Remember when fans were anticipating the Herbert-to-Herbert connection?
That seems so long ago, but unfortunately, Justin Herbert throwing touchdown passes to his younger brother Patrick never panned out due to injuries and a crowded depth chart.
Justin was a senior in 2019 and Patrick was a true freshman, but played in just one game before utilizing his redshirt. Three years later, the younger Herbert seems to have finally beat that injury bug and is ready to show the kind of talent he displayed at Sheldon High School when he was the No. 1 recruit out of the state of Oregon.
He has just now started to practice with his teammates. It’s been a long road for Herbert to get back onto the field, so in the meantime, he has worked on the mental part of the game.
“It’s a tough situation for sure,” Herbert said. “You don’t wish it upon anybody, but there’s a plan for everything. I’m just going to keep working. I’ve spent a lot of time reading defenses and understanding the playbook better and not just from the tight end position, but from every receiver position.”
Herbert gave credit to the new strength and conditioning coaches that have helped him get healthy and regain the speed that was lost due to the multiple leg injuries. He was able to run a little over 20 miles an hour, which was faster than Herbert ran before the injuries.
Herbert probably could have played in the Spring Game back in April, but he and the coaching staff wanted to play it safe and not participate.
Here in the fall, as usual, Oregon has plenty of tight end talent, but now healthy, Herbert is definitely in the mix along with Cam McCormack, Terrance Ferguson, and Moliki Matavao all competing for playing time. One thing Herbert does have in his favor is that he’s just one of just a handful of players to be in the program for that 2019 Rose Bowl season.
“Even though I haven’t played a whole lot, I’ve been around,” he said. “I think leadership in the locker room and that type of stuff, I think that’s really important. We were there, so we got to see what it was like to see how walkthroughs went and how meetings went.”
If everything goes according to plan, Herbert and the rest of his Duck teammates will have to go through more walkthroughs and meetings, but this time for the 2023 Rose Bowl.