When you look up and down the Oregon Ducks roster heading into the spring football season, you will see fresh faces in new places. Dan Lanning will tell you that the team's talent is endless, while Tosh Lupoi will describe the roster as lacking "Oregon experience."
Few players on the team have played meaningful snaps, let alone started for the Ducks during their career. This fact makes the return of senior linebacker Bryce Boettcher all the more critical.
It wasn't expected at first, seeing as Boettcher had played four years of baseball in Eugene and three years of football. The South Eugene kid was expected to take off his pads for good following the 2024 season and start his MLB career as a member of the Houston Astros . However, with an extra year of eligibility granted, Boettcher chose to stick around in Eugene and go for one last ride with Lanning and his team. Why?
"I love my Ducks," Boettcher said Tuesday after Oregon's third spring practice. "I love my hometown. And you know, if I had another year of eligibility and didn't use it, I feel like I'd regret it down the road."
This last ride has been a different experience for Boettcher, who usually participated only in spring football while he split time running around the baseball diamond at PK Park. This year, though, he's got a one-track mindset, and it's all about the gridiron.
"I'm 100% football focused right now," Boettcher said. "I'm just developing myself as a football player. I'd be lying if I said I haven't been hitting a little bit, watching the team play. You know, I'm still getting in the cages because I miss it. But yeah, absolutely football focused right now."
That football focus has allowed Boettcher the ability to focus on preparing his body for the upcoming football season, rather than going through a yearly transition into baseball shape. Instead of dropping weight and getting ready to patrol center field, Boettcher has been able to get with Wilson Love and slide to the other side of the spectrum. The senior linebacker claims that he's added 10 pounds since the end of the year, and is now up to about 230 pounds.
Boettcher's place in the defense is also different from a year ago. No longer is Jeffrey Bassa wearing the green dot, leading the unit as a whole. Now, that's a role that Boettcher will step into. With very little experience and production around him, leadership becomes key for No. 28. Fortunately, that's not something that is foreign to the two-sport star.
"This is not really new to him," Lanning said on Tuesday. "I still want to hear his voice out there at practice even more and more. It's always showing up as a player, right? But that's not something that's new to Bryce, so I have high expectations for what he looks like on the field and continue to challenge him to keep pushing. But he's been a really good player for us and a really good leader for us."
What becomes the most significant question in the future is what Boettcher chooses to do after the 2025 season. As one of the top returning linebackers in the nation, there is a world in which the Oregon defender sees his NFL draft stock rise exponentially with another great season in Eugene, offering him a legitimate NFL future. However, Boettcher was already drafted by the Houston Astros last year, and originally had plans to join their farm system following the 2024 season.
With football on his mind, that decision is far off for Boettcher. All doors are open down the road, and he is keeping his baseball skills fresh so that he does not fall too far behind if he chooses the diamond over the gridiron in the future.
"I'm just trying to live in the moment," Boettcher said. "Whatever happens in the future, happens in the future. But I think, certainly developing for another year as just a football player will help me on that side this fall. I'm just being the best version of myself on the football field. But you know, like I said, with that being said, I'm still hitting a little bit just for the love of the game."
This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon Ducks LB Bryce Boettcher breaks down return for senior year
