McCormick matriculated at the University of Oregon in the spring of 2016, leaving high school early to enroll in college.
[10] Following his matriculation at the University of Oregon in the spring of 2016, McCormick redshirted his freshman season while recovering from his knee injury.
[11] By August 2016, McCormick had been cleared to fully participate in football activities, though he was required to wear a knee brace.
[13][14] McCormick, along with two other athletes, exhibited high levels of creatine kinase, indicating possible rhabdomyolysis following their strenuous workout.
[15] The two other student-athletes who were hospitalized during this episode later sued Oregon, alleging negligence, in 2019; McCormick did not, saying that he wished to put the situation behind him.
[19] The injury, a torn deltoid ligament combined with a broken left fibula, occurred after his teammate blocked a defender into the back of McCormick's leg during the first quarter of the game.
[18] Doctors, however, had initially misidentified the injury as being a stress fracture arising from overuse, and recommended that McCormick merely rest in order for his ankle to heal.
[18][21] By the start of training camp before the pandemic-shortened 2020 Oregon Ducks football season, McCormick was undertaking limited practice reps, and doctors suspected that he was suffering some sort of tendinitis that was causing him ankle pain.
[18] But his injury was not mere tendinitis; he had suffered a posterior tibial tendon rupture caused by two screws that had been inserted during a prior ankle surgery.
[18] He participated in the 2021 Oregon Ducks football season opener against the Fresno State Bulldogs, seeing action on special teams.
[32][33] By December 2022, owing largely to the injuries he sustained throughout his college football career, McCormick was granted a ninth year of eligibility by the NCAA.
[36] During that season, McCormick was a starter for the Hurricanes in eleven games, including the 2023 Pinstripe Bowl, earning six receptions for 62 yards.