Charles Fischer

OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | JANUARY 26, 2021 Oregon will begin the 2021 season ranked in the top 11 of two major national polls, checking in at No. 10 in the NFCA Coaches’ Poll and No. 11 in the USA Softball Poll Tuesday. The Ducks are coming off of a 22-2 season in head coach Melyssa Lombardi’s second season at the helm – a year that was halted after 24 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Oregon began last season on a 16-game winning streak and the season ranked No. 8 in the USA Softball Poll and No. 9 in the NFCA Coaches’ Poll. Oregon will welcome back nearly everyone from last season’s team with nine position players returning who started at least 10 games last year in addition to the top seven leading hitters from the 2020 team. In the circle, all four pitchers who were on last year’s roster will be back a year after each finished the season with an ERA under 2.40. Adding to the already experienced roster will be a group of five talented freshmen who will give the Ducks even more depth. The Ducks improved drastically in every facet in year two under Lombardi, finishing as the only team nationally to rank in the top 15 in the country in batting average (8th), ERA (11th) and fielding percentage (2nd). Additionally, Oregon ranked in the top 15 in the nation in six other major stat categories, including strikeout-to-walk ratio (4th), runs allowed per game (4th), runs scored per game (9th), fewest total runs allowed (10th), strikeouts (11th) and on-base percentage (12th). Another key part of Oregon’s success was getting off to fast starts, outscoring opponents, 73-3, over the first two innings of games (29-1 in 1st, 44-2 in 2nd). Oregon pitching did not allow a single run in the first or second inning over the first 21 games of the season, while the Ducks led through two frames in 19 of the 24 games.

Two teams getting 31 of the best recruits with ten teams getting 19? Wowsa. And we are not done!

Gosh it is fun to see a video like this below. Freshmen Prince and Parrish have smooth shooting skills and both can pass the ball... I loved seeing this below, as she can beat anyone guarding her down the floor for a fast-break!

Boy that makes Spring Football interesting...the entertainment of that is going to be fun to watch!

I could see that in the nickel or dime defense....and special teams--he could help us.

George Moore just announced on Twitter that he is returning to Oregon for 2021 for a seventh year! Oregon Ducks OL George Moore returning in 2021 by James Crepea of OregonLive

This is an interesting article about the freshmen most likely to make an impact on their team--and Ty Thompson is one of them! 2021 Recruits Most Likely to Light Up College Football as True Freshmen by Bleacher Report Frankly--I thought a few others had a chance with higher probabilities, (such as Cardwell or Franklin) but the national guys at Bleacher Report feel differently.

Jordan Happle is returning, and while that gives us experience in the secondary--did we want room for the newbies to develop? Thoughts?

My recollection is that Schuler had been at four Pac-12 schools and had served as both an offensive and defensive coordinators! I know Ken Woody served at three Pac-12 schools, and I believe that Peter Sirmon is on his third Pac-12 school along with Justin Wilcox himself. I love Nick, but I think this is his issue....

Doing critical analysis of player and coaching performance is what we do here as readers. As long as we do not get personal, (and you never do) then we are fine. We can discuss the negative, and what needs to improve and this helps other readers know what to look for. Your posts are very helpful to the layperson trying to learn basketball, so please continue. It sure does feel like Parrish is the shooting small forward replacement for Boley in the future? They brought up in the telecast how Dugalic was a monster rebounder when looking at the number of minutes played....so they all must be looking at those metrics. Fun stuff to discuss!

My friends, you have to trust me on this--his article is simple compared to everything else out there that digs into the Xs and Os of his defense. Coach Boles makes it far easier to understand than anyone else explaining it, because usually those other people are coaches explaining to other coaches. In fact my own analysis articles years ago were much longer and "heavy" and thus it was harder for readers to get through them and learn. We now do the "Boles Method" of breaking down the subject into smaller pieces and making an analysis of each small piece for the benefit of the reader. We work hard to make our analysis articles easy to understand, and easy to have read in less than five minutes. This way a reader did not have to work too hard to learn something and it did not take long. I want to thank Coach Boles so much for the beginning of a series over time about what to look for with the Coach DeRuyter defense, and we will be creating a section for it in the Oregon Football Analysis Library on FishDuck for quick and easy reference.

Great post and contribution 30Duck...thanks.

CJ...below is what I wrote in another post a week ago that might provide some information about pitching... It is interesting looking at the Oregon Baseball roster and seeing QB Robby's Ashford's name there! He is a 6'3" 225 lb. outfielder from Hoover Alabama... Oregon actually returns a pretty good baseball team for this next year with the most great players from the state of Oregon in years with the Ducks. Robert Ahlstrom, North Eugene, (walking distance to my home) Pitcher Kolby Somers, Hillsboro, Pitcher (did not allow a run in his COVID shortened time on the mound in 2019) Nico Tellache, Canby, Pitcher, (A lefty for key moments) Peyton Fuller, Ashland, Pitcher (Dean's List, and was 1-0 with 2.84 ERA before season ended) Gabe Matthews, Salem, Infielder, (On base percentage at .400 and Golden Glove winner!) Aaron Zavala, Salem, Outfield, 3rd Base, (3rd Team All-American in 2019 batting .418!) Kenyon Yovan, Beaverton, Relief Pitcher, Outfielder and 3rd Base (Preseason 2021 All-American and picture below) George Horton's best teams were filled with players recruited by current head coach Mark Wasikowski, who came from rebuilding Purdue. (Assistant at Oregon prior to that) He is a coach that I believe will make Oregon highly competitive again! CJ...I think we return an excellent pitching staff along with the newbies for relief!

Cool! And what surprised me is that this is true for the Rivals rankings as well right here.

The biggest indicator to me in the value of a recruit--is who else offered him? (Link is right here for schools that offered) ACC: Florida State, Virginia and Notre Dame Big-10: Michigan, Nebraska and Penn State SEC: Auburn, Florida, LSU, Tennessee and TAMU Pac-12: Oregon, Cal, USC, UCLA, Washington, Utah, Arizona State, Arizona and Washington State. (9 of 12 conference teams!)

Yovan Named To ANOTHER Preseason All-America Team OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2021 Eugene, Ore. – D1Baseball named Oregon designated hitter/right-handed pitcher Kenyon Yovan a third-team preseason All-America pick on Monday. Last season, Yovan earned Collegiate Baseball first-team postseason honors as a designated hitter after leading Oregon in hitting (.429), hits (24), home runs (4), runs scored (22) and walks (15). He also topped the team in on-base percentage (.556) and slugging percentage (.714), while finishing with nine RBI, two doubles and a triple. Yovan finished the season with six multi-hit games including five 3-hit games. In the Pac-12 Conference, he finished in the top three in seven offensive categories while ranking in the top six in two more. Yovan was second in the league in slugging percentage and runs scored, third in batting average, OBP, hits, home runs (tied) and total bases and sixth in the conference in walks and hit by pitches. The Beaverton, Ore., native is the only Oregon player ever named an All-American as both a hitter and a pitcher during his career. Yovan earned a spot on the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (first team) and the Collegiate Baseball (second team) All-America Teams following his freshman season in 2017 as a pitcher. The Ducks’ closer that season, he was also named to four different freshman All-America Teams, and was one of Collegiate Baseball’s Freshmen of the Year. D1Baseball is the second organization to honor Yovan with preseason honors. Collegiate Baseball named him a first-team preseason All-American in December. (Excess formatting--the italics and bolding I am guilty of...) Are there any Oregon Baseball fans out there? I would love to discuss a bit of baseball from time-to-time...

I have to hand it to 30Duck and BigDucksFan who are just killing-it with the GIFs. Pretty entertaining...

Cristobal would love that toughness, but would never run the offense. (as we have seen) GREAT memory--thanks.

The Oregonian is really not a great place for this kind of pronouncement, IMHO. I think it is great for us to see it, but in the end....the difference between No. 3 through No. 7 is razor-thin, and thus these standings could change dramatically with the upcoming signing date. It is quite possible/probable that Georgia and TAMU will pass Oregon in the standings unless we snag some more...and USC is not done and they could pass us. Hence the conference title is not secured yet, IMHO. Thibs at his signing...

Yeah, I don't like that when recruits put on an Oregon hat and then take it off and put on another school...so it goes both ways. I wish they would not do that.

It's all good, my coaching friend. Great readers here will disagree and the important thing is, regardless of our differences...each of us can state our views, (no matter how far out) and everybody still has to be nice. It is refreshing to disagree in a civil fashion with no downside and it is fun.

I completely agree with you on both counts with this sentence. And Aliotti coached Justin Wilcox at Oregon, and loved his brother Josh, so there is a real loyalty issue there that clouds his judgment too.

Ouch, Ouch, Ouch! I am feeling... You make a good point, but we have not had a GREAT running back since Royce Freeman, but perhaps Benson and Cardwell will change that.