Jamari Johnson is still a work in progress.
The Oregon tight end has plenty of room to grow as a player, and although the guy he’s lined up to replace has moved on to the NFL, Johnson remains every bit a college athlete , capable of delivering very college-athlete soundbites, like the embarrassing bit earlier this month about his quarterback’s bathroom habits that spread quickly online.
“He’s a jokester,” Dante Moore said. “I’m pretty sure everyone has heard recently what’s happened.”
Indeed, the 6-foot-5, 255-pound senior is the so-called heir apparent to Kenyon Sadiq, a physical marvel who hauled in 51 passes for 560 yards and eight touchdowns last season before the New York Jets took him in the first round of the NFL Draft.
There are habits and techniques Johnson is trying to borrow from Sadiq, but his quarterback insists Johnson will always be his own person , and that extends to his larger-than-life personality away from the field.
Besides, he didn’t exactly volunteer for the spotlight.
“Questions need answers,” Johnson said. “And that’s what I’m here for.”
That much was already starting to show before Sadiq ever departed Eugene. Johnson’s 510 receiving yards last season rank sixth-most by an Oregon tight end in a single year, and he closed out his sophomore year on a strong note: a 41-yard one-handed touchdown grab in the playoff opener against James Madison, 66 yards in the Orange Bowl against Texas Tech, and a career-best 83 yards with a touchdown in Oregon’s season-capping loss to the Hoosiers.
It was the most crushing defeat of Johnson and Moore’s careers, and a long embrace in the locker room afterward laid the groundwork for their 2026 push back toward the top.
“That man means the world to me,” Johnson said. “He’s a man amongst boys. That hug was an emotional moment , one, because we lost, and two, I didn’t know if he was going to leave or not.”
Moore decided to return.
“Another reason I came back was because of him. The last hug we had in the Indiana locker room, crying on each other’s shoulders. I hate that feeling. It brings fire to my soul right now,” Moore said. “So yeah, he’s going to ball out.”
Johnson confirmed that is exactly the plan.
Johnson arrived at fall camp after a summer of “working my tail off,” he said, and his potential was on display in coach Dan Lanning’s media day remarks.
“Last year I sat up here and talked about a tight end at Oregon and how special he was, in Kenyon Sadiq. Jamari is also that special,” Lanning said. “He can run, he can block, he can catch.”
He’s not quite Sadiq: Oregon’s former tight end possessed better straight-line speed, and Johnson’s hurdling ability remains untested. But Johnson brings a more traditional tight end build, anchored by an enormous catch radius.
The biggest thing Johnson has to match isn’t Sadiq’s game , it’s the standard Sadiq set, both statistically and in setting an example.
“Kenyon used to get to the facility at 4:45 in the morning,” Moore said. “You know, hot tub, stretching, and (Johnson’s) done the same thing with just learning his routine. Not saying he has to play like Kenyon, because at the end of the day, you’re yourself. But just picking up those habits, just learning from the players that have done something in our lives that we want to do.”
Johnson got a small taste over the summer of what it’s like to leave a mark.
Back in his hometown of Rochester, New York, in June, Johnson put on the Jamari Johnson Youth Football Camp for kids in grades 3 through 12. He spent most of the day greeting campers and offering words of encouragement, but Johnson admitted he felt a bit of pride after watching his younger cousin pull in a pass following a sideline pep talk.
“He did the route, ran and scored a touchdown,” Johnson said. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah! This is why you listen to me!'”
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