Charles Fischer

I'm going with....

If the name below from Idaho sounds familiar, it is the younger brother of Gatlin Bair, who is on a mission until this next January. It was a fierce recruiting battle with Michigan to get the fastest receiver in the nation to sign with the Ducks in February of 2024. But the question always was..."would it stick?" I think we have our answer! Pretty good genes, as Gatlin Bair has been called the "fastest man in pads" with his verified 10.15 100-meter time.

He is truly a 5-Star, even on Rivals. He was offered by 11 B1G teams, and 11 SEC teams, with the usual teams in the mix as there was Oregon, Texas, Michigan, USC, Penn State, Ohio State, LSU, Alabama and Miami. Iheanacho could be another Josh Conerly Jr. type of foundation player, who could be a future 1st Round NFL pick if he works hard as Conerly did. Immanuel Iheanacho Interests WWW.ON3.COM

A quote from today's Canzano article made me roll-my-eyes at first, but then I could not help but laugh. Are they taking lessons from Iran's Ayatollah, or Baghdad Bob? The conference’s overall strategy is evident. It aims to keep the Big 12 and ACC within view of the front windshield and prepare for whatever happens to college athletics in 2032 or so. Recent Pac-12 branding has been all about positioning. On Wednesday, Gould noted that “the Pac-12 has always been a top-five conference.” "We will be the Mother-of-All-Conferences."

My Duck-Buddies, above is a "Pay" article that I have to do in order to pay the bills. We had some generous donations recently to help with the upcoming site platform upgrade, and I am very grateful to all who chipped in to help. I thought the article above did have some interesting stuff about the "bounce," effect at Autzen, and it is nice to hear that the latest EA Sports game has moved our home field advantage up in their settings. Perhaps all the talk from the Ohio State game had an impact? Anyway, the SEO/Ad Agency that sent me the article is located in Riga, Latvia! Where is that? Right between Estonia and Lithuania of course! Riga, Latvia looks like a wonderful place to visit....

He is a Rivals 4-Star, (Yes, they still have their ratings) and he had prominent offers from Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State, USC, Ole Miss, Miami and Florida. Tommy Tofi Interests WWW.ON3.COM

I don't think I miss any of them, as they left because they were not going to play much here. Although, a couple of the OL might have been nice for backups right now...but that is why they left; to play.

I can't copy the whole article, but a writer made me smile... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Pac-12 has added Texas State, which is nowhere near the Pacific Coast, unless you zoom out a lot and get in "pale blue dot" mindset. In the grand scheme, we're all near the Pacific Coast. Southeastern: No two people will ever agree on what we mean when we say "the Midwest" or "the South" or whatever, but most agree Oklahoma and Texas aren't in the Southeast. Still, they're not exactly faraway states. (Missouri does not belong to any region. It is a liminal space.) Big 12: Lying about math is much worse than lying about geography, because geography changes over time. A few billion years from now, tectonics might make the ACC's name accurate again. But, a few billion years from now, 12 will still not equal 16. Pac-12: Lying about math and geography. Colorado State and Texas State are 1,000-mile drives away from the ocean. Just as concerning: the number "12" being applied to a conference that has recently had 10, two, seven and now eight members? (We do not care that some of that wasn't the Pac-12's fault) Big Ten: Ten? You have almost twice that many members. Yet you call yourself the smart conference. (Am I additionally punishing the Big Ten for also being the most geographically egregious conference, even though geography isn't in its name? Of course I'm not doing that!)

True. But it is GREAT SPORT...

Good thing "they" determined GREEN to be the color to wear at Penn State...because that is what I planned on! Although,...I'm not sure anyone will see our Oregon group?

Well, that did not take long. Scott implied in his long "goodbye" article that he was pretty much done?

Two observations surfaced since I wrote my original post about Keli. 1) It was noted on another site and by EastBayDuckdad above that he could be moved to center, as apparently he has that quickness and mobility. This makes sense because when Hroniss Grasu left HS as a 3-Star...he was just under 260 pounds and certainly not ready. Yet by first game as a freshman...he was up to 285 pounds, and while that was light--he was perfect for our Spread Offense where he would pull and lead the way on Outside Zones for LaMichael James. Later he got up to 305 pounds, but the point is--he did not look the part as a HS senior to play immediately at the college level. I was a bit too dismissive of him...my bad. 2) The only other P2 team offering was Michigan State? I brushed past that, and then remembered later that it was Jonathan Smith offering him, and THAT means something. Beavis was SO BAD when he took over and he could not recruit Blue-Chippers, but he was exceptional at seeing upside and developing OSU into a very good team. It always seemed that he found running backs out of nowhere that were better than our highly rated ones...So my point is if Coach Smith wanted him--he saw upside, and our coaches were able to seal-the-deal.

Sounds like a great hire... “Since arriving to San Diego in 2019, Florer has helped guide the Toreros to the most wins and highest winning percentage of any team in the West Coast Conference. In eight seasons within the WCC, Florer has developed seven All-American pitchers as well as twelve All-Conference pitchers.” “Led by one of the nation’s premier pitching staffs, San Diego ranked in the top 25 of every major pitching category (Earned Run Average, WHIP, Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings, Strikeouts Per Nine Innings, Walks Allowed Per Nine Innings, Strikeout-To-Walk Ratio, and Shutouts). The 2024 Toreros’ 41-15 (20-4 WCC) overall record was the 15th best winning percentage of any program in the country. Three of Florer’s pitchers went on to earn National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All American Honors in 2024: Conner Thurman (First Team), Austin Smith (Third Team), and Logan Reddemann (Freshman/Second Team). To tag along with these All-American accolades, Thurman was recognized as a finalist for the 2024 NCBWA Stopper of the Year, Smith was named a finalist for the 2024 John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year, and Reddemann earned the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year award. During the 2024 MLB Draft, three of Florer’s pitchers were picked up by professional organizations. Josh Randall became the highest selected collegiate pitcher from the state of California when he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the third round (85th overall pick). With Randall’s selection, Florer has helped develop California’s highest-drafted collegiate pitcher in two of the last three MLB draft classes (2022-2024). Additionally, Drake Frize was later selected in the 17th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Ivran Romero signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota Twins.”

A Rivals 3-Star, with an unimpressive offer list of Cal, Arizona, Michigan State, Nevada, UNLV, UTSA, San Jose State.... Koloi Keli | DuckSportsAuthority N.RIVALS.COM Koloi Keli - 2026 3 Star Offensive tackle for Farrington (Honolulu, HI) on Rivals.com Can you say "Plan B?" (Or Plan C at offensive line?)

Wear black vs. Oregon State? It is SEPTEMBER, and black makes you twice as heated? Wearing their primary color at that game? Who comes up with this?

I'm not sold. In the end...the recruits will be on print, digital or TV media. It comes down to the player name recognition regardless of where they reside. The only people who know a recruit's name are the tiny segment of fans (like us) who follow a team and recruiting. The marketing is geared to the general public...who have no clue. Does USC know better than the NFL?

What none of the pundits ask is "why" USC is recruiting so hard? Nobody is talking about all the transfers out?

"Jett Washington Earns 5-Star Recruit Status" Not on Rivals, the most difficult, proven, rating service with a legit 20 year+ track record. Jett Washington | DuckSportsAuthority N.RIVALS.COM Jett Washington - 2026 4 Star Safety for Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, NV) on Rivals.com

Within the article he admits that, "Right now, USC’s average NIL valuation for its 2026 class is already sitting at $163k per athlete" thus the metro area does not matter, IMHO. If the NIL contract passes the smell test, then the athlete has a name that can command the million dollar contract. Very few college athletes can actually do that, and if the NCAA entity created digs into these contracts--they will invalidate them. On another pay-site, they explained how Oregon is going to portion 17 million of the 20.5 million toward football, and that means an average of about $200,000 per player on the team. For a QB to get a million, a boatload of other players have to take 100K. For a player to have an outside NIL contract--they have to be able to prove commercial value to a company writing a check. How is a USC freshman tight end going to show proof that he is even worth over 100K, let alone 10 million? Players in the NFL...very few can get commercial contracts; do you see any ads with NFL tight ends? Almost none, and certainly not a rookie. Oregon has this figured out with Division Street, I'm sure, and will be waiting in the wings for some tasty transfers.

We have 10 verbals right now and with a loaded young team, it makes sense to take maybe 15 or 16 total and save the money for the portal candidates in the future, since there will probably be quite a few of them!

Omigosh. A little humor about the Pac-12 trying to add schools--from a writer at The Athletic... ---------------------------------------- A comprehensive case for the Pac-12 ensuring all of its football members continue to have "State" in their names: "The obvious next choice for Pac-12 expansion is Florida State. "1. Adds the Florida footprint to the premier West Coast conference. "2. A built-in rivalry with Fresno State. Who’s the REAL FSU?? "3. In their filing against the ACC, Florida State said they would have preferred adding Oregon State instead of Cal and Stanford. Now’s your chance, Noles. "The answer is too obvious for it to ever happen, but as we have seen, the simplest solution is always the most elusive in college football." Tallahassee is very near the west coast of a coastal state, after all.

Because then the Pac-12 would have been dissolved with assets distributed equally among the 12 former members, and the Pig-2 couldn't have stolen 300 million from the other 10 former Pac-12 schools. They had to retain the name...

I am trying to figure out which is worse....adding Texas State to a conference, or calling the conference they are creating as the, "New Look Pac-12." This label has popped up in several references by writers in the last two weeks, with John Canzano being one of the primary promoters of the label. (Of course) I mean....how DO you portray the revised conference that is clearly much, much worse than the original....and everyone knows it? Are you really trying to pretend it is something better than it is?

An 8-5 Minnesota barely lost to Penn State, and barely lost to Michigan, thus they could have had a 10 win season! A team to watch out for...

Not bad for the number of sports Oregon has, as the B1G had seven in the Top-25! Big 10 Teams No. 2 USC 🤮 No. 5 UCLA No. 8 Ohio State No. 13 Michigan No. 16 Penn State No. 18 Oregon No. 21 Nebraska Learfield Directors' Cup final 2025 Division I standings revealed - On3 WWW.ON3.COM Texas has won the Learfield Directors' Cup, an award given annually to the colleges in the United States with the most success in athletics.