Jamari Johnson Talks Journey to Eugene, Transition to Oregon Offense

Oregon lost two tight ends from a season ago with the departures of Terrance Ferguson and Patrick Herbert, which is why Drew Mehringer and the Ducks went to the transfer portal to add former Louisville tight end Jamari Johnson.

Johnson was a priority target for Oregon as a recruit in the 2023 class and his journey led him back to Eugene. He met with reporters following Tuesday’s practice and below are some of his most notable quotes.

On what led him to Eugene

Johnson: “It was a cool process. Very good experience. I would say what led me here at the end was just the way guys connected as a team. That really stuck out to me and the love that Coach (Dan) Lanning and Coach Drew put into me during the process. It showed a lot.

On changing his body since arriving at Oregon

Johnson: “I lost a couple pounds during camp, but I’ll for sure get those back up in the next couple days.”

On how he sees himself fitting into the offense, complementing Kenyon Sadiq

Johnson: “Kenyon, he’s a dude I’m not gonna lie. He’s a dude. But hopefully I just keep my head down, keep grinding. Hopefully will get to split time and show everybody how good both of us are.”

On what he’s learned and seen from Sadiq

Johnson: “A lot. The playbook. He’s helped me tremendously with the playbook. Out on the field he just makes plays. Every time I get done making a play or something on my end, I look over there Kenyon’s doing the same thing. It’s a good duo.”

On roles he’s been spending time at during practice

Johnson: “I’m working around everything. Mostly playing Y though. Coach showed me really everybody at every position (during recruitment). I don’t know if he’s going to put me at H, Y. And it doesn’t matter. He showed me everything. We have a really good offense.”

On how his chemistry has been with Dante Moore, Austin Novosad

Johnson: “Both of them are competing their tails off right now. Everything is just looking pretty good. Sometimes we’ll have an off day, but that’s everybody. We’re bettering our connection. Working our way up. Can’t really say too much about that, but working our way up. Connecting.”

Onif he had a part in offense’s success on Wednesday, what he saw from them

Johnson: “The offense, we were on it today. We were on it today. Everybody was just balling. Everything just connected. At the end we had a little competition between the offense and the defense and the offense won. So we felt pretty good about that.”