De’Anthony Thomas Expects to Play Saturday vs. UCLA

After putting up 45 points or more in each of their last four games, the Oregon Ducks haven’t seemed to be missing any ingredients from their potent offensive formula, but what’s truly frightening for their upcoming opponents is they actually have.

In the past four weeks, the Ducks have rolled to a 7-0 record, despite the absence of star running back De’Anthony Thomas, who suffered an ankle injury in a game against Cal back on Sept. 28. However, that ankle appears to have fully healed, as Thomas said he expects to suit up for Oregon’s match-up against the UCLA Bruins this Saturday.

“I should play Saturday,” Thomas told The Oregonian earlier this week.

While it’s not quite a confirmation, the news is obviously good for the Ducks, who are already ranked second in the nation in scoring offense (57.6 points per game). In starting the first three games of the season, Thomas rushed for 338 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 8.0 yards per carry.

Of course, the only concern for Oregon is Thomas taking a big hit and possibly re-injuring the ankle, but that’s a concern Thomas himself doesn’t share.

“When I’m in the game, I don’t really get hit that much,’’ Thomas said.

While the Ducks have been just as successful at putting up points without Thomas in the lineup, there’s no doubt that the dynamic speedster gives opposing defenses even more to worry about. As a runner, pass-catcher and return man, Thomas is a nightmare triple-threat for opponents and a multi-tooled weapon for the Oregon arsenal. However, with the rise of running backs Bryon Marshall and Thomas Tyner in recent weeks and with the improved play of Oregon’s receivers, it’s unclear how many touches Thomas will get and how he will be used on Saturday.

“We’ll have to wait and find out from a game-plan standpoint how everything shakes out,” Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich said, according to an ESPN.com report. “Your personnel groups are obviously dictated by what you can do. We’ve had a lot of receivers step up and play really well on the perimeter. I think Byron [Marshall] and Thomas [Tyner] have very bright futures, so we’ll fit that all together and see what turns out.”

Whether Thomas is used primarily as a runner or as a receiver, he should give Oregon a better chance to cover the 21-point spread of which it is the favorite. We’ll see if that line changes due to Thomas’ availability, but for now I would lean towards the Ducks to cover -21 this weekend.