The 25 best players in Oregon football history

Beckett should be considered not only one of Oregon's first standout football players, but within the college game itself. A multi-positional star for the Ducks during the 1910s, Beckett was the Ducks' first All-American — honored in 2018 — and initial member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Checking in at 6-foot-1 and in the neighborhood of 190 pounds, Beckett also served as the team's punter on occasion. He still remains one of the most versatile players in the history of Oregon football. 

Referred to as the "Flying Dutchman," Kitzmiller was another early, versatile star of the Ducks program. In addition to starring at halfback, Kitzmiller also played defensive back and was the Oregon kicker while succeeding at just about every turn on the gridiron. During his three seasons in college, Kitzmiller, who played at an undersized 164 pounds, earned All-Pacific Coast Conference honors twice. Oregon went 23-7 during the tenure of Kitzmiller, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

The legendary Norm Van Brocklin earned the distinction of being Oregon's first quarterback to be named an All-American. After serving his country in World War II, Van Brocklin made his way to Eugene and wound up becoming perhaps the most famous football product to come out of the school. In two seasons under center for the Ducks, Van Brocklin threw for 1,949 yards and 18 touchdowns. He led the Ducks to the 1948 Cotton Bowl and a 9-2 finish during the '48 campaign. Van Brocklin achieved even more success in the pro ranks by leading both the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles to NFL championships. He's a member of both the College and Pro Football Hall of Fames.

A standout in both football and baseball at Oregon, Shaw remains the school's all-time leader with 18 career interceptions, an achievement that's quite incredible for the fact it's still intact. Shaw recorded 13 of those picks during his stellar 1951 season, which are also a program record. That said, Shaw was pretty fair on the other side of the ball. As Oregon's quarterback, Shaw set a then-school record with 1,358 passing yards during the 1954 campaign — breaking the previous single-season record set by the aforementioned Norm Van Brocklin.

Even during the 1960s, Renfro was a dangerous two-way threat for the Ducks, who earned All-American honors in both football and track and field. Renfro led Oregon in rushing for three consecutive seasons, and totaled 1,540 yards and 23 touchdowns on the ground. He also recorded 41 catches for 644 yards and five touchdowns, thus solidifying him as one of the first great pass-catching running backs in the college game. Renfro, who went on to make 10 Pro Bowls and win two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys, is a member of both the College and Pro Football Hall of Fames.

It's quite remarkable that Graham's 433 career tackles remain a school record after all these years, considering the number of quality defenders the program has produced. Meanwhile, his 206 tackles made during the 1969 season (which included five games with at least 20 tackles) are also the most by a Duck for a single campaign. In fact, Graham, an All-Pac-8 performer, went out in style. During his final collegiate game for the Ducks, Graham recorded 41 tackles (24 solo), recovered a fumble and blocked a field goal. 

Perhaps Moore is better recognizable as Ahmad Rashad, the name he took while converting to Islam in 1973. At Oregon, Bobby Moore began his career at receiver (the position he would succeed at in the NFL), but became a college star as a running back. In 1971, the All-American and College Football Hall of Famer totaled 1,211 rushing yards, and caught 32 passes for 324 yards while scoring 10 touchdowns. When his three-season Ducks career ended, Moore recorded a then-school-record 2,036 rushing yards, 131 receptions (also a program high at the time) for 1,565 yards and 36 overall touchdowns. His 226 career points still rank among the top 10 in school history.

The great Dan Fouts became a Hall of Famer with the San Diego Chargers, but that foundation was truly laid while at Oregon — the only major university to recruit him for football. While starring for the Ducks in the early 1970s, alongside the aforementioned Bobby Moore (aka Ahmad Rashad), Fouts posted 19 school records by the time he left Eugene, including most passing yards (5,995) and total offense (5,871) for a career. A First Team All-Pac-8 performer in 1972, Fouts was inducted into the University of Oregon Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.

Harrington might not have lived up to the hype in the NFL, but when it came to the resurgence of the Oregon football program in the late 1990s, he was the catalyst. The Ducks went 25-3 with Harrington as starter from 1999-2001. He ranks sixth in school history with 6,911 career passing yards and seventh with 59 touchdowns. In 2001, Harrington was tabbed Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year while throwing for 2,764 yards with 27 touchdowns and six interceptions, and rushing for seven scores in helping lead Oregon to an 11-1 record. Harrington also threw for 855 yards with seven touchdowns and ran for three TDs while going 3-0 in bowl games.

After an ACL injury ruined Ngata's first season at Oregon in 2003, he returned with a vengeance to finish out what was a stellar collegiate football career. In 2004 and '05, Ngata was a force in the interior defensive line for the Ducks. For this career, Ngata recorded 151 tackles, 10 sacks and blocked seven kicks. A finalist for both the Outland Trophy and Nagurski Trophy. Ngata was the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year in 2005, and the first Oregon player in 43 years to be named a consensus first-team All-American. Success followed Ngata to the NFL, where he was a five-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion with Baltimore.

In some ways, Dixon was an underappreciated talent for the Ducks as the years have passed. He wasn't a dominant performer, and it seemed there was consistent reason for him to look over his shoulder. That said, Dixon, a two-time All-Pac-10 performer, enjoyed an above-average career at Oregon, throwing for 4,279 yards in his final two seasons. In 2007, Dixon totaled 2,136 passing yards with 20 touchdowns to just four interceptions, plus 583 rushing yards and nine TDs — all good enough to earn Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year honors.

While Stewart enjoyed a solid NFL career, his rise to prominence on the college level was rather gradual. He gained 188 yards in 2005, 981 in 2006, then broke out for Pac-12 leading 1,722 during his final collegiate season of 2007 — when he also set a school record with 2,481 all-purpose yards. Stewart also totaled 27 touchdowns on the ground during his Oregon career, caught 49 passes and was the NCAA leader with two kick return touchdowns in 2005 and 646 kick return yards in 2006. In 2007, Stewart was an All-Pac-10 First Team performer and MVP of the Sun Bowl.

When it came to being a disruptive defensive presence, not many did it better at Oregon than Reed. Entering the 2023 season, Reed was still the school's all-time leader with 29 1/2 career sacks, and ranked second with 51 1/2 tackles for loss (including 22 1/2 as a junior, which rank second at Oregon). Reed recorded 25 of those sacks in 2007 and '08, when he earned All-Pac-10 honors each season. An All-American as a senior in 2008, Reed was also a finalist for the Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award.

Byrd's Oregon career began with a redshirt season, but ended as one of the best in recent memory within the program. During his first college season of 2006, Byrd was named Pac-10 Co-Freshman of the Year after totaling 56 tackles and five interceptions. Things only got better from there for Byrd, who set a career high with seven interceptions in 2007 and personal-best 83 tackles, with five more picks, in 2008. Byrd's 17 career interceptions are tied for second-most in school history. According to the Ducks program, entering the 2023 season, Byrd is one of six FBS players since 2000 to record at least five interceptions in three straight seasons.

One of just two players in Oregon history to rush for at least 5,000 career yards, James sits second on the all-time list with 5,082 yards, as do his 1,805 yards gained during the 2011 season. One of the most dynamic runners in Ducks history, the College Football Hall of Famer and All-American helped the Ducks win three consecutive conference titles, and also ranks second all-time in all-purpose yards (5,869), rushing touchdowns (53), 100-yard rushing games (26) and total points scored (348). His seven career 200-yard rushing games are a school record. In 2010, James became the first Duck to win the Doak Walker Award while leading the country in rushing yards (1,731), yards from scrimmage (1,939) and total touchdowns (24).

Another in a long line of standout Oregon running backs, Barner ranks third in school history with 3,623 career rushing yards. His 1,767 yards from the 2012 season are also third-most by any Ducks player. On Nov. 3, 2012, Barner ran for a school-record 321 yards against USC, making him the only Oregon player to reach the 300-yard mark in a game. In addition, Barner's 21 rushing touchdowns from that season are tied for first in program history. His 41 career scores are tied for third. The 2012 consensus All-American also totaled 54 receptions for 591 yards and seven receiving touchdowns at Oregon.

Perhaps the most versatile and potent offensive threat in the history of the Oregon program. In three seasons, Thomas amassed 5,345 all-purpose yards — good for fourth-most in school history. And, when it came to balance, Thomas had things on lock. He totaled 1,890 rushing yards, 1,885 kick return yards and 1,296 receiving. His 2,235 all-purpose yards from a sensational 2011 rookie campaign, when he was named Pac-12 Co-Offensive Freshman of the Year, rank second in school history. Thomas' 278 career points also sit within the top 10 in school history.

According to OregonLive.com, longtime Ducks secondary coach John Neal once claimed Ekpre-Olomu to be the "best player I've ever coached." It's easy to understand why he might make such a statement. Ekpre-Olomu was a three-time, first-team All-Pac-12 performer and a consensus All-American in 2014. For his career at Oregon, Ekpre-Olomu recorded 244 tackles with nine interceptions and 39 pass breakups (fifth-most in school history), while also forcing eight fumbles in three seasons to etch himself among the great Ducks defenders. 

The only Oregon Duck to win the Heisman Trophy. Mariota was a special college football player, and the school's all-time leader with 10,796 career passing yards, 105 passing touchdowns, 2,237 quarterback rushing yards and 29 quarterback rushing touchdowns. In 2014, when Mariota won the Heisman, he set the single-season school record for passing yards (4,454) and passing touchdowns (42), along with 770 quarterback rushing yards and 15 yards on the ground by a quarterback. Mariota, Oregon's all-time leader with 36 wins, won just about every major quarterback or offensive player of the year-related award in 2014. However, he and the Ducks fell short of a national championship, losing 37-24 to Ohio State in the first College Football Playoff title contest.

Hailing from the Hawaiian Islands, Buckner entered the 2023 season among Oregon's career top 10 in tackles for loss (36), and also posted 18 sacks during his four-year run at Eugene. He also saved his best performance for his final college season of 2015, posting career highs of 83 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and 10 1/2 sacks en route to earning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-American honors as a senior. A first-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2016, Buckner has twice been named to the Pro Bowl.

We've highlighted some truly spectacular college running backs on this list, but when it comes to the king of the hill, in terms of statistical rushing dominance at Oregon, Freeman is the man. He's the school's all-time leader for career rushing yards (5,621), single-season rushing yards (1,836 in 2015), rushing touchdowns (60) and career 100-yard rushing games (31). As a freshman, Freeman was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year while gaining 1,365 yards with a career-high 18 touchdowns. In addition to those stellar rushing totals, Freeman amassed 79 receptions for 814 yards and four TDs as a Duck.

Herbert joins the aforementioned Marcus Mariota as the only quarterbacks in Oregon history to throw for more than 10,000 yards — finishing his stellar four-year college career at 10,541. Herbert also ranks second in school history with 95 career touchdowns and 29 quarterback wins. However, he holds the No. 1 spot among all Ducks quarterbacks with 42 starts, and his 489 yards versus Arizona State in 2016, are a school record. In each of his last two seasons, Herbert topped the 3,000-yard passing mark, and tossed 32 touchdowns during his final campaign of 2019, when the Ducks went 12-2. 

It didn't take long for Sewell to prove his worth at the college level. A starter right out of the gate as a freshman, Sewell started seven games, but dealt with injury during that 2018 campaign. In 2019, a healthy Sewell returned to action, and amplified his game to become one of the premier offensive lineman in the country. So good, that Sewell was named the school's first-ever winner of the prestigious Outland Trophy for 2019, which proved to be his final college season after opting out of the COVID-shortened 2020 run.

Another recent defensive star for the Ducks, McKinley got a taste for the college game in 2018, playing three games before redshirting. However, during his redshirt freshman season of 2019, McKinley started 11 of 14 contests, posting 46 tackles with four interceptions. Then following the COVID-shortened 2020 season, McKinley truly broke out in 2021, setting career highs with 78 tackles (44 solos), six interceptions and 12 passes defensed while being named a finalist for the Thorpe Award and consensus first-team All-American.

Injury and the COVID-19 pandemic might have limited Thibodeaux's college career to just 30 games. However, he will go down as one of the great defenders in Pac-12 history. Thibodeaux's 19 career sacks are tied for seventh in school history, while he generated an impressive 35 1/2 tackles for loss while posing as a menacing presence to opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks. In 2019, Thibodeaux was named Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year while recording a career-high nine sacks and 14 tackles for loss. Two years later, in his final college season, Thibodeaux had seven sacks and 12 TFLs while earning unanimous All-American recognition.