Viking Duck

I will join in the chorus of 'great post!' I don't feel I have enough expertise to speak to a lot of that, but it does match my general impressions. I think I've made that point before on this forum regarding the 'miss' rate of NFL quarterbacks. When real experts whose entire well-paid jobs (the people evaluating talent for the NFL) miss on their predictions for so many quarterbacks, all of whom have many hours of tape in college to evaluate in addition to the combine and physical tests... ... it's not surprising that the high school rating 'racket' has a lot of misses too. One reason I felt that 'wait and see' was good advice for TT, rather than clamoring for him to start the first game he was eligible for. In most facets of life, there is nothing wrong with spending a few years honing your craft behind a more experienced technician. Of course, we all want to have that exceptional youth who can jump to the front of the line even over a competent QB, but those are few and far between in college football. Sometimes the athletes who make it to the professional ranks are the ones who have the 'resilience' to stick with a difficult situation and master it. I feel like that is often lost in the current football culture.

I was wondering why you seemed to be so MEH about it For me, I was thinking local kid & family ties, and it never hurts to have some depth even if he ends up backing up the talented youngsters. I probably was not paying much attention to it, but there must be some reason you say 'enjoyed it.' Social media comments I assume? In any case, in the new free-agency era of college football, I expect that it will be a recurring theme of players who once snubbed (or were snubbed by) a school transferring over some years later. NFL light?

I'd like to see our pass-catching, tall tight ends used in the red zone by working the formation to get them isolated on a db and then run a corner or fade route, with a QB accurate enough in timing and placement to put it in a position where the TEs can use their height to get the ball. That (in my non-expert imagination) is one of the things I imagine when I hear pro offense these days, thinking of Gronk and Brady, but I saw Herbert scoring touchdowns with the exact same play. On defense, I'd like to see more consistent pressure on the quarterback than I think we've seen over the last couple years, and that keeping up a positive turnover ratio and reducing 3rd down conversions by the opposition.

I think it's a great pickup to build depth. You never want to burden the offspring with the accomplishments of their parents, but I have some fond memories of Chad - what a hitter!

rat.mp4

One game I was there for and even remember the highlight video play, which seemed in real time like a rogue wave running over the QB. Oregon avenges the previous year's loss by beating BYU, who was ranked #4 when they met - 1990.

I feel like a considerable number of fans really pinned a lot of hope on Thompson being the next great thing at Oregon, and there is still time for that to happen; hopefully it does. According to 247, he's the 15th highest-rated recruit in UO history, and the highest-rated quarterback. A high four star ranked 40th best player of any position that year. On the other hand, also according to 247, Nix (had he come to Oregon in 2019) would be the 11th highest recruit in UO history and the highest-rated quarterback, and was ranked a five star and the 33rd best player in the nation that year. And in addition, won the freshman offensive player of the year for the SEC. I say that this is a 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth' type of situation. It's not a bad thing to have a still very young true blue chip competing with a more experienced true blue chip. And then add on the experience against top competition as Jon Joseph mentions, I think this is another sign of becoming a true top tier program. Sometimes you have five stars sitting behind five stars, and pushing each other.

Did anyone else read that article to the last sentence and wonder what is "the drip"? And then remember that old saying - if you have to ask, you are already too old!

I doubt I could find any text evidence to back me up on this, but I think that the standard wisdom for most of college football history went like this: If a coach is hired from across the country, he had better hire staff from the local area in order to recruit well; for coaches at schools like UO or OSU, that would also mean hiring people with Washington and California contacts. I think for programs at the highest level these days, it's become more like what we see here: If a coach is hired from across the country, he should hire some with local ties but also focus on developing 'local ties' in recruiting hotbeds which might be several time zones away. Probably I am not saying anything new here, but I do feel like it's been a shift in mindset over the last couple decades! Seems like we have a coach who is following the new paradigm.

Not to be mean, but I wonder if this is another example of a "slow day for news but I have to print some copy" type of article. If USC puts things together and has an excellent season, we will all get to see in the Pac12 championship game

Somehow I got a younger Blake Shelton vibe from that picture

If you search up the topic for the NFL, the offensive linemen are the tallest and heaviest. Defensive tackles are slightly less. Defensive ends / edge players are considerably lighter. I think the defensive lineman is generally at a disadvantage, since he does not know where the play is going or the snap count, so there is a need for quick reaction times. Therefore, in general, the more mobile big men will be steered towards the defensive line, which means also in general the lighter big men. A ginormous defensive lineman would typically be one who in the defensive scheme is going to anchor a two-hole gap, since he is too big to move and will clog up that area of the field. I remember Refrigerator Perry in the Chicago 46 defense for this... I am sure every team in the nation would love to have a few players who are that big and also have the reaction times to play on defense, such as Haloti Ngata for the Ducks, but they are few and far between. Most teams get by without them, simply because their biggest men are not quick enough to play the position.

We were there together then, and at the time no doubt cursing his name I'm sure you are right though in the end - all of those highlights show nice wide open holes to run through, and good blocking is timeless

I was fairly young, but I still have vague memories of Reuben Mays slicing through the scrum as if it was just water... impressive! I'd also be interested in an expert like @Charles Fischer breaking down that old WSU offense compared to these days. I feel like other than the QB being under center more than most teams do now, it was an excellent offense, and I am curious how much different it is from modern schemes.

I will go out on a limb and say that I disagreed with the premises of your previous article, that the "Former Oregon Players Are NOT on the Fans’ Team." I do not feel that changing the name of the rivalry game was a big deal, whether a majority of the fan base liked it or not. I am sure that the Redskins fans didn't like getting their name changed either, but it's just part of modern life. I remember a HUGE push back against changing Union Ave. to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Portland, when I was working right on the street. That push back has not aged well, as it shouldn't. I was one who thought, and still think, that Wilcox would have made a fine hire. He was an excellent DC when Washington was as relevant as it has been in recent times. His lower recruiting rankings may have something to do with working at Cal rather than Georgia. That being said, I think that Lanning is a fine hire as well. But I disagree with the premise that hiring Wilcox would have been a "Catastrophic Blunder" as you phrased it. Since I disagree with both premises, it's hardly surprising that I think it's fine that Lanning met with Harrington. Even if I agreed, I think that coming into a new job and saying "I will NOT hear out former players because they did not advocate for my hire" would be a really poor way to start a new regime.

Oh, haha, I was thinking about the coaches being the gunslinger and the young gun. I did not even think about the quarterback angle as well being there.

It would certainly make for a lot of eyeballs wanting to watch the title game, unlike some seasons I suspect. Made for TV story line - the gunslinger from Oklahoma vs. the young gun from Alabama Georgia meet up to take it all in their first season in the conference. *edited for Freudian slip in getting which school won the natty *

Calculating how many open scholarships remain seems to be similar to...

Thanks Jon, and I think that it's not so much a quibble since I actually agree with you. I would feel that way as an 18 year old, but for the vast majority of players at that age having a structured place to develop their skills is needed. Probably I didn't express that well. The hypocrisy has been that they have always been expected to do it by earning millions for college sports without receiving anything near a fair return for their efforts. And especially true for the ones who do not make it to the NFL. I'm sure that it's going to be chaotic as this really fundamental legal change plays out, but hopefully the NFL does as you say and creates another (paid) developmental route for players, rather than forcing them all into the college football system. Having played football myself, I reject the notion that football players are dumb; but, not every high school graduate is best served by being told going to college is the only measure of success in life.

In recent years I think it could be nothing more than the appearance of hate, when in fact it's just the (on paper) underdog spirit. To put it in a Game of Thrones analogy: Utah: Oregon: And of course the other teams ( USC / out of conference) would be even more hated, as outsiders... maybe?

As big time college football slides down that slippery slope towards minor league professional football, I think that feeling disrespected by coaches or players jumping to what they feel is a better deal will become less of an emotional thing for fans. It's just inevitable. One of the reasons growing up that I liked college sports more than pro sports was that sense that it was more about passion and love for the place and sport than money. This ideal has not been true for quite a while for the ones making all the money (coaches and universities), and with the NIL it's going to be less and less true for the ones earning the money (players.) As much as I am going to miss the good old days, if I were an 18 year old top football prospect, the hypocrisy of the traditional system would irk me. I'm old enough to vote, join the military, get a job, and start a family, but I am barred from playing professional football because I am "just a kid?" If the NFL had a valid feeder system outside of college football, that would be one thing. But there is not, so if you want to get drafted and maximize your potential, go work for room, board, and tuition for some college which will make tens or hundreds of thousands off of each year of your work. The NFL ducked the responsibility of creating a valid feeder system; money had a huge amount to do with it, since college football is so profitable. So in the end, if a coach wants to leave to a situation he likes better, or a player, more power to them. It does not mean I'll root for their new team, but I don't begrudge them doing it.

BTW, that cat landed on some trash bags and ran off, perfectly fine.

I think it's nothing more than just saying the sun rises in the east and sets in the west I think the amazing thing for those of us who have followed OBD before the run of success is that Oregon *is* a national brand at all. But it's much easier to be a national brand when you are located in states like Georgia, Florida, or Ohio, and nothing will ever change those demographics. My sense is that at this moment we have three true 'national brand' football teams in the Pac 12, which are Oregon, USC, and Stanford. And Stanford is only by virtue of being one of the top universities in the country, which will give it a leg up for recruits all across the country; on the other hand, it limits their potential pool, since there just aren't that many who can get into the school. On the other hand, I think the idea of schools reaching well outside their region is much more prevalent than it was decades ago, when it seemed in my unscientific impression that Notre Dame was really the only one consistently recruiting coast to coast. One result of technology making the world seem smaller. It speaks even more to the importance of getting a better media deal, as Jon Joseph has been preaching. If kids are moving across the country, they want their friends and family back home to be able to see them play. And they will be more interested if they have been watching the Ducks consistently growing up.

Two of my high school teammates were walk-ons back in the very late 80's, and I think that Brooks had some regular open calls back in those pre-social media days. So not a completely new idea in any case! It was also a good measuring stick to see how much better starting Pac-10 athletes were than I, as the best players in my class were barely able to contribute as scout team members - they were both considerably better than I was.

I hope so! It's going to be very interesting to see how things play out over the next few years.