EUGENE, Ore. — Tuesday’s Pro Day marked not only the end of Casey Rogers’ time as an Oregon Duck, but the end of his time as a college football player. The 2023 season was Rogers’ sixth in college football, spending the last two years in Eugene after four years as a Nebraska Cornhusker.
“I took a gamble of leaving Nebraska to come here, and it completely blessed me back,” Rogers said on Tuesday. “I wouldn’t have wanted to play for any other program in the world. Just to come here, to buy in, and be fully engulfed in the Duck culture… It’s just been a blessing, it’s been the best thing I’ve ever done in the world.”
Originally a member of the 2017 recruiting class, Rogers, a native of Syracuse, New York, had plans to play lacrosse at Syracuse, where his father was an assistant coach but changed his mind, deciding that football would be the sport he pursued at the college level. He held scholarship offers from Western Michigan and West Virginia, but ultimately turned them down, deciding to take a post-grad year to increase his exposure as a football recruit. He headed to Old Farms Prep in Avon, Connecticut, where he helped lead them to an 8-1 record, taking them as far as the New England Class A state championship game.
As a 6-foot-4, 250-pound defensive end, Rogers was given a three-star rating by 247Sports. He was ranked just outside the top 1,000 recruits in the 2018 class, the 49th-best at his position, and the fourth-best player in the state of Connecticut.
At the end of his post-grad year, Rogers held offers from a multitude of Power Five programs but committed to play football at Nebraska, choosing the Cornhuskers over offers from Pitt, Oregon State, Indiana, and others.
An injury forced him to redshirt in his first season in Lincoln before he made his debut in 2019, playing in four games. He was able to gain experience behind Nebraska’s veteran D-line and finally found consistent playing time in 2020, playing in every game for the Cornhuskers while making one start.
Rogers would miss the first five games of the 2021 season with an injury before returning to play in the final seven games. Despite his playing time being limited due to injuries, 2021 was his best season to date, receiving a career-best 65.9 PFF grade.
After graduating in 2022, Rogers decided to hit the transfer portal, where he was again rated as a three-star prospect. At 23 years old with four years of college football experience and two years of eligibility remaining, he was able to catch the eye of Oregon’s brand new head coach, Dan Lanning, and Rogers committed to play for the Ducks in May.
With the Ducks, Rogers immediately found his role, playing in all 13 games while making 12 starts. He flourished with his new-found opportunity, and while he didn’t record any sacks, he set career highs across the board with 34 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 19 quarterback pressures. He scored his first career touchdown in his debut at Autzen Stadium against Eastern Washington when defensive back, Trikweze Bridges picked off a pass before fumbling the ball into the endzone on his return, allowing Rogers to jump on the fumble for six.
With the Ducks adding even more talent in 2023, Rogers saw his playing time decrease a bit. He played in all 14 games for Oregon, but only made two starts. Despite his decreased time on the field, that wouldn’t hold him back as he recorded a career-best 1.5 sacks in his final season.
Despite the steps he made on the field, his biggest accomplishment in 2023 came off of it. On senior night, and in Rogers’ final game in Autzen Stadium, Oregon demolished the rival Oregon State Beavers, 31-7. After the game, surrounded by his new family of Ducks, Rogers proposed to his long-time girlfriend, Maya, celebrating with his teammates after. The two got married in December.
Rogers closed out his college career in the Fiesta Bowl, as the Ducks obliterated the Liberty Flames 45-6, securing the sixth 12-win season in program history. Rogers recorded three tackles in the game.
The past two months have been a big change for Rogers as he trained for Oregon’s Pro Day, hoping to showcase his talents in front of NFL scouts.
“For the past two months, we’ve been training to become track athletes,” he said at Oregon’s Pro Day. “We were really working on getting the best times and running… it’s not exactly football stuff.”
“It wasn’t really a surprise, it was kinda just going back to being an athlete,” Rogers said about the differences in training for a Pro Day. “We focus so much on a lot of football movements when you’re in college, especially as big guys, it’s a lot of big man power, stuff like that. When we go back to being an athlete, it brought back a lot of high school feelings, just being an athlete. Running, it’s something we used to do every day, it’s going back to the fundamentals of a good 40 start. To me, it was just more of just being an athlete again
All that hard work showed on Tuesday, as Rogers annihilated the Pro Day’s testing. His impressive athleticism was on full display as he ran a 4.82-second 40-yard dash while posting a 35-inch vertical jump and a broad jump of 9 feet 8 inches. None of those marks would have ranked lower than second among defensive tackles at the NFL Combine, and his vertical jump would have led the group by an inch and a half.
“I really wanted to do my best to put my name out there,” Rogers said on Tuesday. “I know my abilities, I just wanted to make sure the scouts here who were in attendance got to see my abilities.”
“I know what I can do, I just wanted to show the world. To be able to come out here and put those numbers up was huge for me. It gives me more confidence going forward. Like I said, it was all about showcasing my talent and my athleticism, so I felt like I took advantage of today’s opportunity.”
Rogers also displayed his pure strength, putting up 25 reps on the bench press, the most of the 10 Ducks who benched on Tuesday. That number would have tied him for eighth at the Combine, although four of those who out-repped him weighed more than Rogers’ 294 pounds.
During his time in Eugene, he developed a great friendship with Oregon’s center, Jackson Power-Johnson, who was the best man at Rogers’ wedding. Powers-Johnson, a projected first-round pick and the consensus top center in the 2024 NFL Draft, spoke highly of Rogers on Tuesday.
“He did such an amazing job,” Powers-Johnson said of Rogers. “I don’t know where he’s gonna be drafted, but anyone who gets him is a diamond in the rough. He’s an amazing player, amazing person, has an amazing wife, and I was the best man at his wedding, so if you ask him that story it got pretty emotional. He’s just an amazing guy. Whoever gets him is truly getting an incredible d-lineman and an incredible person.”
“He got me by three [reps on the bench press], they took a couple away from me but he got that one, don’t remind him,” Rogers said of his friendly competition with Powers-Johnson. “But I got him on all the jumps and the 40 and every other competition we had, so actually remind him.”
“Competition, it fuels a lot of stuff. We’re all so close that we can have that competition and go out there and still root and cheer for each other.”
Not only did Tuesday mark the end of Rogers’ college football career, but it was his last chance to be on the field as a Duck, surrounded by the family he’s built over the last two years.
“It’s really one last hoorah with these guys, it’s one last time working out on the field with your boys and just having fun,” Rogers said. “It really kinda hit me over there after our d-line drills, when our d-line got together for the last time. This is it, man, this is what we were talking about at the end of the season and at the beginning of when we first got here was this day, and it’s over with. The next time we’ll see each other could be on an NFL field. It’s pretty surreal, but, again, I wouldn’t want to go out in this building with anybody else.”
Rogers is currently seen as a fringe prospect, not ranked on most draft boards. He turned 25 in December, which is the biggest knock on his profile as a prospect.
“What you’re getting is a more vetted guy, someone who’s been around the game of football for a pretty long time,” Rogers said of the concerns surrounding his age. “It comes with maturity, I’ve been around the block. Obviously not on an NFL field, but I’ve played football a lot. I have a lot of knowledge about the game, I’ve studied it. I’ve been in college for six years, been studying college football for six years, plus in high school.”
“It’s not like you’re getting some old guy who is the same maturity as a 22-year-old kid, you’re getting a 25-year-old who’s been around the block and, for me, has my life in order and is just ready to play football as a job.”
It’s been a long journey for Rogers to get where he is, but he’s had the help he’s needed every step of the way.
“I’m just extremely blessed to have been coached by every coach here,” he said. “Coach Tuioti, Coach Lanning, and to play with the guys I played with, I don’t think could’ve done it better anywhere else.”
After training for Oregon’s Pro Day for the last two months, his focus is now on becoming the best football player he can be.
“Now the next two months is getting back into football shape,” Rogers said. “Working on technique, a little bit more than what we have been. Studying film, just trying to get ahead as much as you can before you get put on a team and given a playbook. You wanna be tip-top shape, ready to rock when your name’s called.”
As Rogers said, he took a gamble by leaving Nebraska to come to Eugene, but now, as he prepares for the NFL Draft and the next stage of his life, he’s grateful for the family he’s built.
“I’m having a hard time packing my stuff up and leaving Eugene,” Rogers said. “It’s somewhere that I plan on being, coming back a ton in my future. Hopefully someday if I have kids, hopefully someday they’ll be Ducks.”
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