'One of a kind;' Oregon Ducks rave about Dillon Thieneman in spring football

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'One of a kind;' Oregon Ducks rave about Dillon Thieneman in spring football

Zachary Neel, Ducks Wire · Ducks Wire

Fri, May 2, 2025 ·

6 min read

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While the spring season in college football may not be even a fraction as entertaining as the real fall season, there is a specialness about it that can be felt each and every year across the nation. While no records are kept, and final scores of spring games aren't remembered, the spring college football season is entertaining for the hype that it brings, if nothing else.

The overreactions, the wild proclamations, and the unending reserve of blind faith from fanbases whispering, "This is our year."

We've felt all of that in Eugene over the past two months with the Oregon Ducks. With 10 players selected in the 2025 NFL draft and a handful more signings as undrafted free agents, the roster for Oregon will look quite a bit different this year. You will have new starts at QB, RB, TE, WR, OL, DL, LB, CB, and safety. That newness has led to a lot of questions and a lot of anticipation. As always in the spring, hype starts to build as stories come out about certain players who are stepping up and breaking through.

It's a tale as old as time, but this year in Eugene, things were a bit different. This year, one certain player stole the show as far as the hype goes.

It appears that the Ducks have a safety transfer who is built a bit differently than we've seen before.

Former Purdue Boilermakers star Dillon Thieneman transferred to Oregon this offseason as the No. 1 safety prospect in the portal. In his two seasons at Purdue, Thieneman amassed 210 total tackles, seven tackles for loss, one sack, six interceptions, two forced fumbles, and nine pass break-ups.

The numbers speak for themselves. It was apparent early on that the Ducks are getting a serious player, but what became clear over the course of the spring season is that Thieneman isn't just your run-in-the-mill "good player; there's something different about him.

Whether it's his production on the field or his work ethic and preparation off of it, coaches and players alike were unable to stop talking about Dillon Thieneman in Eugene this spring. Here's a taste of what everyone had to say about No. 31.

Dan Lanning

"He's a dynamic player on film. And then when you meet his family, unbelievable family, a guy that is infatuated with football, right? And infatuated with the extra work, you know. There's probably not a day that goes by that Dillon's not in the weight room, getting bonus work, doing extra rehab, getting extra film. His intelligence, all those things are really picking up, you know, establishing some standards for the DB group and how they're going to operate. I think he's done a great job of that, and I know he's not satisfied. So I love having players here that aren't satisfied, that are looking to get better and improve. I think he saw what Oregon could bring him, and I know he's going to bring a lot to Oregon."

Tosh Lupoi

"When there's an individual like a Dillon (in the transfer porta), that's that's always the concern is, how committed is this individual? Does he love the game? You can tell so much on film, and that's what's extremely clear to us now with Dillon: this guy is an absolute pro with preparation. So he's an individual that's in here, you know, early, leaving late. He wants to do bonus meetings. You know, the millisecond he kind of made this decision to come here, the process really started of, you know, let's learn this defense. So, obviously, we've only had two days of no pads here, but he's certainly doing a nice job leading up to this point."

Chris Hampton

"I tell you what, when you watch the film, obviously, he's a guy that's made a bunch of tackles. He's been really productive. He had over 100 tackles two years in a row, and had six interceptions his true freshman year. So you knew he had some ball production, some ball judge ability, and he was a really good tackler. But what you didn't know is the person. We didn't recruit him out of high school. Once you get to know him, the person is much better than the player. His attention to detail, his work ethic is like none other I've ever coached. The guy's relentless in his pursuit for greatness. He's trying to get better each and every day. I mean growth. We say growth. I mean he's all about growth, every rep, every day, every meeting, like he's a pro, and so that's what you didn't know, is like, that's like, whoa. The intangibles about this guy were really tremendous."

Teitum Tuioti

"I think his preparation, just every day coming in here, continuing to just go through his routine. That's something I see every day in the morning, I see him do the same thing every day, stretch, hot tub, his walk through mechanics are elite. He communicates. You don't see him do too many things wrong, like he's he's always here, always meeting, and I'm excited for what you're going to do this year."

Bryce Boettcher

Dec 7, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions running back Nicholas Singleton (10) is tackled by Oregon Ducks linebacker Bryce Boettcher (28) during the second quarter in the 2024 Big Ten Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

"Professionalism is the perfect way to put it. Like this morning, I was in the treatment room at 5:15. He was already in the tub, shirt off, warming up. I was like, 'Dude, you go practice already?' You know he's about it on and off the field. He's one of a kind from what I've seen so far."

Kenyon Sadiq

"First of all, his work ethic is like, second to none. I'm getting in here every day and he's one of the first guys in, you know, I get here and his car is already here and stuff. Just seeing him in the training room and stuff in the morning. But going on the field, you know, very technical and sound. He's going to be in the right position all the time. He plays a really good technique. So it just challenges me to play with a better technique. Getting off his line, just even coming down to blocking, he uses his hands really well. But no, we've both gotten a lot better coming against each other."

Kingston Lopa

"His work ethic, I'm not gonna lie, I never really played with somebody like him. Just always ready to work, just ready to, you know, I'm saying, like, just ready to find something new to work on every day. And I think he's, like, I think he's a good person too. Like, really good person outside of football. So, yeah, really helps me look at things."

Peyton Woodyard

"Yeah, definitely his work ethic. I'm at the same lifting station as him. So he's definitely getting me bigger and stronger. So yeah, I love that guy."

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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon Football: Everything Duck players said about Dillon Thieneman

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