Another Nebraska player is making the move to Eugene. Cornhuskers defensive lineman Casey Rogers announced his plans Wednesday to transfer to Oregon after recently narrowing his options down to the Ducks, USC and Auburn. The junior from Syracuse, New York will get to reunite with his former defensive line coach at Nebraska, Tony Tuioti, who is now leading the Oregon defensive line group.
The Ducks added another Nebraska defensive lineman, Jordon Riley, back in January after he made the decision to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Rogers, who is on track to graduate this spring, made the decision to evaluate options by entering the portal on April 21. Since that time he added several offers from programs such as Washington, Oregon State, Arkansas, Louisville, TCU, Virginia and Purdue in addition to the schools that made his final three.
The 6-foot-5, 295-pound defensive lineman has battled injuries at different points in his career but has remained productive when he’s on the field. He was forced to miss five games last season after suffering an injury in training camp, and Rogers did not take part in spring ball with the Cornhuskers because of a knee injury.
He finished 2021 with 17 tackles, three tackles for loss and 1/2 a sack. Rogers did end the season on a personal high note, however. He tied a career high against No. 17 Iowa with five tackles to go with a tackle for loss and 1/2 a sack.
The graduate transfer, who is only a junior and has two years of eligibility left, has played in 19 games overall and has collected 42 tackles, 6 1/2 tackles for loss and 1 1/2 sacks over the course of his three seasons on the field for the Cornhuskers after redshirting his freshman year.
His most productive season came in the shortened 2020 campaign as Rogers was able to remain healthy and play in all eight games. He had 24 tackles that season to go along with three tackles for loss and one sack.
Off the field Rogers has collected several honors over the course of his career including being named an Academic All-Big Ten selection in each of the last three years plus he has been part of the Brook Berringer Citizenship team and the Tom Osborne Citizenship team in three of the last four years.
Rogers visited USC in addition to Oregon before making his decision.
His addition gives the Ducks another piece on the defensive side of the ball via the transfer portal with Oregon being active in the transfer market since Dan Lanning took over the program as head coach.
Earlier in the offseason the Ducks added Colorado standout defensive back Christian Gonzalez and Washington defensive lineman Sam “Taki” Taimani in addition to Riley to help bolster the defensive side of the ball.
In all, Oregon has added eight transfer players this offseason with Rogers now in the mix.