Apr 09, 2014 03:28 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

You only need to take a look at the Washington Redskins receiving corps to note the downward direction in which the wide receiver position in football has grown. (Desean Jackson, Santana Moss, and Andre Roberts are all under 5-foot-10 while Pierre Garcon is an average 6-foot-2.) Perhaps the trend inspired the University of Oregon's 5-foot-8 point guard Johnathan Loyd to join the football team for next fall. He's already taken part in spring practices, ESPN reported.

As the winningest player in Oregon basketball history (two tournament apperances) and a four-year starter, Loyd will hope to bring more than just quickness and good hands to the football team.

As of now, however, the coaching staff and his new teammates are only interested in testing his current abilities as a pass catcher.

"It's his first day in four years of playing football, and he's out here with the Oregon Ducks and holding his own," receiver Keanon Lowe told ESPN. "You can tell he's a natural football player. And I don't think I saw him drop one pass all day."

In another era, Loyd probably would have tried out for cornerback (a la Nate Robinson at Washington) -- a more traditional position for a man his size. In fact, cornerback was where he played in high school, indicating that such an era was only a short while ago. Today, cornerbacks are growing larger (if the Seahawks are any indication), while receivers and maybe even quarterbacks (if Johnny Manziel is to judge) have gone the other way.

More interesting about Loyd's football position choice was how it relates to his position in basketball, point guard. After existing mostly as a role-playing assist man in his four years (4.7 ppg, 2.3 apg career averages, including 4.7 apg his senior year), perhaps Loyd wanted someone else to set him up for a change.

Wide receiver, as Loyd pointed out, is also a relatively straightforward position.

"That's one thing I can do -- I can catch the ball," Loyd said. "I can run and I can catch. Receiver is not too much different than anything else."

To play football next year, Loyd is invoking a rarely used rule that gives student athletes who've exhausted their eligibility in one sport to play one year (and only one year) of another sport, according to ESPN. Likely, Loyd needs at least another semester to gradudate. I don't think the rule would apply if he wasn't still enrolled.

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