Haywarduck

Being national signing day and a discussion about the TE position, anyone else drool over the possibility of Franck Kepnang bringing his enthusiasm and athleticism to the football field. 'Now entering the field on third and goal on the 2 yard line at 6' 11" Franck Kepnang.' The opposing teams head coach runs down the sideline screaming 'timeout!'

I have been an advocate of using the Tight End more for a long time. The NFL seems to understand the matchup problems a good Tight End creates. It is nice to know our new coaching team may recognize the same opportunities. I don't think there is a position with so many scholarship players on the team so underutilized as the Tight End position. It is time to release the beasts! A qb who is a threat to run stretches the defense and so does a team which uses their Tight Ends as offensive weapons. I look for, once again, an unpredictable offensive scheme which takes advantage of what the defense expects or is in position to shut down. Gone should be the days where Oregon's offense was about lining up and trying to win a predictable battle. I love writing that, and will be extremely excited to see this happen, once again!

He might be waiting to see who wins to know which OC would be best to approach, that wily guy!

For some reason I love the idea the beavs and the trojans are getting stronger. There is nothing better than beating those programs when their hopes are up. The dawgs I kind of just enjoy seeing them suffer as the pathetic program they have become, and maybe someday will begin to realize.

Further confirmation Utah will be a thorn in sc's side for the foreseeable future. The trojans will have to get through the blue collar Utes, before getting back in the Pac-12 title hunt. That won't be easy, at least this year. I just hope our program has a chip on their shoulder over what happened with Utah last year. We also need to keep our thumb on top of our red headed step child down south, if they play us for the championship.

The one thing Miami was certain of, Mario's ability to recruit, might start to have some cracks too. I do think this will just be, if it happens, a good bye to Mario on the west coast. Mario has plenty of student athletes to recruit down where he is from. It would still be a big get, but not anything too serious, but nice nonetheless, very nice!

Harbaugh has a good history building and the leaving college programs. His history at the NFL isn't as good. He left the 49ers because he didn't have control and was faltering. I would think if he had more control at the NFL he might return. The question is which NFL team would give him control and has the foundation he feels comfortable building from? Jim has left 2 pretty good college jobs, I don't see why he wouldn't leave his third. He left the NFL with a bad taste in his mouth. I could see him going back to clean that up and going after another challenge after that. In this day, and age I could then see him going to the NFL then back to the college game later. Harbaugh is the poster boy for a coach who has little loyalty, but is always up for the next challenge. Jim is the definition of the high functioning ADHD person in our society. We live in a time where people don't stay with their spouse, job, or really kids as reliably as in the past. There is more of a loyalty to the next shiny thing. If he leaves his alma mater that will be, sadly, even more true.

The effective use of the transfer portal is picking up the Vernon Adams type of player. A kid who goes to a lower level school and proves he has D1 talent while having the drive and attitude it takes to win. A player like this can help a top tier program, and is more like augmentation than supplementation. A supplement is filling a deficit, an augmentation is making something better, I won't provide any visuals here. In the past we have done extremely well with Running Backs and QB's in this regard, along with some other positions. Maurice Morris and Blount helped our program and assisted an already strong RB history. Adams and Masoli also helped a very strong position with depth and talent when injuries and development were an issue. I think the transfer portal will play an even larger role going forward as injuries will still be an issue. Development is also something where there is no guarantee, and the ability to pick up a proven player is enticing and a smart move. Development absolutely has to be part of any program, a large part. Knowing you can develop a kid is iffy, and with the transfer portal it is even easier to leave a program. This will hit Oregon maybe harder than some. Homesickness will be extremely easy to remedy. A kid may become more attractive to his hometown, home state school. We have to be ready to fill transfer spots, and look to augment what we had, not just fill a hole. I think the transfer portal offers Oregon an opportunity to build positions we see becoming weak either through a lack of development or from kids transferring out. I don't think we should be shy about using it for the purpose of bringing even more competition on the practice field. The transfer portal is another development in college football. A program shouldn't rely on it, but a savvy program can become even better with the right use. Fortunately we have a proven record of bringing on some student athletes in the past. I hope to see the same type of moves, and an increase in talent while we do it. It is a new day in recruiting and as the saying goes, we need to win the day!

A big body, mature body who has one year to play. I think it is a great risk to take. An amazing get by the staff, well done!

Exactly, act like you expected it, not something you might not be able to repeat. Get beat, try harder, smarter next time. Thank the guy for taking you to school, and do the homework!

A couple quotes, "IF MARIO CAN'T DO THIS, PACK UP THE PROGRAM!!!Because we're about to have everything we need. If the play-calling/coaching is halfway decent WE BACK." and "He would have to make god-awful hires at OC/DC to fail."

Been thinking about the decommit concept Charles brought up. I think it is a deself process. A coach has to get the student athletes to begin to see the team as bigger than themselves. That isn't an easy process with these kids who have been told it is all about them for many years. Welcome Mr. Florence, enjoy the process you will be going through under Coach Lanning. You will learn to love the hate, and hate what you loved while questioning everything that brought you to this point, enjoy it! It is all part of growing up and becoming what is deep inside you!

A draft for high school products would never work, if there is academics involved, which I think there has to be. Maybe the new USFL will allow the dumb jocks to go straight to the pros, but there has to be something to the student athlete element of college sports. If so, then choice has to be part of that. It is going to be a crazy time, but there can't be a draft of high school kids, can there?!!!!!!!

The celebration of making a great play should be the players running over to help you up. A pat on the back while helping you should be the extent of it. Hopefully the focus of the program will be creating student athletes who are an asset to our great society. I think this speaks to the whole opportunity a coach has to help mold the individual, not just the football player. It isn't just an opportunity, it is part of Dan Lanning's job. It is nice to hear he takes that seriously. The trick will be how he can functionally do it while creating a winning program. Goals are easy, reaching those goals is where the bumps in the road occur, as many have pointed out with our Mario experience.

Built for parity maybe, but without college athletes moving on you still have dynasties. From 2002-2019 New England was in over half the Super Bowls and won over 30%. A player like Tom Brady can't effect the college game like he did the NFL. The two football systems, the NFL and the College Game, will always have their differences, but until there is a respectful agreement between college programs it is going to get ugly. What Texas A & M did with recruiting this year is only a hint of what is coming, unless they can agree on rules. I think what we are actually seeing is more of a parity of qb's in the league. You have Aaron Rogers, Mahomes and others all playing at an extremely high level. That is what is creating the parity, more than anything being done differently by the NFL. The NFL has, for the most part, been a controlled play ground of the ultra rich where they know rules are in their best interest.

The NFL is a billionaires club, where they know the game is Russian roulette and everybody has a loaded gun. With that is mind they all agree to let one commissioner ensure nobody fires their weapons at each other. The sub game is controlling the players and feeding the fans so the owners can all stay fat and happy. The NFL has the perfect synergy going on with a controlled power structure. The college game is a bunch of billionaires, suddenly turned loose with little of the structure the NFL has. Creating that structure with differing commissioners, differing perceptions about what is best for themselves is going to be messy. I think it will all come down to college programs beginning to also see the programs in a game of Russian roulette and wanting to preserve themselves while respecting others. The problem is I don't think too many programs in the Pac-12 deserve or can demand respect from the SEC or really any of the elite programs. If the whole NIL and portal situation plays out as it seems to be going I think Oregon and SC and maybe a couple others will need to seek alliances with the elite programs and create a super league. Maybe it can be created like English soccer where you earn the right to stay in the premiere league every year. If you don't spend, the allotted money well you go down a league, others who compete move up. What I see is, in college football, and probably basketball there needs to be super leagues where there is a real playoff, and continues to be one in college basketball. There has to be big money created to fuel what is coming. The big money is only going to be sustained with bigger playoffs and that structure will be anyones guess, but the conferences as we see them now in football are ending, if my view is anywhere close to being correct. Turmoil and craziness is the only thing I am sure of.

Completely agree the firing of Diaz was poorly done and completely unnecessary. Manny didn't deserve to be fired, and the impatience shown by the Miami program wasn't just impatience it was a complete lack of understanding about what it takes to create a program they want. They have now hired a head coach who can't even get coaches, wait until they see how those coaches game plan, deal with in game situations, along with off field situations, the Mario formula. The promise of Mario will be like the promise of a new stadium, over sold and underperformed. The wrecking ball will hit Mario way before it ever hits the school the big donor promised would come down to build a stadium.

I wrote about what Urban did with the black stripe on the Ohio State football helmet. This is a very explicit attempt to get the players to buy into the process a coach is trying create. I wonder what Lanning has up his sleeve. As far as the showboating, this is another extremely important way to create the right culture. Team is more important than player is the number one item. We have the players, we don't have the team, yet. With these two directions the team just might come together. It won't be an easy path for a young and new head coach. He will need something like Urban created or just an incredible will power. We have talked about scheme for a few years, it is nice to see the culture issue get the focus it needs. Elite, enabled individuals may never have experienced a culture like Georgia's. What was interesting about Georgia was the amount of tranfers within the elite talent pool. This seems to be another element we are going to need to get used to in this new era. Some of these prima donnas aren't going to take real well to learning they aren't all that and a bag of chips, anymore. Recruiting hungry, talented, coachable 3* and 4* star players will be critical to this mission. Execution as a team is difficult, execution of these team goals will also be difficult from a young new coach. They are easy to talk about, I will be interested to watch the implementation of these goals and the process of accomplishing them. This will be the much less visible battle we will all want won before the season begins and as the season progresses.

There are three important areas, Offense, Defense and Special Teams. Special teams was a weakness under Mario. It is nice to see Lanning show an interest in shoring up one of the weak areas. There is definitely more work to do in this area!

The interesting thing is Ken Dorsey may have been the best choice, as head coach. Instead the hurricane alumni went after Mario and all the promise of what he did at Oregon, recruiting. The main problem, recruiting was, and will never be the issue at Miami. They needed a guy who can coach, bring discipline to the program. Maybe they will go after Dorsey once Mario stumbles. By then no one in their right mind will want to go to Miami, except for the money. What we are seeing is how a program should be built, and how not to try and build a program. Oregon is going after the future, while Miami is trying to rebuild the past, never a good plan.

Say what is up? Love to, the future at Oregon, don't let it pass you by, commit. By commit I mean commit to becoming the best player and teammate you can become. That is the Oregon way, you win and we win, but it is a tough road. Learn to love the journey, and all it's difficulty, not just the moment. So if 'you want to see the love' it will be there, you just have to earn it, and the love, it's tough love. This is football, not the prom, or a family reunion. There may be parties and reunions, but the love there will be from the memories of the battles won on the journey fought. Love and respect are earned through learning to enjoy the becoming the best student athlete you can become. Don't fool yourself, that is what you would be committing to become at Oregon.

If he gets generational talent to go to Miami that wants to do it his way, then he may just do it, TIMEOUT! He won't get the next Derrick Henry, and it isn't going to happen. Mario is sitting on the a one legged stool. The other two legs are development and scheme and he doesn't have those abilities to keep his stool standing.

The Florence visit reminds me a bit of the DAT visit. Not saying Florence will have the impact DAT did, but the last second visit is of interest. The coaches definitely seem to be working hard, love it!