Oregon’s Powers-Johnson, Irving will go into draft

• Adam Rittenberg, ESPN

  • Elder WriterDec 11, 2023, 06:17 PM ET Close College football reporter.
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2008.
  • Graduate of Northwestern University.Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson, who won the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top center in 2023, is declaring for the NFL draft.Powers-Johnson revealed his decision on X, formerly Twitter, thanking his current and former coaches and colleagues and Oregon fans, while writing of his college experience,”Thank you for providing me the opportunity to live my dreams.”The junior from Draper, Utah, became the first Pac-12 player to win the Rimington Prize, and also was named a first-team AP All-America selection.Thank you Oregon #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/jOZOGulRBu!.?.!— Jackson Powers-Johnson (@BigJax58 )December 11, 2023 He allowed

  just one pressure on 471 pass-blocking chances, and got the leading pass-blocking grade (91.3), run-blocking grade

  (85.2)and total grade(84.6)from Pro Football Focus among FBS centers. ESPN ranked Powers-Johnson as the nation’s No. 2 hire in the 2021 class. Powers-Johnson assisted Oregon’s offending line become a finalist for the Joe Moore Award.ESPN’s Mel Kiper rates Powers-Johnson as the nation’s No. 3 draft-eligible center, behind Duke Graham Barton and Georgia’s Sedrick Van Pran. Powers-Johnson is the very first Oregon underclassman to declare for the draft.Also Monday, Powers-Johnson’s teammate, Oregon running back Bucky Irving, announced he will forgo his senior season and state for the draft.The junior running back from Chicago had back-to-back seasons of 1,000 rushing lawns or

  more and represented 10 hurrying touchdowns this past season. He is the eighth-ranked running back in Mel Kiper’s 2024 possibility rankings.Editor’s Picks 1 Associated”My time in Oregon is something I will never forget and love to my heart. It has actually truly altered my life,” Irving said in a statement posted on X.”I am genuinely blessed and humbled by the chance to make a long-lasting dream come to life.”After starting his college profession at Minnesota in 2021 and hurrying for 699 backyards

and four goals throughout that season, Irving transferred to Eugene ahead of his second college season. In his first year as a Duck, Irving rushed for 1,058 yards and five touchdowns.Irving followed up his sophomore campaign with a 1,063-yard season that likewise included 395 receiving lawns and 2

getting touchdowns.The Ducks are set to face Liberty on Jan. 1 in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.Additional reporting from ESPN’s Paolo Uggetti.