EUGENE -- It's a question that's been asked numerous times over the last year, and on Tuesday afternoon there was finally a different response.

How is Pharaoh Brown doing? Do you expect him to play?

"Yeah," Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said on the first day of spring camp.

Brown, Oregon's senior tight end, missed all of 2015 after suffering a devastating leg injury against Utah in November of 2014. He was around Oregon's facility last season, becoming a limited participant in practice while rehabbing his leg.

Comments on Brown generally revolved around the health of the 6-foot-6 tight end. He looks good, they would say, but would give no further comment regarding the timetable of his return.

That changed on Tuesday. It wasn't just Helfrich that expects Brown back, either.

Tight ends coach Tom Osborne said he would be shocked if Brown didn't suit up this season. While he still hasn't been 100 percent cleared to play in a game, Osborne said Brown's made monumental progress.

"Oh yeah, I have no doubt he plays this season," Osborne said. "Playing football, that's what motivates him. Because that's his mindset, that creates a work ethic to try and get him healthy enough to play. When you go through what he's gone though, I don't know how many guys will do that. I have no doubt he'll put himself in position to play. No doubt at all."

If Brown returns to 100 percent, the Ducks will have one of the deepest tight end groups in the country. Brown earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors in 2014 after catching six touchdown passes despite missing the last five games of the season, while Johnny Mundt and Evan Baylis both garnered plenty of experience in his absence last year.

"The nice thing about having some older tight ends is those guys don't have to be babysat so much in terms of what to do, what our expectations level is, how we want them to practice, how we want them to play," Osborne said. "It allows us to spend time, the extra time, with the younger guys to get those guys caught up to where they can go as well."

-- Tyson Alger

talger@oregonian.com

@tysonalger