In his senior year Josh Huff set an Oregon record for receiving yards with 62 catches for 1140, 18.4 a catch with 12 touchdowns, but that is just the beginning of the great career the Houston native had as a Duck.
As a true freshman in 2010 he had an 85-yard run, a 57-yard pass reception and and an 80-yard kick return, on the way to 1,086 all-purpose yards.
Call him a Duck: Josh Huff dives in for a 16-yard touchdown in the Alamo Bowl, one of the 26 he scored in his brilliant Oregon career. (Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports).
As a sophomore he played half a season with a stress fracture in his leg, and had a 59-yard touchdown in a 53-30 win over Stanford. Against USC and California in 2012 he had 11 receptions for 234 yards and five touchdowns in two weeks, a Megatron-like perfomance from the 5-11, 205-lb. returner/running back/receiver.
In his senior year he had 6 100-yard games, including a 9-catch, 186-yard, 3-touchdown explosion against Oregon State in the Civil War, grabbing one td on 4th and 12 with the Ducks down 29-24 in the 4th quarter, then the game-winner with 29 seconds to play, a leaping, twisting grab between two defenders in a 36-35 classic.
Through it all, Josh Huff played hurt. He made big plays. He finished clutch catches and went over the middle. He improved vastly, a 70/30 receiver as a young player, more athlete than elite wideout, becoming a gritty, every-down reception machine as a senior under the tutelage of Matt Lubick.
Huff got it. He played with heart and ferocity, a guy who left it all on the field, who could be moved to tears by a frustrating loss. After the Alamo Bowl in the last game of his senior year the reporters asked him about the receiving record. “It still doesn’t mean anything to me,” Huff said. “It’s a pleasure to be in the record books, but records come and go, but the victory stays forever.”
The popular senior with the infectious smile was 47-6 as a Duck, with four top Ten finishes and two BCS Bowl wins, including the first Rose Bowl since 1916. He wanted a National Championship, and he cried when the opportunity was slipping away. Nobody can ever accuse Josh Huff of not making a championship effort. One day the Ducks might complete that dream, even this year, and if they do, the courage and consistency of players like Josh Huff, Cristin McClemore and Jeff Maehl will be the foundation on which that achievement was built.
Huff and teammate Taylor Hart will represent Oregon in the Senior Bowl on January 25th, and each has a good chance of being drafted in May. Both of them will be Ducks always, Ducks that fans will remember as long as there is college football.
From Mike Wines of Oregon Duck Soup and Youtube Channel MadMike1951, the Josh Huff career highlight video. Note how many times he breaks tackles, drags defenders for extra yards, and makes a big play with a defender draped all over him:
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