Tyner injured his shoulder while returning a kickoff last year against Washington in the season’s seventh game.
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Tyner was a five-star recruit in the class of 2013.
Tyner ran for 573 yards and five touchdowns last season, including for 33 yards against the Spartans on September 6 against Michigan State.
At media day following Monday’s walk-through, UO coach Mark Helfrich said Tyner won’t participate in preseason camp but otherwise didn’t elaborate on a timeline for his return to the team; Bair has opted to retire from football.
From a conference-wide perspective, the only other relevant takeaway is that Helfrich confirmed running back Thomas Tyner is not with the team. Although this loss may force the Ducks to change their strategy, they must maintain a “next-man-up mentality”.
“Byron Marshall, a 1,000-yard receiver and rusher, is the natural guy that everybody would look to”, Helfrich said.
Thomas Tyner will likely forgo his Junior season and have two years of eligbility remaining starting with the 2016 season.
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“We have an awesome group of guys at running back and I think we’re going to be absolutely fine”, said offensive lineman Doug Brenner. He was also the featured back in Oregon’s two playoff games. As a senior transfer, he needs to finish his degree before he can come play for the Ducks for the 2015 season. Tyner had a lot of hype coming out of Aloha High School and his time at Oregon so far has been average at best. Lack of experience does not mean a lack of productivity in the Ducks offense, as Freeman showed last season, but redshirt sophomore Kani Benoit only has 23 career carries while Tony Brooks-James and Taj Griffin have yet to make an appearance in a game.
