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With Oregon football, Dillon Theineman sees a chance to develop and get NFL ready
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- With Oregon football, Dillon Theineman sees a chance to develop and get NFL ready
Storylines start to build throughout a spring football season. It's a time of anticipation and hype, with new faces in new places conjuring up dreams of glory and celebration for fans.
There has been a ton of hype for the Oregon Ducks in 2025. With a new quarterback taking over, new faces at the RB and WR spot, a potentially generational TE, a new-look offensive line, and a litany of new players, both transfers and true freshmen at significant positions on the defense, excitement has mounted in Eugene over the past few weeks.
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Of all the new faces in new places, one player has been building the biggest rep early on. Purdue Boilermakers transfer safety Dillon Thieneman is garnering quite a reputation in his first few months with the Ducks.
"He's one of a kind from what I've seen so far," linebacker Bryce Boettcher said.
"He is a workout junkie, a film junkie," co-defensive coordinator Chris Hampton said. "He's a football guy, through and through."
"This guy is an absolute pro with preparation," defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi said.
"His work ethic is second to none," Kenyon Sadiq explained. "I'm getting in here every day, and he's one of the first guys in. I get here and his car is already here."
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That unmatched work ethic is natural to the junior, who said that it was instilled in him from a young age. His parents worked hard, and so did his brothers, leading them to walk on at Purdue. They pushed Thieneman to be great, and he eventually followed in their footsteps and signed with the Boilermakers as a three-star recruit.
And then his career started. With 210 tackles, seven TFLs, and six INTs in his first two seasons, Thieneman became a hot commodity. After much discussion with his family, he decided to enter the transfer portal and look for a place to further his career on a bigger stage.
It was at Oregon, with Dan Lanning, where he felt the best opportunity presented itself.
"We found that it was going to be in my best interest to leave and find where I could get proper coaching, proper development, where I can go get some of the best competition in the country," Thieneman said on Saturday. "And then I found Coach Lanning and the staff, how they develop guys, what their system is, how their system is related to the NFL, the type of guys we're going against."
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It's no secret that Lanning and the Ducks have successfully sent players to the NFL. Oregon also has a good track record of taking transfers and propelling them to the NFL. Of the 27 transfers to come into and leave Oregon under Lanning's tenure, 13 have been drafted or will be this year.
The Ducks have brought in the likes of Christian Gonzalez , Khyree Jackson , Jabbar Muhammad , Nikko Reed, Tysheem Johnson, and Brandon Johnson, all of them finding great success in a Eugene stint. That's something that stood out to Thieneman.
"It was definitely a big factor in that I saw that Oregon is really good at taking in transfers and developing them and transitioning them to the next level," Thieneman said. "And I mean this defense, it kind of sets you up for that level because you play all types of coverages, like we do all types of things that you'll see at the next level."
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While he still has two years of eligibility remaining, there isn't much of an expectation for Thieneman to be at Oregon that long. As one of the best safeties in the nation, the former Boilermaker could easily find himself in the first round of the NFL draft next year, should he live up to expectations in 2025.
Should he do so, it will only further strengthen the idea of Oregon as a home for talented transfers, and a place for players to further develop and prepare for the NFL.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon football impressed Dillon Theineman with development, NFL prep
