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EUGENE – In his first game of the season, Hunter Kampmoyer had the best game of his career.
The Oregon senior tight end had five catches for 70 yards and a touchdown, surpassing his career total yards and tying all of his receptions from last season, to help lead the No.11 Ducks in a victory 38-35 vs. UCLA at Autzen Stadium on Saturday.
“Hunter is a conscientious, tough and hard-working guy, an incredible teammate and leader, a really important guy for this football team,” said Oregon coach Mario Cristobal. “Having him there today, he provided a spark and made critical plays and critical blocks too. So happy to find him.
Four of Kampmoyer’s five receptions went for either a first down or a touchdown, each of them having traveled at least 11 yards.
His 12-yard touchdown was the second of his career and gave Oregon a 38-28 at the end of the third, which was just enough for the win.
Kampmoyer, who missed the first games of the season with an unspecified injury, added catches for a career of 26 yards, 20 yards in the fourth quarter.
“Hunter has stepped up his efforts on a few of these flat routes,” said quarterback Tyler Shough. “I was really proud of the work on the ends tonight. It’s great to have a lot of flexibility on that, and Hunter and I have a lot of chemistry going back to last year. It’s good to have a veteran in our roster.
With the return of Kampmoyer, Oregon turned to more of its two understaffed packs than in the previous two weeks, when used almost exclusively on short-distance runs and pass options. passage.
He wasn’t the only tight end of the Ducks in uniform on Saturday. Cam McCormick, who has missed almost entirely the past two seasons, and Spencer Webb were both dressed but did not play.
“(Kampmoyer and DJ Johnson) are very good football players,” Cristobal said. “They are tough, physical, athletic. We felt that there were elements of the staff that we could take advantage of, sometimes we did, sometimes it didn’t. But having these two guys and Cam McCormick is getting healthy and he’s getting, he’s really, really close and has been taking reps at full speed this week. So we feel like our core group is going to be back, and we think this is one of the best.
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