WiseKwacker

Great post, Jordan. I read about Carr's signing a few days ago, but had no idea about any of this grade retention business. In this case, since he comes from a family that's so deeply steeped in college football history, I've gotta believe they made these decisions in a careful, calculated manner. I imagine it will work out just fine for this kid, i.e., he'll go as far as his talent will take him. It sure makes you wonder, though, about the impact it will have on other kids who have less well-informed families and have parents who are delusional about their kid's "special" talents in a given sport. There are some times when I'm thankful that my two kids kinda sucked at sports. It allowed them to just get on with their lives. Just playing sports for fun is a lot less stressful than trying to make it your profession when so many elements of that process are entirely out of your control. Just my opinion.

The way I look at it, we'd likely have both Will and Dior for one season. Will should be ready to play effectively from Day #1. We've seen with previous "one-and-done" guys at Oregon that they are usually not ready--at least in Altman's eyes--to start or play starter's minutes at the beginning of the season. Thus, I think we'll get more out of Will Richardson than Dior Johnson this season. Plus, Barthelemy also plays point guard; he should be ready to go from Day 1, also. Thus, if this takes a disgruntled voice off the bench, I think it may be a "plus" for the Ducks. Nonetheless, I'll be interested to see where Dior Johnson ends up, and to watch his results on the court. I think there's a pretty good chance he doesn't become a player who will be taken in next year's NBA draft after one year of college, but, we'll see.

I watched a bit of that game, too. Was wondering if any of White's former Duck players who transferred to Texas with him were still on the team. Just as I tuned in, they're focusing on Miranda Elish in the dugout. For my money, she was as good an all-around player as he ever had. Was sad to see her transfer. Anyway, it took me a minute or two to realize she'd transferred again--to Oklahoma State--and was playing AGAINST Mike White's Longhorns. Ahhhhh, THE PORTAL strikes again!!

I was kidding. Hence, the winking emoji.

Doggone it! This NIL deal is turning out just like I KNEW it would. Initially, the notion got lots of support (even bipartisan political support, if you can believe that) as a way to give all these poor college-age kids some much-deserved cash to reflect their contributions to the big-time college sports money-making machine. What a noble, democratic undertaking. And, in a few cases, a college booster has stepped up to offer an equalized payment plan for an entire team. But, predictably, the big deals mostly go to a couple of the most ballyhooed high school kids at the most glamorous positions--principally, quarterbacks. In contrast, the pro sports leagues have figured it out by structuring salaries to require that you demonstrate your value on the field for a couple of years before you can really demand "the big bucks." Okay, enough of the old codger rant. We have what we have in NIL. Hearing about this stance from Duck Central--thank you, Charles, for the posting--I really like it. Even though it often seems like funds from the high roller boosters are unlimited, they aren't. I'd rather spread the available dollars out among numerous incoming players than to give it all to one "bonus baby." Thinking about conversations within Duck Central, I think of Dan-Lan's most recent experience with a national championship team. He had J.T. Daniels, who surely would've been a big NIL guy coming out of high school (if the NIL ruling had been in place at that time.) And, then he had Stetson Bennett, who ultimately beat out Daniels despite the fact that he started out as a walk-on. Anyway, I like what the Ducks have apparently decided to do.

Most recently, Terry Baker and John Huarte.

That's what I'm hoping happens. It remains to be seen if Dior Johnson is ready to step into a starting point guard role right away, but I hope he is. As far as I've seen--on the court only, of course--Will has all the tools EXCEPT next-level quickness. Regardless of what Johnson is--or becomes--I think Will's going to have a great season #5 with the Ducks.

Fun read, Joshua. Always great to look back on some of the flashiest stars of years past. One quibble with your comparisons, though. I see Byron Marshall more as a true running back from Day 1. He lacked the speed and shiftiness of the others you mentioned. What he did have--better than ANY Duck running back in my memory--was an uncanny ability to follow his blockers to decide when to make his cuts. I guess that has to do with field vision. Whatever the case, it was always a pleasure to watch that guy run. Thanks for bringing back the memories.

Yeah, I suggest you just do what I do: ask your grandkids to explain the significance.

Charles Fischer, aka "The GIF Meister." Just one of the many reasons I click on OBD every day.

This trial is one of those instances where you have two parties (the U of O and Taggart/Oderinde) who would normally be on opposing sides forced to work together to defend themselves. As mentioned above, Mullins and the U of O need to accept responsibility for turning the football program over to Taggart. And, from all those statements former players have made about things Taggart said about trying to weed out players who were coasting and not pulling their weight in the Helfrich era, we can be pretty sure Willie heard those things from Mullins, his staff, or Oregon boosters. Having said all that, I'm sure it absolutely grates on the U of O defense team to have their fate pretty closely interlocked with a notorious pair of Eugene refugees.

A really nice piece of writing, Joshua. Thanks for your work. And, agreeing with Jon Joseph above, your comment, "...they won their first national title since before this writer was born," made this guy, currently celebrating his 70th birthday, do a double-take. As each day rolls by, I gain more and more confidence in Dan-Lan. I'm steadily gaining confidence that, when those inevitable mistakes and stumbles occur, this guy has the under-control-ego to learn from his mistakes and to show a bit of humility that will allow the team and its fans to move past the transgressions. We'll see...

And, the lure of needing to play in a major program to impress the NFL scouts is really a thing of the past as evidenced by guys like Josh Allen, Trey Lance, Malik Willis, Carson Strong and others. Thus, any of these three guys could likely identify a college team where he could transfer and become an instant starter, and, importantly, show his skillset to pro scouts.

This one kind of surprised me. This kid played a lot of minutes for the Buffs as a freshman. I consider Tad Boyle as one of the league's best coaches, although not one of the best recruiters. So, I wonder what motivated the change...especially with Harmon returning, Richardson undecided, Dior Johnson coming in, and guys like Tyrone Williams, Rivaldo Soares, and Brennan Rigsby all competing for minutes at guard. Could be a team with great depth that can come at teams in waves, or it could be a team with a small rotation of players Dana considers reliable with some discontented guys not getting much playing time.

He was quite the athlete. He also was really good at baseball, having gone pro as well. One of the first two-sport professional athletes. That 1976-77 basketball season for boys class AAA was, in my opinion, the greatest year ever. As the state tournament began, there were four teams who were undefeated, with each one led by a star player. Lake Oswego had Jeff Stoutt, Parkrose (a power back then) had Ray Blume, Grant had Mark Radford, and defending champion, North Eugene, had Danny Ainge. Lake Oswego lost to Parkrose in the quarterfinals. Parkrose lost to North Eugene (51-40) in the semifinals. And, North Eugene won their second consecutive state title in the final, beating Grant 56-45. North Eugene coach, Barney Holland, eventually became an assistant coach for the Ducks. And, of course, the Ducks fanned on keeping Danny Ainge in Eugene for college while the Beavers recruited the three other guys for their still-powerful basketball team.

It doesn't seem like it's commonly done this way, but, if I'm a coach who's evaluating a specific position, I'd want to see all the potential players performing under similar circumstances as much as possible. Although you can judge a player's mastery of the playbook by just watching them perform with a random group of teammates, it seems to me that the real eyeball comparison is best made when each one is playing alongside the same set of teammates and against the same set of teammates on the opposite side of the ball. Thus, rotating all three of the QB candidates through reps with the first team makes sense to me while the evaluation process is still underway. But what do I know?

Here's my latest "brilliant" idea for the next NIL offer to a high school star: "Hey, kid, if you sign with us, we'll make you a team captain for our week #5 game this year."

Sure. Remember it well. On offense, it was a guy named Mario. On defense, it was Cristobal. And, for special teams, it was Mario Cristobal. Yer welcome.

Great to hear the positive talk from one of the young receivers, but, as grandma used to say, "the proof is in the pudding." I hope he's right, but we'll have to see come next fall. I'm not really worried at all about the loss of the veteran group of receivers (Johnson, Redd, and Williams). They all developed into a pretty reliable group, and I can see why they were starters; However, I think the young guys we have now (Franklin, Thornton, Hutson, McGee and Lowe) have greater upside potential. And Franklin and Hutson got quite a bit of playing time last year, so it's not like they're unproven. Certainly, Thornton had some huge plays in his limited playing time. So, when you combine that (in your mind's eye, anyway) with improved quarterback play this year and a more wide-open playbook, there's plenty of room for optimism. In fact, I'm currently looking around for that "fast forward" button to get us quickly to September.

Yeah. Sometimes I read what a juror responded to a question and ask myself, "Hmmm, is this person really so naive as to believe that this response won't get them disqualified by one side or the other? Or, just maybe that was their intent in the first place..."

Jeez! Talk about retinal burn... I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to "un-see" that.

Franck was, by all accounts, a good teammate. He brought lots of energy if not ball skills. As much as I cringed when the ball would go inside to Dante and Kepnang this year, I can see why they were playing ahead of Bittle. I think Dana wanted defense and rebounding from the center position, and those two guys offered more of that than skinny Nate did. Ultimately, I think many of us would like to see Bittle playing as a "4" ala Chet Holmgren, who played alongside Timme. I hope Bittle sticks and works out with that in mind for next season. Just watching him move around, you can see the natural coordination he possesses. Nice long arms, too.

Great to see. Hope he stays healthy. Also, pleasantly surprised to see Cam McCormick listed on the TE depth chart. Would LOVE to see him get some on-field time this season. It's been a long road for that guy.

Thought-provoking post, Darren. (I guess that's the idea... ) Don't know whether or not your "hunch" is correct, but it makes sense to me. From my perspective, if Nix winds up as QB1 and plays well, I can be fine with that. What bothered me most last year was when Brown was QB1 and clearly struggled, we just didn't see Thompson get a chance as relief. And, the one time we did see Thompson during league play, he got yanked promptly after making a mistake. It just never had a good feel to the way the QB situation was handled last year. Again, like you, I didn't know any details about how each guy was performing in practices.