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Oregon names Gage Hurych starting kicker for 2026 season
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- Oregon names Gage Hurych starting kicker for 2026 season
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.
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"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.
Hurych had a strong role model to follow with Sappington, who lived out Hurych's dream right in front of him. An Oregon high school graduate with dreams of playing for the Ducks, Sappington lifted Oregon to victory on numerous occasions. Now Hurych, a West Linn graduate, is hoping to follow suit.
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"It's something I've been working for for the past two years and really before that, long before that" Hurych said at Oregon's media day. "I've been preparing for a long time."
Lorig has watched several kickers he has worked with go on to have long careers in the NFL. The key? Their mental fortitude, which is his biggest focus when recruiting the next Oregon kicker.
" Jordan Stout , Jake Elliott , Zane Gonzalez — all of those guys had the same commonalities as far as their mental makeup during the recruiting process," Lorig said. "They're athletes. They weren't just kickers. Gage was a phenomenal football player at West Linn. He played safety and receiver."
Hurych's athleticism is certainly shown through his power in his right leg, and the Ducks might need him to come through in a big spot this season, as Sappington did for two seasons.
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Fortunately, his nickname might be a good indication of his mentality with the game on the line.
"They were calling him 'Iceman' the first week he was here," Lorig said of Hurych. "He never gets too high, he never gets too low. He's always the same, whether it's a missed kick or a made kick. That mental piece is the hardest thing."
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon names Gage Hurych starting kicker for 2026 season
