OregonDucks

Oregon has some challenges to get to the 85 scholarship limit by next season with 25+ high school commits and the transfer portal players that have announced that they will be transferring to Oregon and the others they are pursuing. The coaches must be having the hard discussions with players about their futures in Eugene (hopefully they aren’t pulling scholarships). I’m not saying that that is what happened with Dawson but it makes you wonder about some of the other transfers.

In terms of recruiting strategy, what positions are most available in the transfer portal with high end talent and how hard is it to predict how talent will translate at the next level? It seems like offensive lineman are the most loyal and likely to stay at a school for 4-5 years, so it makes sense to recruit OL at the high school level and develop them. You can add transfer players to plug holes. On the other end of the spectrum, it seems like offensive skill positions and top CBs are plentiful in the transfer portal so perhaps you recruit 4-5 stars out of high school and try to add a few proven top level transfers every year, if needed. QB seems to be the hardest position to predict at the next level. How many 5-stars did not pan out in college? How many top NFL picks never worked out? Oregon’s best QBs over the past 20 years have been 3-4 star recruits. Does it make more sense for Oregon to recruit two 3-4 star high school QBs per year and look for transfers, if those QBs don’t develop? Seems like this would be the smarter play.

Great news! After this season, it was evident that Oregon needed a punter or two. I can’t wait to see what Luke’s got. It’s funny, punter is one position that none of us or even the coaches ever hope to see on the field. No offense to Luke, I hope he booms them high and far in practice and pregame, but hopefully we won’t see him on the field during games because Oregon won’t need to punt in the 4-5 years he is in Eugene!

Admittedly, I don’t know a ton about Coach Leach but I always admired his honesty and that he spoke his mind in a direct and straightforward way. He was a great interviewer and seemed to have interests and an opinion in many different areas. Coach Leach had a positive impact on many young men and coaches over his career, and will be remember by college football fans for his innovative Air Raid offensive. My heart goes out to his family and friends. Gone too soon. RIP Coach Leach.

I feel for Mr. Leach’s family and friends during this difficult time. Life is fragile.

Khyree Jackson was the #1 JC cornerback. Oregon, Georgia and a number of top programs recruited him before he signed with Alabama.

Deebo’s injury was a bit of a fluke/bad luck. He got his lower leg rolled up on in the open field. Had nothing to do with the playcall as it could have easily have happened on a reception. Hope it’s not too serious.

I agree with you, unless the game is on the line or if you are playing in the conference championship, Rose Bowl or playoffs (e.g., the way the coaches utilized Herbert his senior year in the big games). I didn’t like the obvious QB sneak against Washington after we ran the same play, out of the same formation, earlier in the game. UW even took a timeout when they saw the formation and we didn’t adjust. Did anyone else see the Chargers shift Herbert out to receiver and run the option with two skill players (RB received the direct snap), last night? I thought that that was a smart way to run the option in the NFL. Herbert stepped back at the snap so a lateral pass was an option that the defense had to defend.

That’s a shame Charles. I did not realize that. It’s unfortunate that the Oregon AD does not realize the service/value that you and this site provide to die hard Duck fans on educating them on all things Oregon sports. Thank you and the other writers/posters for everything you all do. Perhaps you or Dazed will get lucky and run into Lanning or Tosh in a bar, preferably after they have had a few...

I agree with you about the immediacy needs on defensive line. Hopefully we get some blue chip high school talent to sign (e.g., Hicks) and can find some transfers in the portal. The type of D-line players that Lanning had at Georgia are not easy to find/get, as every team is looking for those game changers. If we can find secondary help or if the young CBs on the roster continue to develop, I wonder if Bridges could move to safety. He knows the defense and is a really good open field tackler but may not have the top end speed to play the outside corner spot at an elite level.

Thank you for another insightful article. FishDuck has the best Oregon scheme breakdowns and strategy analysis. I enjoy learning more about OBD from educated fans and coaches. I look forward to reading your article on the Beaver game. Hopefully you let us know if we were playing a cover 2 or 1 defense most of the time (especially in the 4th quarter), as the game was too painful for me to watch the replay. You and/or Charles should try to conduct an interview with Lanning or Tosh in the off-season to get the answers to your debates. While I wouldn’t expect the coaches to throw a specific player under the bus, it would be interesting to learn more about their preferred defense style/strategy and whether that was limited this season by “personnel,” time, or was their strategy this year because of the high scoring offense. They certainly won’t return my phone calls and emails...

Traeshon Holden looks like the prototypical Alabama wide receiver. Very athletic, ability to make the tough catch and get RAC yards. I saw him lineup both outside and in the slot. Great pick up. Wonder if this is another indication that Nix is coming back next year?

Just watched some Jestin Jacobs highlights. He looks extremely athletic, and is a “wiry” 6-4 225 lbs. JJ could probably play inside or outside linebacker and I could see him coming off the edge on the blitz given his quickness and athleticism, just like Lanning drew up at Georgia. Looks to be a very exciting pickup for the Oregon D!

Wow. Right out of the gate with two big transfer pick ups. Welcome to Eugene Holden and Jacobs! Will Jacobs replace Sewell, if he decides to enter the draft, or does he play outside? Oregon is an attractive destination for transfers given our track record, the chance to compete for a conference and national championship and our coach’s tireless effort and recruiting ability. Now if we can only close the deal with Hicks!!!!

Someone should tell Moore that there is no guarantee that UCLA or any other school won’t bring in a transfer QB. Chip should be fired if he put all of his eggs in one basket, that of an 18 year old. He was on the hot seat last year, and one would have to believe that UCLA will take a step or two back next year. DJ Uiagalelei’s name has been thrown out there as a possible transfer to UCLA. That would be a good fit.

It feels like the 90%+ could decrease with NIL $$$ being thrown around. It would really suck if Dante Moore is one of the ~10% this year and Oregon loses him at the last minute, especially to UCLA or another PAC-12 school.

Deion is a fantastic recruiter who went toe to toe with the blue bloods. I’m sure that he’ll upgrade the talent in Boulder in short order. I don’t know much about the league he was coaching in but I wonder if his team won because they had superior athletes vs. Deion‘s coaching. It sounds like he is also very hard on his assistant coaches. In summary, I have no idea what to think about Coach Sanders. If I’m Colorado’s AD, why not take a flier on “Coach Prime”? What do you have to lose, at this point? Full disclosure, although I can see how some would be turned off by Deion‘s persona, I am a huge Prime Time fan. He is one of the best athletes and the best cornerback I have ever seen (every Sunday he went one on one against the other team’s best receiver with little or no help and took one side of the field away from the offense). If I were a top CB, I would want to play for “Coach Prime.”

Having Nix return (or finding a stud QB transfer) and an explosive offense would give the defense another year to rebuild. The offense production this year really covered up Oregon’s defensive liabilities. I’m hopeful that we’ll get some impact recruits and transfer players, but that side of the ball needs a lot of work!

FWIW, both Joey Harrington and Anthony Newman mentioned on Talkin’ Ducks that they believe that Nix playing in the bowl game indicates that he is leaning towards returning to Oregon next season. They mentioned that if he had already decided to go to the NFL, it would make more sense for him to rehab the ankle and prepare for the combine.

Chip Kelly’s offense does not prepare QBs for the NFL. Oregon’s fans show up to football games.

I believe that the frustration is the combination of the transfer portal and NIL occurring at the same time. Every player has become an unrestricted free agent EVERY YEAR. If you look at pro sports, there are salary cap restrictions, wage scales for new players (NFL), players are signed for a certain period of time and cannot become free agents whenever they want. College football seems like complete chaos right now. The pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, IMO. There needs to be some rules/over site.

If Oregon schedules a directional school, instead of Georgia, we have 10 wins. To me, given Oregon’s resources, Oregon should compete every year for a conference championship. What made this season so disappointing is that we were one quarter away from playing USC in the conference championship and we blew it with a combination of really bad play and questionable coaching decisions. I would be happy with competing for conference championships every year, winning them more often than not. With the expanded playoff, if we can accomplish the above, Oregon should be in the mix for a birth in the playoffs, regularly. If the stars align, we could make a deep run and potentially win the whole dang thing.

LOL. I guess I’m the future we should just look at the points per possession leaders to find out whom our future coordinators will be. This is a stat that is important to Dan Lanning or perhaps he just read my post on OBD! If it’s the later, I will take some season box seats as my referral fee...

Fantastic hire, if true. I mentioned him a few times as an OC option. He runs a prolific offense (top 10 in points per possession), he played QB in college and his starting QB might be a transfer target.

I'm not suggesting that anyone within the Oregon program would leak the name. However, how much confidence do you have that 17-18 year old recruits will be able to keep it a secret?