David Marsh

Dan Lanning had a great comment after the spring game when asked about unlimited official visits, not the same thing I know but it's related, in saying that basically he wants to see his family and having regulations in place enables some semblance of work life balance. (I am paraphrasing here as i don't remember the quote word for word) Transfer Portal windows would create some sanity in the coaching world. I know it is difficult to have too much sympathy for jobs that pay multi millions but more than anything I think we as fans want to see rules and regulations around what is a chaotic system right now. Windows would also put some emphasis on the student part of student athlete which has been lacking lately. Make them finish classes where they are at and focus on the education part rather than just go school shopping what feels like all the time.

Whatever the status of Tom Snee is will really determine our punting situation. We should have 2 ideally but Tom Snee may still be with the team. He may not .. but we will have to wait and find out. Either way I am sure Lanning and co are looking for additional punters and kickers. As most are walk on status anyways.

Explosive plays are also super important in being able to keep drives alive. I like how it was brought up in the article that the team with the most exosion plays wins and being able to get explosion plays on a regular basis can offset a pesky penalty. Do we all remember how many darn false starts Oregon had during the kelly-helfrich era? TONS! But they usually didn't slow the offense down too much because what's five more yards when you rip off an explosion play? Last year we saw on full display how having an slow and plodding run heavy offense works. If Oregon suffered a penalty or any meaningful setback the drive would pretty assuredly die. It was boring and frustrating to watch.

Hmmm.... If that were the case then we should have won bigger under Mario Cristobal. Cristobal Has Spoiled Fans By Winning the Off-Season FISHDUCK.COM Mario Cristobal will be Oregon's head coach in 2022. The only way this doesn't happen is if he opts to leave... But... We didn't win big last season. The off-season really is a whole life t busier than it was even 10 years ago with constant news of recruiting and now the transfer portal and NIL. Though I would like to play some games before we just give USC the pac-12 championship trophy. I think USC is going to be a good team but we have to wait and see how good.

Scott Frost was absolutely right about the difficulties in recruiting to Eugene. But the mentality of recruiting to Eugene has completely changed under Cristobal and Lanning. Scott Frost Was Absolutely Right About Recruiting to Oregon FISHDUCK.COM Oregon is hot on the recruiting trail right now. Just last week, Oregon landed 2022 recruit Andre Dollar... Things have changed a lot but it still requires far more work than what Frost put into his time at Oregon. Also... The Helfrich years weren't really outside the norm in terms of historical Oregon recruiting. He had some good classes but nothing like what we have seen with Cristobal and now Lanning. A Defense of Helfrich's Recruiting Legacy FISHDUCK.COM Mark Helfrich is generally considered the worst recruiter in modern Oregon football history. He is a coach who... But I will say this... Recruiting never stops and it does feel like coaches need to always be recruiting their own teams to keep their players.

I KNOW other Oregon sites are reading this one... About a year ago I wrote an article about how Oregon had failed to recruit the state of Washington. Some of the random comments I came across on other sites about that article were kinda funny... Basically claimed I wasn't a real Oregon fan and didn't know what I was talking about. Oregon Has Failed to Recruit the State of Washington FISHDUCK.COM When J.T. Tuimoloau, a five-star recruit out of the state of Washington, announced Oregon as one of his... A few days to a week later I see similar articles show up on those sites. Then the comments were more about generous. There is a group out there that really hates FishDuck but that's fine... More fun for us.

That's pretty aggressive but he was going for the ball. Definitely a foul and maybe worth some bonus shots as a flagrant 1 or a technical or something. But not really an ejection.

More goes into getting solid separation than just raw speed. Raw speed helps but also need solid route running and a excellent knowledge of the playbook to know where the qb is expecting you to be. Now... here's the real question... why hasn't Oregon been able to get receivers to get separation on a regular basis since Matt Lubick was the receivers coach?

He was away during the spring for personal reasons. In not surprised he has entered the transfer portal. It also makes sense why Oregon is pursuing another defensive lineman through the portal. Lanning knows what he wants and needs to run his defense. Williams may not fit the bill.

Can't blame a walk on for looking for. A chance at a scholarship elsewhere. Doesn't mean he actually leaves Oregon because he might not get a scholarship offer from any program. But I did talk about this issue awhile back and I'll just link my article. Kickers, punters and longsnappers play a key role on special teams but they often don't have scholarships. Kickers Deserve Scholarships, Too FISHDUCK.COM Most of the focus in football is placed on the star power positions like quarterbacks, running backs...

I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. The offer could be something like come as a walk on and earn a scholarship... Or throw some NIL money in there to make a walk on effectively a scholarship. I would be more surprised if it was as anothr scholarship player. Oregon doesn't have that many scholarships to work with right now. Especially since it sounds like they might be after some more defensive linemen.

It does feel like 6 is too many. Even though we didn't see too much of a run offense during the spring game I do think this indicates two things. 1. Oregon is going to have a run heavy offense. 2. The coaches don't feel too comfortable with the current depth.

I think it is/was difficult for many to swallow the perception of the compensation package, especially with all the other NCAA rules surrounding money to student athletes.... couldn't sell their autographs, couldn't make any use of their NIL to promote themselves on their own, and all the other rules involved. I do think that the College education and the full ride they received is an incredibly good deal but the flip side of that too is that how many student athletes could truly pursue their desired majors? I know as just a regular student that I had plenty of work to do just to keep up with classes and that wasn't with the student athlete additional workload. The other side of things too is that student athletes today (I'm still using the term even though it is up for debate) have a COMPLETELY different set of expectations and sports work load than student athletes even ten years ago. No only are there the team meetings and practices, that are regulated by NCAA rules and there is a set cap on the number of hours per week athletes can engage in and that really makes up the season itself... but then there are the vast amount of hours that are more "optional". The voluntary workouts, the off-season workouts, the player led practices, film study and whatever else you can think of. It is what it is... and I think we are in the early stages of the great transformation of college sports for better or worse. It has been trending this way for some time now as the workload and expectations of student athletes and coaches have changed so have the desires of student athletes. I don't have any real answers but as we all know this is a complicated problem and I think we can ALL agree that the current state of NIL and the transfer portal is NOT the solution.

From a numbers stand point I agree... but in terms of body type this is an insurance measure more than anything else. Right now Oregon has on scholarship... Byron Cardwell, Sean Dollars and Noah Whittington Dollars and Whittington are smaller backs that thrive in space but I don't think either is really considered an every down back and neither is a "thumper" either. Cardwell is a bigger back who fits more of the every down bigger back. So with that said right now Oregon is really one good injury away at runningback from having the season put in jeopardy. Adding another back means there is some depth.

McKinley and Wright a bit... though I don't know if sorry is the right word. More disappointed for them that they didn't get drafted. As for Williams... not in the slightest. He was held off the field multiple games this last season because of not following team rules by the sound of it and not giving it his all in practice. He has talent but he can't seem to get out of his own way. I think all needed another year of college ball to be honest. Though I guess McKinley was Oregon's best shot at being drafted besides KT.

Helfrich 11-2 I know he often gets overlooked but I'll be honest I have a soft spot for Helfrich.

I think every defensive player who entered the draft early should have stayed for another year at Oregon. KT went in the top 5 so he is fine and there is not much another good season would have improved his stock but not by a ton considering there were only four players taken ahead of him. Everyone else should have stayed a year because in Lanning's scheme they would IMPROVE their stock.

Oregon has been able to make some big gains with in state 3 star recruits as walk ons. They have managed to pick up a few out of state ones as well but getting 3 stars as walk-ons is pretty big. They are project players who may become significant pieces on the team but not instant impact players.

I do think the PAC is getting it's act together. It's not as fast as we all want but these things can't be that fast. There are a lot of pieces that have timers on them that can't be addressed until it is time, looking at you media rights. The PAC does have a lot of talent but the PAC has also lost loads of talent as recruits to the east coast. Better on field results and better recruiting will lead to better media rights which will be more money and it will be a positive cycle from there hopefully. Oregon and USC have both made some big coaching improvements. Utah is a strong program as well. Need Washington to be a bit less crap but not too good either, good enough to at least not lose to FCS programs at least.

Roster tampering goes on all the time but it is getting more and more blatant.

There was some evidence that could not be used in the court case in Oregon because it comes from out of state accounts... Namely Florida... I think those accounts have created a pattern that it's not worth holding onto a strength and conditioning coach who has a track record of hospitalizing athletes.

I can't read what is on his pocket square. At first I thought it was a Snickers candy bar but upon closer inspection that does not appear to be the case. It looks like Snickers though... And I'm sure that's what he will be doing when all his doubters eat their own words.

Technically a team can't really just cut him entirely... I mean they can remove him from the team effectively but if he is on scholarship this isn't really a cause to revoke that scholarship. Though he can be removed from the team but would still be on scholarship. Now... let him leave and transfer would be the easiest thing to do here... but that also calls the bluff. Does he really think he will have to transfer? That is the big debate these days.

Doesn't that make it 3 years in a row where Oregon produces a top 10 NFL draft pick? Herbert, Sewell and Thibodeux. I suppose that in itself is an achievement of Cristobal's. It will help his recruiting at Maimi and all these top draft picks will continue to elevate the Oregon program that he left. I suppose I can live with that.

First off... Have you seen how many times I link to my own articles? I'm a complete egomaniac! All these position group rankings this time of year are really only based off rather little evidence but most importantly it does give us something to talk about or at least think about. Especially with the mixed groups at the spring game I find it very difficult to gauge too much about the team on the whole besides some rather obvious stuff. As for KT... I think oddly enough the best gauge of his potential is looking at his freshman year, as strange as that sounds. That year he had the best overall defense around him and it allowed him the time and space to execute at a higher level than following years. If he stayed an extra year I think he would be an absolute terror in Lanning's system.