EUGENE — Tez Johnson found out on Tuesday that this wasn’t going to be a regular week.
Bo Nix had just been in touch, turning a schedule that was supposed to be highlighted by Oregon’s spring game on Saturday into one now including an 18-hour pitstop in Alabama.There was just one catch, Nix told his adopted brother.
“He said just not to tell mom,” Johnson said. “She had texted me, ‘I’m sad you’re not coming.’ She was emotional. But I was like, ‘It’s OK. I’ll be in the same spot next year.’”
The senior receiver was able to successfully pull off the surprise, shocking the Nix household when he showed up on Thursday to see Nix selected with the 12th overall pick by the Denver Broncos. Johnson pumped both hands when Nix got off the phone with Denver, yelled “Let’s Go!” several times, dapped up his brother and immediately began to think of his own future when he hopes to find himself in a similar position a year from now.
Of course, that process started with a direct flight back home to Eugene, where Johnson and the rest of the Oregon contingent arrived back in Oregon at 2:30 a.m. on Friday. It continued with Oregon’s spring game 34 hours later, where Johnson caught Dillon Gabriel’s first pass of the day behind the line of scrimmage and took it for a first down.That sure looked familiar, which might be the best sign that Oregon’s offense in 2024 will be able to hold a candle to the production put up by the 2023 group.
A year ago, Johnson and Nix connected a program record 86 times. On Saturday, Johnson showed his adaptability with a quarterback he hasn’t lived in the same house as, catching three of Gabriel’s first five completions in the first quarter of his green team’s eventual 28-17 win over the white team.
“It’s just knowing what [the quarterbacks] want,” said Johnson, who donned a Denver Broncos hat during his postgame interview. “Like, I’m a receiver, but I also want to know what the quarterback’s read is on this play right here. Knowing what window they can hit — I just want to be a sponge for each quarterback.”
And that will take more time, even with a quarterback in Gabriel who enters the 2024 season as the NCAA’s active passing leader with more than 14,000 yards. Gabriel finished Saturday 14-of-21 for 163 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a pair of sacks. He looked crisp on short-to-intermediate throws and struggled to connect on anything much further downfield. After watching Nix pull rabbits out of his helmet the last two years, the Autzen crowd actually seemed mildly surprised early in the first quarter when Gabriel was flushed out of the pocket, ducked one defender, turned around and uncorked a rocket to the other hash that flew and flew and flew and…landed without anyone in the vicinity.
“I loved how aggressive we were,” Gabriel said. “At times, I also think that’s where we struggled — just trying to find ways to complete the deep ball. But we settled in, the guys made some plays so I’m happy about that.”
UCLA transfer quarterback Dante Moore was 11-of-16 for 87 yards in starting duty for the white team, then produced one of the game’s most memorable plays with a 67-yard run to the end zone as time ran out. Referees called the sophom*ore down at his own 45, but that didn’t stop the former 5-star from playing into the crowd noise as he ran right into the arms of a waiting Jackson Powers-Johnson.
Let’s hope the former Oregon center is a little more gentle with his quarterbacks in Las Vegas.
UO estimated more than 40,000 attended at Autzen beneath gray skies, with a large portion of the crowd sticking around for the postgame concert by Oregon grad Matt Kearney. Players and coaches missed the show during their postgame debrief, then again, that sort of thing is for the fans. For the players, the spring is work. Johnson said the real fun is when that work pays off, like he saw on Thursday 2,500 miles from here.
“I have to be where my feet are and continue to do what I’m doing now,” he said. “When that time comes, that’s when I’ll be able to think about it even more. I just have to speak it into existence.”
— Tyson Alger, The I-5 Corridor
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