The name alone carries weight in Eugene. Akili Smith Jr. — 6-foot-5, 231 pounds, a consensus four-star recruit and one of the nation’s top 20 quarterbacks in the 2025 class — arrived at Oregon with pedigree, production and enormous upside. Ducks fans remember his father, Akili Smith, who starred at Oregon in 1998, throwing for 3,307 yards and 30 touchdowns …

