Viking Duck

That was very interesting, thanks for sharing. Of course one of the keys that he alludes to a couple times in that talk is that it requires a defensive line which is good enough that a three man rush can make sure the pocket gets 'broke' and that they keep the inside of the line bottled up. When I watched it, the right defensive end commanded a guard and a tackle to keep him out, the nose occupied the center and guard, and the other end beat the right tackle one on one to get inside and flush out the qb. If the defensive linemen are not so good, and the offensive line can keep them bottled up, the quarterback can just stand back there and make an unhurried throw while the spy waits for him to break to the outside. Having multiple first round picks playing on your defensive line gives you the ability to make that work, which is more argument for the need to try to find those rare types of players. The experts can correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like a similar concept to what I remember as an old idea, which is the spy would wait for a short time to see if the pocket breaks down or the quarterback starts running the ball. After a couple counts, if it looks like the rush isn't getting to the QB, the spy comes in on what amounts to a delayed blitz, looking for whatever hole has opened up in the pocket to get pressure on the QB.

I played football and track in my high school days, but was definitely better at track. I enjoyed the little story arc with D.K. Metcalf a few years ago, when he tried to qualify for the 100m dash for the Olympics. Here is a link to a video of his heat, the race starting about 2:45 Metcalf had an official 4.33 40m going into the draft, and it's easy to see how much more powerfully built he is than the full time sprinters in the race. He kept up well with them for about half the race but faded in the end. I think that's the real take away, as @Just Ducky said. Fast in a football game does not always translate to being fast on the track, or the reverse. DAT had that elusiveness and the ability to do the other skills that are required in football, such as catching and blocking. Devon has the speed and amazing body control to run that fast while leaping over hurdles. However, Devon has focused on that one event for years, rising to the level of being one of the top ten in the world for multiple years. Whether that will translate into an NFL career remains to be determined I'd say. My final thought is that if it were the 40 meter High Hurdles, it would be no contest

He is working with the outside linebackers/defensive ends to very positive reviews. They want him to focus on one position this year and not go both ways. Otherwise recaps his career so far. Edit: I think three of us answered with in a few minutes! Charles, I can see it too, but I had to click a second link after the one that was posted. Seems like it's just a confusing set up to find the actual article.

Hear hear! You have worked hard to be the most genteel pom pom waver, (with possible exceptions for Huskies jokes!) and it's a good thing. I do agree with 1972 to the extent that I don't see OBD ending up in competition with the very high end of NIL "salaries" in the beginning of this new era, but I'm not convinced yet that this is a game changer. Even in the NFL, there are more than a few first round misses, and quite a few mid round successes. Even more important at the college level is the 'coaching up' aspect.

I think I pretty much agree with David Marsh's take here, but I'd also add that I would never take the coach's report after a spring practice without a grain of salt. I am sure any smart coach is going to use that to reinforce whatever message he wants the team to take away from that practice - in this case perhaps good energy and explosive plays but too sloppy. I don't really remember how Chip Kelly addressed the media after closed practices, but my general sense is that it was probably making jokes reporters' expense and 'no comment'; so at least the current situation may be more information for us fans than that!

He will follow better job opportunities for sure, but I also imagine he'll never have a season quite like this one. What a nice run they put on!

Darn it, you are ruining my fantasy that the NBA Kurt Rambis is here on the forum with me!

Great article and great replies! I think it's far enough out of my element that I would not be confident making any specific predictions, but I'd say I agree with most of what everyone has said so far. The more mercenary it gets, the less I am going to care, but that has been happening to me for decades. It's one reason why I don't pay for cable so that I can get the PAC 12 network - which I could then complain about since it doesn't show the content I want to see. In general, I agree with the general sentiment (I think) of most, well-said by Haywarduck. Sort of a biblical truthism: To those who have, more will be given; to those who do not have, even more will be taken away. My guess is that Oregon will end up on the "those who have" side. Whether they will have enough to defeat the biggest fish remains to be determined.

Gives you an AMEN for that thought!

I worked at a UC school for years; it was not a Pac 12 school, but I think the lesson would apply all the same. I have seen how the university politics, both in the school and in the wider UC system, scuttled several really good ideas that would have brought much needed revenue into the university. For those who are working very hard to create these opportunities, it's very frustrating. "Why?!" we might say. "Well, the chancellor is friends with the dean of department X, who does not like the idea because it would make his enemy, Dean Y, look good." "Well, the UC Regents are pushing notion Y to the governor, and a program like this might give the appearance of not supporting that notion Y, even though we all know your program is a good idea." The bottom line was that, in the insular world of the UC system, those who hold the keys to making decisions like that are very well compensated and really do not care to stick their necks out to support anything that will not advance their own personal agenda or causes they support. With this background, I look at the question from a very cynical viewpoint. You could lay out the most wonderful, well-supported, and logical argument for a plan forward; it would founder on the rocky shoals of bureaucracy and bureaucrats' self interest. I think that would be true for the UC members of the Pac 12, and probably more than a few of the other 9 universities. I predict that whatever the worst position is once the negotiations begin and the new system is put in place, the Pac 12 will take that position. Sorry for being negative!

Good rant! (Apologies for calling it a rant, but it's still good!) The UO facilities and infrastructure are what has made it successful enough to be a national brand in college sports, and that can be traced back directly to Knight. I live in Southern California, and I regularly see cars with UO Ducks stickers on them! Imagine that a few decades ago... Speaking to the topic of this thread, I think we would all agree it was a disappointing year so far, because we hope for more. Tying it to Knight's money does not track though.

Haha that makes me think of back when I really really loved college football and the Ducks were my team, around the Jorgensen/Miller era. I had a lot of hopium and homerism at the beginning of every season

I have a similar looking cat who has the sort of mentality that leads me to believe he would do exactly the same thing as the one in that gif!

It's a great point - I'm sure there are a variety of reasons. Good pondering material

Thank you for the article and I think it sounds very much like an ethos I'd love to see in the program. Just for the sake of having a contrary voice, I would point out this article: Georgia Football Ranked as Biggest Underachiever by ESPN - Sports Illustrated Georgia Bulldogs News, Analysis and More WWW.SI.COM ESPN recently released a tier list of the biggest underachievers in college football and Georgia was at the top of the list. What a difference one season can make? It took Georgia a decade (or more) of averaging better recruiting classes than the best that OBD have ever had to get to the prize. As the article correctly points out, their nemesis was Alabama, and there is no Alabama in the Pac 12, but... our departing coach came out of the Saben coaching tree. To me, it says that it's good to temper my expectations. Every coach looks like a genius if he's coming off a championship season, and he looks like a goat if they have a year or two of not winning the biggest games. I have great hopes for the trajectory of the Ducks under Lanning, but I am also not going to be surprised if takes a while to get to that pinnacle. As a fan, I hope it's sooner rather than later though!

Teachers always feel a lot of care and love for their students, even in the years that they get a difficult class.

This might sound sarcastic, but I think that it's the full truth, and maybe just a bit of sarcasm from the comparison to how things have been in the past. I'm happy when we pick up a player off the free-agent market who might have some potential to help the team either this year or going forward. It's much better than when you fill in needs from the waiver market. Of course in the current environment of CFB, it's hard to know which.

"The reality is that the Ducks posit themselves as an elite team, but have done almost nothing to cement that status, despite chance after chance. That's their DNA. That's who they are. That's what they do. Now, they could shut me up and make me look like an arrogant jackass for my Internet words today. But they won't. And everyone knows it. Especially this guy." I like how that part aged

Nobody is going disdain your grumpy old man attitude; I look for your posts when I log on here, because they are excellent! I have a feeling that a longing for how things used to be was part of the reason why the 'old time players' agitated for Wilcox becoming the next head coach, and part of the reason why I supported that idea too. The changing landscape of the NIL maybe was part of the reason why he turned the job down. I realize it was a contentious issue and I am in the minority with my opinion about that hire! But I think there is a connection. I imagine in the end that market value will end up putting some limitations on how much money gets thrown around. At some point, you cannot pay 85 players 8 million a year and still get any revenue, and the donors are not going to chip up that much money unless they are getting championships every year... and maybe not even if they are. But it seems like we are in for a year or two of the wild west, with great discrepancy in how much players are earning and accusations of rich schools buying their way into the championship.

I wanted his culture to show up, and maybe it did in the rarity of off-the-field trouble? I know there was a pellet gun incident, but it seemed like for the most part he ran a pretty tight ship of 100+ scholarship and walk-on college age students. But, I also agree that he was not being paid a princely sum just to do that, and it seemed from my observations from afar that the on-the-field culture was inconsistent. I expect most of the FishDuck peeps will agree with that.

I am not really celebrating because of the mask regs being lifted, since I for one was an early adopter of wearing a face covering even before it became required! That was when you really DID feel like a rebel haha. And although I got dinged by the financial effects of being laid off and having to change careers, neither I nor anyone in my immediate family got sick. Luck or careful living, we will never know But I do celebrate the fact that things have gotten so much better that even the more cautious states feel it's an appropriate time to get back to 'normal.' It's been a hard time and, despite the bitter national/political rhetoric, I really felt like almost all the people I interacted with in daily life pulled together and acted neighborly with each other during a difficult and disastrous period of our collective history. That's the sort of spirit that I think we all see here on this forum as well, and it keeps your faith up in us being able to get through things like this. So as they'd say in a more British way, cheers to all of you!

Great take and I agree! On a more simple level, as most of us have either been coached in some sport, or even coached others, we all know how these things go. Can you imagine a coach coming out after the first practice and telling the parents and fans "I told the players they are better than any competition they will face all year, so they just need to coast along and they will win the league championship." Of course we can all laugh at that idea, and the reaction said coach would receive, particularly if the team did not go undefeated. I have a feeling his statement would have been the same whether he was given the UO job or the Portland State job

Not to Twitter shame the guy, but "craig stolarczyk" has 150 followers, whereas Prehm has over 20k. I'd say in this case the logic and quality of each person's tweet gives an indication of why there is such a discrepancy in the number of followers. Or in other words, you will find someone who says 'fire the coach!' sitting at every neighborhood bar.

If they set up a drill designed for two quarterbacks, we'd only see two at a time. My impression was that TT was the backup last year, so it would make sense that he'd be in the drill with the SEC veteran. I guess the trick will be to see if that changes at all over the spring practice.

Either RB coach Locklyn was the one closest to where the photographer was allowed to go, or he is the biggest coaching personality on the practice field