The Oregon football team enters the 2024 season as one of the best in the country and a popular pick to finish toward the top of the Big Ten Conference. Oregon has a lot of talent entering the season and they were in the top-5 in the preseason AP poll.

The Ducks begin the season with a home game against Idaho on August 31 and they are massive favorites, unsurprisingly. However, they got a concerning update as starting running back Jordan James missed practice on Wednesday.

On the other hand, Oregon coach Dan Lanning eased any concerns with a key update, per James Crepea of The Oregonian.

‘Dan Lanning said Jordan James was held out of practice for precautionary reasons, some wear and tear from camp. James was limited early on Tuesday too. DL My'Keil Gardner is out for a while, Lanning said.'

Lanning also mentioned that My'Keil Gardner will be out for some time with an injury, which is a tough loss for the defensive line.

Jordan James set for big workload with Oregon

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With Bucky Irving off for the NFL, James is widely expected to be the starting running back and a workhorse for the Ducks offense. But, as Lanning mentioned, it is precautionary, which is certainly a promising sign for the program.

Last year, James had 107 carries for 759 yards with 11 touchdowns as a sophomore. With Dillon Gabriel under center, James should see big numbers in 2024, so dealing with any sort of injury would've been a tough blow.

However, Lanning insists it was “precautionary,” per Erik Skopil of 247Sports.

“Yeah, it was just precautionary today. We pulled him out. He's had a lot of wear and tear, and we felt this was a good day to pull some off of him.”

Oregon still has time before the season begins, so it will be worth monitoring the status of Jordan James ahead of Week 1.