Oregon Ducks freshman wide receiver Jurrion Dickey has been working his way back from a meniscus tear during his first year at Oregon.
But now, he’s ready for action in the Fiesta Bowl against the Liberty Flames. “I feel like I’m 100% right now,” Dickey said told reporters on Thursday. Dickey said he tore his meniscus during the first game of his senior year at Menlo-Atherton High School, the same school where the Ducks found record-setting wide receiver Troy Franklin. “First game,” he said. “Opening kickoff against Bellarmine.” Dickey was ranked the No. 2 receiver in the 2023 class and rated a five-star (0.9890) recruit according to the 247Sports Composite.
The second-highest-rated receiver in program history (Cameron Colvin ’04) spent most of his freshman year rehabbing his knee and training to be healthy on the field. “It was frustrating, but you just got to go through it sometimes,” Dickey said of his recovery. “Things hit you and you just got to bounce back from it.” There were hard days for Dickey as he went through not even being able to walk, but he was able to lean on his support system to get through the challenges that were thrown at him.
“My mom helped me a lot,” he said. “She was going through a whole process where I couldn’t even walk a lot of times dealing with the injury and I cried some days and stuff like that. I really didn’t know if I was going to come back because it’s just a lifetime injury.” Dickey said that he’s been healthy for about a month now and has been getting reps with the ones and twos with Franklin opting out of the Fiesta Bowl, working with quarterbacks Bo Nix and Austin Novosad as he gets ready for a kickoff against the Liberty Flames on New Year’s Day. “My development has been going up,” Dickey said. “Just been climbing and climbing each day, stacking mentally and physically.”
The Bay Area native could have a similar start to his career at Oregon just like Franklin did his freshman year when the Ducks played Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl in 2021. Franklin was able to step into a bigger role and showcase his talents due to the departures of seniors, and Dickey has the same opportunity. Dickey arrived at Oregon as one of the most decorated receivers we’ve seen in some time and it looks like we’ll get our first glimpse at the former five-star recruit before long.
