Oregon football's Jordan James ‘running like an angry guy’ at spring practices

Months removed from a breakout sophomore campaign for Oregon football, rising junior Jordan James is one of a few names in line to potentially replace Bucky Irving as the Ducks’ feature back this fall.

In the early goings of spring, James has continued his upward trend.

“Jordan’s running like an angry guy,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “Which is exactly how you want your running back to run. He’s out here really improving this spring.”

James more than doubled his total carries last fall as a sophomore, taking 107 for 759 yards and 11 touchdowns operating as Oregon’s change-of-pace backup to Irving after Noah Whittington went down with a season-ending injury against Colorado.

The junior-to-be’s 7.1 yards per carry ranked eighth in the country and first in the Pac-12.

With Irving off to the NFL, James is the favorite to inherit most of his carries heading into 2024 with Whittington, transfer Jay Harris and sophomore Jayden Limar also competing for reps.

“I love the challenge,” James said. “I’m going to keep working and do what I do. Just getting in better shape and doing what I’m supposed to do on every single play and executing.”

The Oregon running back room was thrown into a tough position for the first week of camp, with previous coach Carlos Locklyn leaving for Ohio State days before the start of spring ball.

Roughly a week later the Ducks replaced Locklyn with Ra’Shaad Samples, and James said the adjustment has been quick.

“There wasn’t any much of a change in terms of the way we practice,” James said. “We always practice with high intensity and physicality and things like that, but coach (Samples) has brought a different aspect of the game.”

James and the rest of the Oregon tailback room will feature in the Ducks’ annual spring game at 1 p.m. April 27 at Autzen Stadium.

Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon's Jordan James ‘running like an angry guy’ at practice