West Salem's Trent Ferguson Went From Hoops to a Full Ride After 4 Football Games

Trent Ferguson had played all of four football games in his life when Oregon coaches showed up to watch him. By the end of that fourth game, the Ducks had seen enough. Now a redshirt sophomore battling for a starting spot on Oregon's offensive line, Ferguson's path from West Salem High School basketball standout to Big Ten lineman remains one of the more improbable recruiting stories on the Ducks' roster.

Ferguson's football career almost never happened. He dislocated his heel while attempting to block a shot on the basketball court between his sophomore and junior years, an injury that derailed a promising hoops path built on the frame he inherited from his father, Joe Ferguson, who played as a 6-foot-8 forward for the University of Portland in the early 1990s, according to OregonLive.com. While recovering, he watched the NFL Combine and decided to give football a shot for the first time as a junior at West Salem High School.

The transition was rough at first. Ferguson lacked any real knowledge of offensive-line technique when he began, but he leaned on advice from Marty Maurer, a former NFL player and Oregon State graduate, who told him, per Ferguson, that he would make a great offensive lineman. Ferguson set three small goals for himself each day as he learned the position on the fly, per the same account.

A Breakthrough Against Future College Talent

Ferguson only played the final four games of his junior season, but the fourth one changed everything. Lining up at right tackle against Eugene's Sheldon High School, he held his own against future college defensive ends without allowing a sack — a game that validated his raw potential against a Sheldon squad that went on to reach Oregon's 6A state championship game. Sheldon linebacker Teitum Tuioti, who lined up against Ferguson that day, would later become his teammate at Oregon.

Oregon coaches attended that fourth game in person. Then-offensive line coach Adrian Klemm told Ferguson afterward that the Ducks wanted to offer him a full scholarship, and head coach Dan Lanning said Ferguson's size and physicality stood out even in film of him playing lacrosse. Oregon extended the offer almost immediately after Lanning saw the potential in him, a remarkable bet given the program's access to elite offensive line talent nationwide.

Ferguson visited Eugene just days after Lanning viewed his film, part of a broader push by Lanning's staff to lock down top in-state talent, a strategy that also brought in 2024 tight end commit A.J. Pugliano from North Medford High School, as Sports Illustrated reported at the time. Ferguson ultimately committed to Oregon on April 12, 2023, choosing the Ducks over offers from USC, Oregon State, Washington State, Boise State and Nevada.

From 295 Pounds to a Big Ten Body

When Ferguson first started playing football, he weighed 295 pounds. He gained 50 pounds in five months as he transformed his frame for the offensive line, and by the time he arrived at Oregon he was working under new offensive line coach A'lique Terry, who had joined Dan Lanning's staff from the NFL ranks after Klemm's departure. According to the 247Sports Composite, Ferguson entered college as a three-star prospect ranked No. 859 nationally and the No. 5 overall recruit in Oregon.

Ferguson enrolled at Oregon in April 2024 and spent that spring learning offensive-line fundamentals essentially from scratch. He redshirted his entire true freshman season without appearing in a game, all while practicing against first-round draft picks and getting challenged daily on the scout team by Derrick Harmon, who helped sharpen his technique. Defensive-line coach Tony Tuioti was part of the staff Ferguson worked alongside during that development period.

The investment started to pay off in 2025. Ferguson played in all 15 of Oregon's games that season, logging 36 snaps at left tackle and 21 more as an extra lineman in the Ducks' jumbo goal-line packages. Off the field, Ferguson traveled to the Dominican Republic with fellow Oregon athletes, where the group built a basketball court for local children through a church program.

Competing for a Starting Job in Fall Camp

On Oregon's official 2026 roster, Ferguson is now listed at 6-foot-7 and 322 pounds, wearing jersey No. 56 — a physical transformation from the raw 295-pound recruit who first strapped on pads three years ago. During fall camp, Lanning has publicly praised Ferguson's growth, work ethic, and his ability to move people up front, as the Ducks work to settle their starting offensive line rotation ahead of the season.

Ferguson is now contending for a spot in that unsettled rotation. He has said he feels he can repay the trust Oregon showed him by playing to the program's standard, a fitting bookend for a player who, three years and one dislocated heel ago, hadn't played a single down of organized football.