Oregon Adds Former Hawaii Safety Donovan Dalton During Spring Football

The Ducks pick up another piece for their very young secondary.

The Ducks continue to make their way through spring practice, completing their sixth of fifteen workouts on Tuesday. However this time there was a new face on the practice fields, as former Hawaii Safety Donovan Dalton joined the Oregon Football program during spring ball on Tuesday.  

The Apple Valley, Minn. native spent the last four seasons with the Rainbow Warriors before entering the transfer portal on Nov. 30 of last year. 

Dalton will wear No. 30 for the Ducks this season. The 6-foot-4, 200-pounder started his college career at Hawaii back in 2017, when he utilized a redshirt year. 

During his time in the Mountain West he totaled 41 tackles and defended seven passes. As a senior in 2020 he played in all nine games during the pandemic-shortened season. He did not appear in any games during the 2021 season.

Dalton added one interception in his five seasons of play and will play his sixth season at Oregon. He was coached at Hawaii by former Rainbow Warrior Defensive Backs Coach Trent Figg, who is now an offensive analyst at Oregon. 

Figg, like Lanning, also attended William Jewell College, and the connection between Figg and Dalton played a role in the addition.

"Obviously a good relationship there in the past of what kind of player he was," Lanning said. "That piece was big."

When asked about whether or not he'd be a scholarship player on Tuesday, Lanning simply stated "it doesn't matter."

The Ducks welcomed back safety JJ Greenfield last week, who originally came to Oregon as a member of the 2020 signing class, but spent last season playing at the College of San Mateo.

Oregon signed two safeties in the 2022 signing class in Trejon Williams out of Jefferson (Portland, Ore.) and Khamari Terrell from Shoemaker (Killeen, Tex.) High School. Both of those players aren't expected to join the team until the summer. 

The Ducks lost Verone McKinley III to the NFL Draft, and will turn to familiar names like safeties Bennett Williams, Jamal Hill and Steve Stephens to step up in the secondary.

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