EUGENE — Two of Oregon’s most prominent offseason additions, receiver Evan Stewart and cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, arrived during spring break.
Stewart, formerly of Texas A&M, and Muhammad, formerly of Washington, each committed to transfer to UO in January, making this week the earliest either could enroll and join the program. Their arrivals also allow for Oregon’s coaches to acknowledge their additions publicly for the first time.
“Great talent from both of those guys,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said after Tuesday’s practice. “Eager to learn. They play fast. They play with a lot of confidence. I think this is early for them. So it’s flying around like crazy right now, but I saw some real positives from them in the way they finished some stuff today. Excited to see what they do on the field for us moving forward.”
Because they missed the first two practices before spring break Stewart and Muhammad, as well as freshman offensive lineman Trent Ferguson and kicker Gage Hurych, wore soft “spider” pads rather than full shoulder pads like the rest of the team. That will change by Saturday though.
The No. 11 overall player and No. 2 receiver in the class if 2022, according to the 247Sports Composite, Stewart had 38 catches for 514 yards and four touchdowns in eight games last season.
Lanning said speed and catch radius are among Stewart’s best traits and he took early reps with the kickoff returners on Tuesday.
“I think there’s a lot of things that pop off with Evan,” Lanning said. “I think he saw a lot of opportunity here with what we’ve done with our wide outs here in the past, over the last two years. But he has the skill set to be really, really talented player. We had some coaches that were really familiar with him before as well. That certainly paid off.”
Muhammad had 46 total tackles (five for loss), including two sacks, 16 pass breakups and three interceptions last season. He is projected to take over for Khyree Jackson as Oregon’s top cornerback next season and is one of four transfers in the secondary, along with fellow cornerback Kam Alexander (UTSA) and safety Kobe Savage (Kansas State), who arrived earlier in the winter, and safety Brandon Johnson, who will arrive later this summer from Duke.
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