McLaughlin: Did Oregon Ducks Need To Get Ohio State WR Carnell Tate?
By SPENCER McLAUGHLIN
Contributor, 750 The Game
Substantiated rumors began swirling late last week that Oregon was one of multiple schools looking to entice Ohio State WR Carnell Tate to enter the transfer portal. The numbers being reported were in the millions for NIL offers. Ultimately he has decided to stay at Ohio State and be the #2 wideout behind the young phenom Jeremiah Smith.
I was told that Oregon and Texas were both poking around the Buckeyes’ third wide receiver from their national championship team seeking a veteran presence on the edge. Does Oregon really need that?
Evan Stewart, whose presence was sorely missed in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State, announced he will return to the Ducks in 2025. That will be one of few familiar names in several position groups for Oregon fans next season. Jordan James, Tez Johnson, Terrance Ferguson, and Josh Conerly are just some of the impact guys whose Duck careers are over. Stewart is going into his 4th year of college football, seeking perhaps to raise his NFL Draft stock. He’s yet to total a 1,000-yard season in his 3 seasons of college football.
Oregon also brought in WR Malik Benson from Florida State, who like Stewart feels like someone who has not been able to produce at the level he’s capable of. He had two stellar seasons of JUCO ball before underwhelming statistical outputs at Alabama and Florida State. He was buried on the Crimson Tide’s depth chart, and nobody was capable of being good in Tallahassee last year.
Is that what you should consider a reliable veteran presence? He’s a 5th-year player, after all. But if you’re seeking a 1,000-yard season from Benson at the power 4 level, he would have to have his best season by a LOT playing on his third team in 3 seasons.
Oregon WR Coach Junior Adams has done a stellar job with that position group over the last 3 seasons. When he arrived on Lanning’s staff in 2022, Oregon had not had a 1,000-yard receiver since Dillon Mitchell in 2018. They’ve had 2 since his arrival, and would have had a third if Tez Johnson hadn’t gotten injured this past season.
Recruits have noticed how that position has evolved in Eugene.
Oregon has recruited wide receivers in a way they never have before, including landing the #1 WR in the 2025 class in 5-star Dakorien Moore. He has been compared to the Detroit Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown, and might serve as a more than serviceable replacement for Tez Johnson.
Then there past blue chip wideout prospects who have not seen heavy snaps/targets over the course of a full season. What’s going on with former 5-star WR Jurrion Dickey? Is 2022 4-star WR Kyler Kasper going to have a role if healthy in 2025 after it looked like he might this past season? What about incoming 2nd-year WR Jeremiah McLellan, who was once committed to Ohio State? Is Justius Lowe worth all the praise he’s gotten in practice from this past year?
There are a lot of Oregon fans who would like to see those young guys get an opportunity. I understand where their heads are at, why recruit such talented players and have them sit for multiple seasons if they’re never going to play?
If the rumors were serious that the Ducks were interested in adding Tate, my guess is it was a matter of eliminating question marks. 2025 is, in many ways, going to be a reset for Oregon’s roster. A lot of talent is off to the NFL Draft or graduation, including at the WR position. Tate would certainly have come in and started for Oregon’s offense, and that might have been the only point Junior Adams and Dan Lanning were looking at.
We KNOW what Tate can be, while most of the players I listed previously have some form of a question attached to their career potential/output.
All in all though, I’m not worried about the slew of weapons that Dante Moore is likely to have at his disposal. The WR room has plenty of options for Dante Moore to throw the ball to, and don’t forget about TE Kenyon Sadiq. Pro Football Focus (PFF) rated him as the Ducks’ best tight end this past year playing behind Terrance Ferguson. He should be in for a big year.
I get why there was potential interest in Carnell Tate. But was he a need for Will Stein’s offense?
No.
Spencer McLaughlin is an Oregon Ducks football contributor to 750 The Game. He also hosts the “Locked On Oregon Ducks” and “Locked On College Football” podcasts and has work featured throughout the season here.