EUGENE -- On Thursday evenings when school is in session at the University of Oregon, Bralon Addison can often be found slouched low in a cineplex chair as the lights dim and the newest movies roll.



In this college town the only nicer venue to take in a movie is the theater in the Oregon Ducks' Hatfield-Dowlin Complex, with its 170 Ferrari-leather upholstered seats. As a junior receiver and the team's resident cinephile, Addison has spent untold hours staring at screens in each.



Long after the last Blockbuster closed in Eugene, Addison's apartment might be the next best thing with its Netflix subscription and sprawling collection of DVDs.



But on nights when new movies premiere, Addison ventures out. Two cineplexes are within a 10-minute drive, but he is not limited by genre, nor distance.



Once, when a movie opened in Portland but not Eugene, he drove the two hours north, saw the movie, turned around and drove two hours home. He understands how it sounds, but tells the story as if there were no other choice to be made: Of course he was going to see the movie. And of course he was going to make his meeting at Oregon's football complex the next morning at 7 a.m.



Yet for all of his understanding of structure and plot, Addison has no idea how his own third act at Oregon will finish. Next month he approaches the anniversary of the plot twist any football player dreads most -- the one whose memory has played on loop for 12 months.



And twist is the operative word.



"I'll never forget it," Addison said in an interview. "I think about it a lot, just reminiscing and thinking back on it and just how fast it happened and how fast that time has gone by."



During a scrimmage last April in the second week of Oregon's spring practices, Addison turned upfield, ball in his hand. With safety Erick Dargan bearing down for a two-hand "tag" tackle, Addison coiled to cut past him, putting all his weight on his right foot as it planted.



"I guess my knee stayed there," Addison said. "And I kept going."



His anterior cruciate ligament gave way.



Slowly at first, and faster with each passing week through his rehabilitation, Addison kept going, shedding himself of pity first. In the fall he began to practice and wore a red no-contact jersey. Then came routes, gingerly planting his foot and moving upfield.



Each was an important step back, but not the full-speed one he's hoping to do this spring, one year after a similar cut knocked out arguably Oregon's most explosive perimeter playmaker.



His knowledge of Oregon's offense is deeper than ever after a year of observing from the sideline.



His leg, he believes, can come back stronger than ever.



His confidence, however, is a work in progress.



"The biggest challenge people face after an ACL injury is the mental part of it, the confidence thing and just trusting ourselves," Addison said. "Because if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. There's no way to prevent it. I think the thing is will you allow yourself to go out there and just let loose.



"I think I'm anxious. I'm ready, honestly. That's the first time I had to sit out a full year of football. I was talking about it to my dad the other day. In a weird way, I'm ready to get hit for the first time again. I just want to get hit again and get that feeling back."



Movie buffs such as Addison know this story arc well. The "hero's journey" plot is a staple of the movies he grew up watching as a child near Houston.

Oregon Ducks wide receiver Bralon Addison answers questions during media day at the Dallas Convention Center two days before the Ducks lost to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff title game. Addison did not play in the game as he sat out the season while rehabbing an injured knee.



When he grew up into a 5-foot-10, 180-pound recruit prized for his speed and savvy, he said he bawled the night before making his ultimate change-of-direction juke in 2012. Helped by his mother's nudging -- she loved Oregon from the moment she visited campus, while Addison was concerned about the distance from Texas -- he veered from his commitment to play for Texas A&M instead to sign a letter of intent with Oregon.



Watching movies made it feel a little like home again. So did his success on the field. He had 22 catches and three touchdowns as a true freshman, then became an honorable mention All-Pac-12 pick as a sophomore in 2013 when he caught 61 passes, which was sixth-most all-time at Oregon.



"Sometimes you don't know what's best for you all the time but it'll end up working out for you," he said. "So happy I made that decision."



But for as quickly as Addison wants to leave the anxiety behind like a too-slow defender, and return to his playmaking persona, he doesn't need to rush back as Oregon begins the first of its 15 spring practices Tuesday.



The Ducks' receiving corps is deeper and vastly more experienced than the one that entered spring in 2014 with Addison as its headliner and only Keanon Lowe as its only other proven commodity. Lowe is the only major contributor to leave this offseason because of graduation; backups Chance Allen, a childhood friend of Addison's, and B.J. Kelley also left.



Even with sophomore Devon Allen rehabbing his own ACL tear, suffered on the opening kickoff of a Rose Bowl victory against Florida State on Jan. 1, and sophomore Darren Carrington serving a likely half-season of ineligibility for a positive NCAA-issued drug test, receivers remain one of Oregon's deepest units.



Most important is the return of position coach Matt Lubick, who was close to leaving for a similar position at Florida before Oregon's College Football Playoff national championship game loss to Ohio State in January.



Lubick's move to Florida appeared so imminent that the news was reported immediately after the title game. As Addison sat in a "sobbing" AT&T Stadium locker room, a notification with the news popped up on his phone. It was jarring; he forgot about the title game, he said, as he processed the possibility of a third receivers coach in three seasons.



"This corps that our coaches are building, this is my opinion, but I don't think Oregon has had it that deep before," Addison said. "Maybe one or two players just had awesome receivers but as far as a well-rounded corps? We had guys dropping like flies during the season and somebody else would step up. I can't name, not even Oregon, too many receiving corps like that. ... It's also humbling because you know the fifth guy could potentially be the No. 1 guy so it makes us work that much harder."



It is not only Addison who enters spring with uncertainty. Try the entire program, as it moves on after quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota's early departure for the NFL.



Oregon coaches have attempted to calm a jittery fan base, saying they've seen this script before.



"There's been a lot of guys and a lot of times throughout the past ... after Dennis Dixon or after Joey Harrington or after LaMichael James or after these irreplaceable guys, somehow, someway either the assistants or a group of guys or somebody else steps up," head coach Mark Helfrich said. "And that will certainly happen."



Since 1998, three Ducks quarterbacks before Mariota earned first-team all-Pac-12 honors. Oregon actually won one more game the season after Akili Smith and Dennis Dixon left; in contrast, it won just seven games in 2002, on the heels of Joey Harrington's then-historic 11-win season.





Addison wore a red, no-contact jersey during practices before the Rose Bowl. Addison's goal is to wear a white jersey this spring, which signifies him ready for full contact.

Mariota leaves an even higher bar after a school-record 13 victories in 2014-15.



Wins are about the only metric by which Addison measures success. He dislikes setting individual goals, he says, because he considers them limiting. Plus, he already spent the last year living by a finely calibrated rehabilitation schedule, where each step forward was easily recorded and charted.



His own goals tend to be more vague and ambitious.



"Just want to be in the conversation with the best," he said.



When will he know he rehabilitation is over, and he can trust his knee again? That, too, is a question with a similarly open-ended answer. He's cautious. In August, he watched as teammate Tyler Johnstone, an offensive tackle, re-injured the ACL he'd torn eight months prior.



If Addison has his way, he won't realize in the moment when he's arrived at his own happy ending.



"Once I get out there going through actual team-involved drills and moving around just naturally and doing stuff without thinking so much ... instead of worrying about my knee, I think it'll all just pass over and I'll be like, 'Wow I'm really out here playing again,'" Addison said. "I think once that time comes, I'll be fine."



-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

503-221-8100

@andrewgreif