late June, early July. I came in a little chubby. I started working hard losing all the weight. I had the coach switching situation. Coach (Ra’Shaad Samples) pushed me. He guided me to the right way, and I got back in shape, got my body right. And finally, towards the end of the season, I got the opportunity to touch the field and I took it around with it," Riggs said.

"This year, we have a lot of talent in the room, and here we come out there and work every day. I just feel like what I did last year don't mean nothing. We focus on this year. We just gonna keep working.”

What It Was Like When He Was Told To Get In Shape:

“Coming off my high school year, I'm not gonna lie, I was chilling after graduation. I was eating a lot. Got here. I got here so late that, like the next thing we had was fall camp. I'm out there dying. Coach (Samples) got me going 30 times over and over. I kept messing up the drill. ‘Go again, go again, go again.’ And he told me, like, ‘You have good talent, but we just need you to get in shape. You need to get you focus on yourself, get your body right and all that.’ I didn't take it as nothing wrong. You got to take critiques sometimes, and I feel like some people can't do that. And I took it in, worked hard and ran with it. Shout out coach (Wilson Love).”

How The Offense Responded To The First Scrimmage:

“Scrimmage one was a little rough, but it's football. We go against the defense every day, even though they know what we doing every now and again. So, they had a foot ahead. But I feel like this week we attacked it, coach (Will Stein) Monday or Sunday, we went to the doctor, talked about it," Riggs said.

"Monday, came here with great energy. Now we're attacking. I see my quarterbacks really reading now, really making the right reads, doing the doing the job, just like they've been doing. But now I see that they more into it. And I feel like we like a whole different offense this week, from running back to wide receiver, even O-line.”

What His Process Is Behind Learning Different Offensive Line Combinations Looks Like:

“All of our offensive linemen, they're amazing. They do that 111 that's what coach (Dan) Lanning Samples says, or that's what we say as a team. It's definitely different, because you have different play styles, but going behind them every day, you just get used to it and used to it. I like when Isaiah World pulls, because when he pulls, he knocks everybody out the way. So it's just amazing.”