EUGENE — Oregon will have a fourth new starting quarterback in as many seasons when it opens the 2022 season against Georgia.

Anthony Brown Jr.’s two-season stint at UO came to a close following his 10-4 run as a starter in 2021. Brown completed 64.1% of his passes for 2,989 yards with 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions and ran for a career-high 658 yards and nine scores.

The Ducks added Bo Nix, a three-year starter from Auburn, in December and lost No. 4 quarterback Robby Ashford to the Tigers last month. Nix joins a room that includes second-year freshman Ty Thompson and third-year freshman Jay Butterfield.

“Adding Bo Nix to the fold, we added somebody who’s a fierce competitor,” offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham said during an appearance on UO’s in-house coverage of national signing day. “He’s come in here and he’s done everything he could to be the very best version of himself. You’ve got guys like Ty and Jay who are here and they’re trying to be the best versions of themselves. If everybody can be the best version of themself, if everybody can just compete to be the very best them, then whatever happens happens and they’re going to be the very best version of them so everybody wins.”

At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, Nix is physically the smallest of Oregon’s QBs and also by far the most experienced.

Last season, Nix completed a career-high 61% of his throws for 2,294 yards with 11 touchdowns and three interceptions and ran for 168 yards and four scores in 10 games before suffering a fractured ankle. Nix’s tenure at Auburn was a wide variety of highs and lows, not all of them due to his own play. He’ll be working behind by far the best offensive line he’s ever had, with better receivers than Auburn had in 2021.

In reuniting with Dillingham, Nix works with the offensive coordinator with whom he had the most explosiveness and all-around success in 2019, though Gus Malzahn was still calling Auburn’s plays. Returning to that offensive system and terminology combined with much better protection, comparable skill-position weapons and lesser competition from Pac-12 defenses all bodes well for Nix’s chances for success.

Thompson got very limited playing time as the backup last season and may get a truer opportunity to compete for the starting job this spring than any point last year.

He’s a dual-threat with a big arm, but those outside the program haven’t had a chance to see Thompson in many game-like situations to assess his decision-making.

Butterfield enters his third season working with a second coordinator, and Marcus Arroyo was the play-caller who recruited him.

The 6-foot-6, 218-pound Butterfield only saw action in one game in 2021, but he might have the strongest arm in the room.

“I love the group,” Dillingham said. “I think they have great chemistry already. I think they’re guys that are willing and hungry to learn and … dedicated. When you’re talking about quarterback play you have to have the dedication to be great. It’s not one of those things that you can show up on game day and go out there and be a Heisman Trophy winner. You got to bring it every single day.

“I think as a group I think we have a mindset — it wasn’t me; it was here before we got there — I think they got this mindset that they want to be great and they want to compete. Not everybody in today’s day and age wants to compete. When you have guys who want to compete, competition builds greatness and that’s what we’re trying to do.”