Oregon cornerback Jahlil Florence ready to prove himself again after missing 2024

Published 6:58 pm Thursday, July 31, 2025

There may not be a member of the 2025 Oregon football team more ready to start playing than redshirt junior cornerback Jahlil Florence.

When Florence takes the field for the first time during the 2025 season, it’ll be the first time in nearly two years that he’s appeared in a game for the Ducks. The former four-star recruit from California was no stranger to Oregon’s secondary in his freshman 2022 season, and similarly so during the 2023 campaign. He appeared in 19 games in the two-year sample, logging all of his nine career starts as a sophomore before an injury ended his season early — and took away the next in the process.

“It was the last snap of the second second half versus Arizona State, 2023,” Florence said. “
So (there were) two seconds left… and I was away from the play. I just happened to get rolled up on and that happened to be an 18-month injury.”

He didn’t share specifics about the injury beyond saying it was his right knee and required a graft transplant, instead focusing on the long and difficult road to recovery.

Florence said that he never expected to miss the length of time that he did, thinking that the injury would hold him off the gridiron for a month or so. Suddenly, it was August 2024 and he and his Ducks team were staring down the barrel of their inaugural season as Big Ten Conference members. Florence, however, still wasn’t cleared to play.

The road back

“Going out there for the first game of the season and I wasn’t on the field, it definitely brought a little tear to my eyes,” Florence said. “I was just missing the field and being out there with my guys.”

He missed week one. And then week two. And three, and so on and so forth. Meanwhile, his Oregon teammates rattled off one of the most impressive seasons in program history. The Ducks’ 13-0 record marked the second perfect regular season in school history, joining the 2011 national championship runners-up, and came with a Big Ten Championship trophy as well as a College Football Playoff berth.

On the day of the 2025 Rose Bowl, Oregon’s 41-21 loss to Ohio State in the CFP quarterfinals, Florence remained sidelined. He donned a full uniform in Pasadena with his Ducks teammates, even going through pregame drills. Florence said he was on the precipice of playing that day, but the Ducks coaching staff ultimately decided to shelve him for what proved to be Oregon’s final game of the 2024 season.

“There definitely was a chance of being clear to go,” Florence said. “But the coaches just said, ‘No, it’s not really worth it.’ (And) felt like we could go with the guys that we had out there.”

He called the season spent watching from the sidelines difficult but said he found joy in the journey back and a renewed appreciation for the sport he’s played since childhood.

“It was a sad year for me mentally,” Florence said. “(But) coming back right now, I’m really looking at (football) differently every single day. (I’m) not taking it for granted, just knowing how it can be taken from you at any time. I just got to go out there and just take each day by each day.”

Competition Aplenty

Now fully cleared to practice, Florence is back on the field and prepping for the 2025 season. It was a pleasant sight to see for Ducks head coach Dan Lanning, who made mention of the redshirt-junior during his press conference following the beginning of fall camp.

“Its been a while since he’s been healthy,” Lanning said. “To see him out there, running around healthy (and) able to communicate what we’re doing, that’s refreshing to see.”

Despite his contributions as an underclassman, Florence made it clear he wasn’t promised — and didn’t expect — a starting role in Oregon’s defense.

The Ducks lost all five starters in the secondary this past offseason and set about restocking the backend of the defense with premier talent. The incoming group is laden with high-profile recruits and transfers, such as five-star freshman Na’eem Offord and Purdue transfer Dillon Thieneman. For some, it may have been a sign to find a new team to play for, or cause for frustration after spending so much time with the program.

But to Florence, it’s an opportunity to compete with some of the best in the sport and a chance to once again show why he belongs in the green and yellow.

“I feel like I’ve still got a lot to show these coaches,” Florence said. “What I did in the past, I feel like that really (was) so long ago and college football has changed so much (since then). So I feel like I’ve still got to prove myself to these coaches again.”