EUGENE, Ore. — Around one year ago, Jabbar Muhammad helped lead his Washington Huskies to a rivalry week victory over the Washington State Cougars, helping to cap off the Huskies' first undefeated regular season since 1991. Now, Muhammad finds himself in a familiar situation, once again hoping to conclude a 12-0 season. Except this time on the other side of Washington's new Big Ten rivalry week matchup with the No. 1 Oregon Ducks.
The 2024 season marks the end of a lengthy and prolific college career for the native of DeSoto, Texas that took him to Stillwater, Seattle, and finally to Eugene, where he's starred at cornerback for the Ducks. Despite readying to play his former team for the first time, Muhammad hasn't let it affect his preparation this week in practice.
"It's just another game honestly," he said after Oregon's practice this week. "Just ready to go out there and compete with my bros."
Growing up in Texas, Muhammad was well aware of the massive college football rivalries between teams in the SEC and Big 12. But last season with the Huskies, he was fully introduced to the Oregon-Washington rivalry for the first time.
"It's a really fierce rivalry," Muhammad said of the bitterness between the two teams. "Obviously, the fans really don't get along too well but it's a really fierce rivalry. Me coming from the South, I didn't know it was that crazy. I'm used to Texas-OU and Auburn-Bama but this is up there with those rivalries, it's pretty crazy. Just to be a part of it is pretty cool."
Muhammad won both of his matchups against the Ducks last season and Washington made it all the way to the national championship game before suffering its first loss to Michigan. The Huskies were poised to lose talented players like Michael Penix Jr., Rome Odunze, and Troy Fautanu to the NFL draft, but when head coach Kalen DeBoer left to succeed the legendary Nick Saban at Alabama, it spurred a mass exodus to the transfer portal of those who remained — including Muhammad. A few weeks later, he chose to take his talents to Eugene rather than following DeBoer to Tuscaloosa, picking the school that he says every kid dreams of playing for.
"Being a kid, everybody dreams of coming to Oregon," Muhammad said after one of the Ducks' spring practices back in April. "When I got into the portal I got in contact with the coaches. They talked about what they could do for me here, what they had building here, and it was something that attracted me. We just went from there."
Although much of Washington's production from their Pac-12 championship team a year ago is gone, Muhammad is very familiar with the Huskies' top two receivers this season: Denzel Boston and Giles Jackson. Boston leads Washington's receiver room with 764 yards and nine touchdowns this season while Jackson has caught a team-best 64 passes.
"He's a really good wideout," Muhammad said of his former teammate Boston. "I feel like this year he's put everything together and has really come into his own. He's really good in the intermediate game, the quick game, and the deep game so he's a really complete receiver. I'm looking forward to going against him on Saturday.
"He's agile, really quick in the slot," he added of Jackson's game. "Really good with yards after the catch so we're gonna have to do a good job trying to contain him."
Even as Muhammad has continued to emphasize that this is just another football game for him, his head coach Dan Lanning knows what it means for him to compete against his former team.
"I'm sure it means a ton. In fact, I know it means a ton," Lanning said. "But again, I think he knows that it's more about going out there and executing than anything else."
With the Ducks now refreshed from their first bye week since September, Muhammad says the energy in practice hasn't been an issue. Oregon is now just one win away from its first 12-0 regular season finish since 2010 — the only one in program history — but that hasn't changed the way that Lanning has prepared his team.
"We do a pretty good job every week of bringing the energy in practice," Muhammad said. "I think Coach Lanning, he motivates us. We got the music out there playing, everybody's dancing around in 20-degree weather. I think it's pretty cool to go out there and have fun in practice."
Even teammates who played against him twice last season on the other side of this rivalry know that Muhammad is all-in this year for the Ducks.
"I love that dude, I think he's embraced his role as a Duck and he's great for our squad," starting linebacker and Eugene native Bryce Boettcher said of Muhammad. "Great teammate, great football player, and he knows all about the rivalry."
The intensity of the most bitter rivalry in the Northwest caught him by surprise last season, but now the focus is all on the field, where he has been Oregon's top lockdown option on the outside. Muhammad leads the team with eight pass breakups while allowing opponents to complete just 45.1 percent of passes when targeted, the best mark among the Ducks' defensive backs.
"Last year I was pretty surprised by the rivalry, but honestly, football is football. It is what it is. I kinda tune all of that out and go execute my job."
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