Eric Boles

Maybe, though I’d be pretty surprised if he changed what he’s done philosophically now that he’s at Oregon. Of course I don’t know that for sure. All we have to go on right now is what he’s always done. And I’m not saying that this is what you mean, but I don’t see zone coverage as a band-aid. Especially when you’re zone blitzing. It’ll be fun to watch.

This could always be a possibility, but if I’m just going off of game tape, that hasn’t been the case for Coach DeRuyter. From what I’ve seen, he always keeps the same personnel in unless he’s in his 2-4-5 set. The personnel set in his scheme is what let's him be flexible without having to sub. And I think I maybe led us astray when I listed of safeties that could play the position. The Sam is not a safety, he is a LB that has a safety-like skill set. Think Lamar Winston. I just wanted to throw out some names like Hill who could put on the weight to play the position. In no way do I realistically think that all of those guys would play the position. The depth there could be made up of safeties who put on weight and lighter LBs with good coverage ability. The position also won’t be asked to play man coverage a great deal. The majority of Coach DeRuyter’s defense is zone coverage.

We’ve learned that the Sam LB position in Coach DeRuyter’s defense is a “big safety”. There are a few current players at safety that could fill the spot, including Hill, Williams and Happle. In another post ChicoDuck also suggested incoming freshman Jeffery Bassa. The one thing is that all four of these guys would need to put on weight this off-season. Currently, they sit around 200lbs each. You’d like them to be in the 220-225 range. I also want to take a look at current OLB and see which guys possess more safety-like skill sets.

And that’s not to say that he’s there. He’s not, and he has plenty of room for improvement. But given the situation of the 2020 season, I think we should pump the brakes on tossing him to the side. Whoever wins the QB competition, I’m here for it.

I honestly think we’re being a little harsh when talking about Shough’s season. His first year starting stats are very similar to Justin Herbert’s. This was in one of the toughest season to ever happen to college sports. I understand he was sophomore and Herbert was a freshman, but he was new in this offense and didn’t exactly have to most ideal situations to learn it in. I'm also a fan of AB. I’m sure whoever comes out of camp will be the best guy for the job.

It’s funny because I get this sport, but when I watch basketball I have no idea what’s going on outside of the very elementary aspects.

Haha I just had to poke a little bit. I saw that from a few folks in the comments.

Does being the primary recruiter for three 4-star, and one highly regarded 3-star, RBs still mean that Coach Mastro can’t recruit?

I can’t find a great reason for that. Coach Wilcox cited staff continuity, as other teams were trying to hire Coach Sirmon away and giving him play-calling duties kept him. Coach DeRuyter probably agreed, but would probably rather call the plays, which is why he’s now at Oregon.

Not to mention that Seven Mcgee is part of this class too.

He is highly regarded. I’m excited to see his defense in action next season. Jeesh, the disrespect for the Big 12 in this article lol.

From what I understand, Coach Cristobal has had the desire to make Coach DeRuyter part of his staff since getting the Oregon job. People were talking about the hire not being “sexy” enough, but that defense and production is sexy enough for me!

Woodson did just about everything. He was primarily a DB, returned punts, played some WR and ran the ball a little too.

I would agree with that.

Looks like Anthony Brown is going to return to Oregon for one more season. I think he, and the rest of the QB room going through an entire off-season with Coach Moorhead is going to make for good competition.

Players still counting towards scholarship numbers for the year after signing elsewhere is definitely a ridiculous rule. And JTT would be an outstanding addition to Coach DeRuyter’s defense!

Since writing this article, I have read a clinic where Coach DeRuyter talked about his defense, so I’m going to be doing a second article where I breakdown his base alignment and each position. He broke down each position and what type of player he wants at each. The position I think KT will play is titled Joker. It’s similar to the stud position in Coach Avalos’ defense. The Joker is the best pass rusher on the team. He does have some pass coverage responsibilities, but it always seems to be zone. KT also played some Sam LB this past season, and has had time at Stud, so I thing his education there has already started.

I've heard that he's no longer in the running from a few places. But, he's still on other lists of still being in consideration. I wonder what's going on there because he interviewed with LSU and Texas too.

Bruce Feldman is reporting three new names that are in consideration for the Ducks' DC position. -Louisiana DC Patrick Toney -Wofford HC Josh Conklin -Oregon LB Coach Ken Wilson

I am intrigued by Coach Arnett. I'm a big fan of the 3-3-5 scheme, and the guys from Coach Long's coaching tree are masterful at running it. Though, a buddy and I were just talking, and Coach Schumann is a really nice candidate. Georgia only allowed 69.3 rushing yards per game. There does seem to be a common factor among the coaches on the list. Most of them run an odd front.

He also interviewed with LSU!

On top of being on my 10 candidates list, he also came incredibly close to being on my top 5 list. Came down to Coach Arnett and Coach Lupoi for the last spot, and I gave it to Coach Lupoi based on his existing relationship with Coach Cristobal. I really really like Coach Arnett's 3-3-5 scheme.

If by sound familiar we're talking about speculation among fans, then yeah it does lol. But, I'm going to be honest, I don't think there's interference by Coach Cristobal on offense. After watching all the tape I did on Coach Moorhead's offense I did in the off-season, watching Oregon and watching some of Coach Arroyo's offense at UNLV, I'm fairly confident that they're calling their own plays.

I've had this idea of an 8 team playoff that is all about making it to the conference championship. In fact, it would be mandatory. The playoff would consist of all five power 5 champions, the two highest ranked group of 5 champions and an independent school. The independent school would be selected by the two highest ranked independent schools playing each other on conference championship weekend. I don't have room for at large teams, because like I said, in this format you have to be a conference champion. the conference championship games would pretty much be the first round of the playoff.

An awesome fact that I found out about Coach Mastro, from our friends at Duck Territory, is that he was the playcaller when Oregon scored 77 against Nevada last season.