David Marsh

The NFL seems to have an assumption that any top player will adapt to fit their system. The best GMs and coaches know this isn't the case but so many just try and force players to fit the team. We saw a similar thing with LaMike James ... He is a running back who wants to run in space but when he was drafted it was taking a good running back and putting him in a position that isn't his skill set... Slam him between the tackles. Mariota needs someone who can build a playbook around his skill set and use him to his strengths. That is the case for many duel threat oriented quarterbacks. As for the injuries... I would say many of those were a result of poor scheme and a bad offensive line than just poor play. At Oregon how many plays would Mariota run towards a sideline when the play breaks down rather than sit in a collapsing pocket and get smashed? Getting beat up by massive NFL defensive linemen is rough... Need to let Mariota opporate more to his skillsrt which might result in him only getting hot by a cornerback or linebacker.... Or he gets himself out of bounds. I'm hoping having a coach with some stability and a scheme that is built more to his skill set allows him to succeed.

Oregon doesn't have a whole lot of wiggle room still in terms of scholarships. Everyone expects some scholarships to open up after spring but as it stands Oregon I believe is still over the 85 projected, not all are on campus and enrolled currently which is why this number is fine. It would have been great to land Agude but at the same time I don't think the coaches are losing any sleep over it.

Oregon is building a floor for NIL first. Other schools are building the ceiling. We will see how this all shakes out over the long run but usually building a floor before the ceiling is better from an architectural point of view.

Lol... First practice was flawless... That's hilarious. No coach or player should ever say that. I like Dan Lanning's take on practice where players and coaches need to find something they didn't do well and grow from it. This sort of talk around USC is going to bread entitlement and I'm ok with that.

Gotta love how husky fans repeatedly just believe that the Oregon program has no ethical standards and this a regular talking point for them. I don't see duck fans make imply Washington is lacking ethical standards... Bad decision making, inflated egos, their blind delusions of grandeur... Sure. Have the huskies had dubious ethical standards in the past... YEP! But that's not this current team. Has Oregon gotten in trouble in the past with recruiting.. yep... But again that isn't THIS staff. But I guess when your team is about as entertaining to watch as a dumpster fire... Gotta try and make other programs look bad to distract from the smell of yours.

The big thing is that this is actually good for Oregon and recruiting. Even though coaches spend an insane amount of time recruiting and building those relationships they still only have so many hours in a week. So taking a few off the board because they committed elsewhere means they have more time to pursue other recruits who are actually still interested in Oregon. Oregon wasn't going to match that 8 million NIL deal. So open up some more resources for the coaches now to look at other people.

I just want to see Mariota land some place that knows how to use his athletic ability and can assemble an offensive line that doesn't result him getting demolished.

It would help a lot of they aren't running into a wall of defenders all the time. Granted this last year the run offense was a whole lot better under Moorhead's guidance than previous years. At least in a fun to watch sense.

Yeah it will... Women's basketball will have some key players returning next year and have a veteran team. Men's basketball will have an off season to deal with a very sour taste in their mouths because they know they could have been more... Altman will get the chance to reshape his team and players will buy in or leave. As for football... Lanning is in charge now and loads to look forward to... Lock down defense? Yes please... Up tempo offense designed to score points? That's back on the menu. Football is very hopeful ... I think first year Lanning and con could easily come away with a 10 win season with this roster (including a bowl game) ... And I dare say there is an outside chance of a playoff appearance... I know a playoff appearance seems really far fetched... But if they get the QB right and the defense to hold opponents to 20 points per game and the offense is scoring around 40 per game... There is a chance. The football roster is in great shape... Just need some development and to get the xs and os right.

Oregon football was that way too this year. Can't have every year be brilliant... But this year has been very disappointing from a fan perspective. Look at the bright side though... There is always next season.

I know a lot of people really hate Canzano... In truth I agreed and disagreed with his pieces but I always found I had something to talk or think about afterwards. The sports world needs people like that... Off seasons can last a very long time and that's the entertainment factor. FishDuck is a wonderful place where this is actual discussion of ideas and a dialogue instead of people just getting angry over a title. I'm not saying you have to like his work... But he is one of those people that you do enjoy not agreeing with and that can be entertainment in itself.

I don't know how long these multi million dollar signing deals are going to hold out. Some of these deals are more lucrative than being drafted in the NFL. Though unlike the NFL there isn't really enough of a resume to ensure the risk is rewarded. There are always flops even at the NFL level. However... a 63% draft rate for 5 stars is a bit of a red flag for some of the deals these 5-star players are getting before ever playing a snap at the college level. Is Nico worth 8 million dollars? Maybe... or maybe he will be a flop and not even be drafted into the NFL. Either way... the Tenn boosters will be out 8 million dollars. Some schools' boosters are very short sighted right now... they have lots of money and more than happy to pay top dollar to get top recruits to come to their school of choice. But how many of these big deals will turn into flops? And how many flops will result in boosters loosing some of their interest to pay for recruits up front? Oregon and Phil Knight are playing the long game right now... keeping the roster together to avoid some of the transfer portal attrition. Pay the players for staying with the program, pay the players for proving they are capable of playing at a high level. This is a long game... we will probably struggle with some of these recruits in the short run until some boosters decide the risk isn't worth the money.... or some sort of rules and guidelines get put on NIL.

I'll be honest OregonLive lost a lot of it's interest for me after Andrew Grief and Tyson Alger left. Those two I found wrote some good articles but maybe I'm just nostalgic from the earlier days of my die hard Duck fandom. I would read the Nemic articles when they were free and they were ... Fine... But none of the coverage at OregonLive/Oregonian is worth paying for with so many other options. Recruiting I follow close enough to know what is going on and trends but I usuay forget names until they are actually at Oregon.

Having the physical traits is important for starters and that alone will be a major factor. I loved playing basketball in middle school and high school... Never was that good at it... And I was often one of the taller players on my team so I played forward and sometimes center. Which was fine for me back then. But at 6 foot I am far too short to ever have been considered for any high level team unless I was going to play guard and even then I wasn't that fast or even good at playing guard. So the physical measurables are a must have to start with. Troy Dye was a beast at Oregon but he was a bit undersized to be a linebacker but he did work hard and did make the leap to bekng drafted. Vernon Adams was an incredible deep ball throwing quarterback. He worked very hard but he really couldn't overcome some of the physical measurables to get him in the door at the NFL. I don't think the injuries helped ... But he could really play. Measurables don't guarantee success but they are a starting point that most don't even have so it is easy to separate. It also leads to some crazy star inflation for some players... Just having those psyicial attributes make them better than those try play against at high school which does not build the needed work ethic for the next level.

Absolutely those flagrant late hits should actually be punished to a greater degree than they are... Incedental targeting is nothing compared to an actual flagrant late hit.

Sensors would be the biggest game changer. A senor itself might not tell the full story but if a strong enough impact is detected then just pulling the players off the field would do a lot for player safety.

I believe Oregon does have a program built around NIL and how it works and how to not just lose all that money. The forward thinking schools have programs in place to train athletes... We will just have to see if it works.

I do think an appeals system is good and a super super minor step in the right direction with the new proposed rule changes. I think an appeals system would fit right into my proposed rule as well. If we are looking at that much incidental contact in a short period of time though that player does need to be checked out for head injury regardless. Also... Absolutely agree about offensive players lowering their heads and changing contact. I know there were a couple targeting calls that did not stand this year because of it and I was trying to remember what games those were in to try and snag some screenshots but I couldn't find them. I think the Bridges picture is decent... He was low and staying low and the offensive players helmet dipped and resulted in some contact but in no means malicious.

Rules will come... Even if that results in the entire system breaking down entirely and we get a lesser NFL that only has school affiliation in name alone. You have mentioned these scinarios before. College football of the past is dead. Right now is the wild west of what will be the new era but it is also too unstable to live in its current form. You have stated how you are bring driven off by the sport ... You are not alone there. This is still a big business but what if interest starts to trend downward? We have already seen declining attendance numbers at stadiums, even more COVID. What will "college football" look like a few years down the road... No one knows and if they think they know they are lying. But again... What currently exists is not sustainable and is not brining new fans in but driving fans away. That's not a sustainable long term business model.

Well outside of that rescheduled game due to COVID... But that isn't scheduled until 2030 something I think.

This is actually a very good thing to happen or potentially good anyways. A player sitting out spring ball because he is not getting paid enough to his liking is going to accelerate this whole NIL insanity... Now I know what some of you are thinking that that would be a bad thing... Well bad for the short run yes... But the lonn run is pulling NIL into line with something that is reasonable. Right now there is a whole lot of money flying around because it can... But once there is a large enough number of players who don't give a good return on investment the money flow is going to slow. A player refusing to literally play ball because of not enough money is going to drive some investers away. I feel someone is going to probably pay this kid but that will drive other investers away as they see this sort of behavior rewarded. NIL will get rules and be tempered at some point... But when that happens all comes down to just how crazy and insane it has to get first... So this is just accelerating the process so maybe we see some rule changes at some point sooner. Other thing to think about ... Scholarships are contracts... We may see some of those rules get tightened up first concerning opting out of practices.

With houses that big I always wonder what people actually do with all that space. I know there are rooms in my 2 bath 3 bedroom house that I rarely use.

And finding those Casey Mathews type players will become even more important as these are the players who will perform at a high level.

I don't feel the third question needs to be answered or even should be answered by the end of Spring. Ty Thompson or Bo Nix or Jay Butterfield... we need to see all of them get a nice chunk of snaps but who wins the starting position can wait until a couple weeks into Fall Camp as far as I'm concerned. Let them play, learn and improve and then let them show it all over again during fall camp. This isn't to say a starter shouldn't be chosen until the end of fall camp but the first week or two into fall camp still having a lively competition isn't a bad place to be.

More Oregon Duck hate... just let KT get on a team with a decent defensive coordinator and turn him loose. KT at Oregon did need a decent supporting class around him to be successful. In his freshman year when Oregon had a strong secondary which allowed the pass rush to get home KT was able to wreck games. But in both 2020 and 2021 when the secondary at Oregon gave a massive cushion the pass rush struggled to get to the quarterback on a regular basis because there was always an outlet. Defensive player evaluations are difficult to get a real sense of each player because if all 11 players are doing their jobs at a high level then every player looks better. If there is a weak link then even the strongest players struggle to make an impact. KT disappeared in the games against Utah this last year because the other defensive linemen on Oregon's roster couldn't get enough push to put regular pressure on the quarterback which meant Utah really could put more blockers on KT. Also Utah regularly used 3 TEs against Oregon that really negated the Oregon pass rush. Then add that with Oregon's leaky secondary and that gets you a scenario where KT disappears from the game. I'm really looking forward to Lanning's defense this year.