Lanning on the good and the bad of fall practice
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning talks to media after the sixth practice of fall football practice.
In a sport where big, strong and fast can be used to describe nearly every athlete, some college football players still stand out above all others.
Oregon has a pair of them.
Bruce Feldman, a national college football insider for The Athletic, released his annual “Freaks List” Aug. 10, a ranked collection of 101 players whose athletic or physical ability awes even their teammates and coaches.
At No. 3 was Ducks defensive tackle A’Mauri Washington and at No. 11 was inside linebacker Devon Jackson.
It was a one-spot improvement from 2025 for Washington, who was No. 4 on the list last summer, in no small part due to a viral video in June that showed the 6-foot-3 senior squatting 855 pounds – twice.
“This offseason, Washington trimmed down to 327 pounds from 338 and clocked a 20.7 mph (on his GPS),” Feldman wrote. “In addition, he vertical jumped 35 inches, did a back squat with 765 pounds and power cleaned 365.”
Washington said he’s been squatting that weight since last season but “never put in on camera. … I wanted to go up in weight but they were like, just do it twice.”
He also made sure to point out that fellow defensive tackle Bear Alexander also squats 855 and Matt Johnson has hit 815.
As for Jackson, the senior’s speed is what elevated him to just outside the top 10.
“The 6-2, 235-pounder ran a blistering 24 mph on the GPS this offseason,” Feldman wrote. “Which is the fastest time The Athletic has heard about from a college football player.”
When asked Tuesday to put that sort of speed in perspective, Oregon coach Dan Lanning questioned the accuracy while also contending Jackson is still as fast as there is at his position.
“I saw that number,” Lanning said. “I don’t want to discredit Devon, but that’s a pretty high number. I don’t know. Devon’s fast, but maybe it’s in the 23s. But anything over 20 is impressive, especially at that position. He’s consistently one of the fastest players on our team. So again, don’t want to discredit him, but that seemed a little inflated. That being said, there’s not a faster linebacker in college football, probably, then Devon Jackson.”
Feldman also wrote that Jackson has a vertical jump of 40 inches and can squat 675 pounds.
“I don’t think it’s any secret, right?” Lanning said. “When you combine special players with an unbelievable strength staff and the job (strength) coach (Wilson) Love’s done, and all those guys in the room, you see guys that make tremendous gains and able to make an impact.”
Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at chansen@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG
