An overlooked area the Oregon Ducks need to find a solution for in fall camp is in the kicking game. Atticus Sappington handled kickoffs, field goals and point-after-attempts over the past two seasons, but now that he has left the program, the Ducks need a new leg.
Special teams coordinator Joe Lorig didn't let the moment catch him by surprise. Instead, he's prepared Gage Hurych as the likely heir to Oregon's kicking throne.
"Gage is a guy we've been prepping for the last several years for this spot," Lorig told reporters on Monday. "We've been testing him in practice over the last couple of years. He had great mentors before him, so super excited about him. ... Pretty confident to say that Gage is going to be the guy."
Hurych won't be flying into the 2026 season without experience. In two seasons as a Duck, Hurych has converted all 17 PATs he has attempted, thanks to Lorig slowly integrating him into games. In the spring game, Hurych handled all the kicking duties. Again, he was perfect on PATs and made field goals from 35 and 45 yards. The Ducks even opted to let Hurych show off his powerful leg on attempts from 51 and 52 yards out, but he was off line on both tries.
Keaton Emmett and Rocco Graziano will continue to push Hurych in fall camp, and Emmett could be in line to handle some of the kickoff duties.

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