Canzano: Oregon Ducks' Quarterback Battle Has Transfer Portal Written All Over It

[Charles Fischer]

 

Dan Lanning is no dummy. The Oregon Ducks’ football coach allowed media into the program’s inner sanctum on Thursday for a few minutes. It was the first time in the Lanning era that an outsider laid eyes on a live 11-on-11 spring football drill.

 

Just the fourth practice.

Only the second day in pads.

 

Still, Lanning opened the doors for 15 plays and let media observe. The reporters noted that quarterback Ty Thompson got the first-team reps, followed transfer Bo Nix, then returner Jay Butterfield.

 

The fan base buzzed about it. Speculation swirled about next season possibly being Thompson’s time, or at least that he’d press Nix for the starting job. Or maybe this was just Thompson taking the first reps because he’s been in Eugene a lot longer than Nix.

 

It was a brilliant tactical move, either way.

 

Matt Prehm @MattPrehm

Should note: Ty's series with the ones ended with a low pass getting tipped at the LOS by Jackson Powers-Johnson and Bryan Addison nabbing a sweet interception and returning it for what would have been a touchdown. Nix led the offense down the field into scoring range.

Matt Prehm @MattPrehm

Oregon ran 11-on-11 with media in practice for about 15 plays. QB order: 1. Ty Thompson 2. Bo Nix 3. Jay Butterfield

 

March 31st 2022

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Nobody on the outside knows if Thompson — a five-star recruit out of high school — really is pressing Nix for the starting job. But that brief look through the keyhole sure gave the appearance of a tight race. It was exactly what Lanning needed to do in an era where gifted young players routinely jump in the transfer portal.

 

In the last couple of years I took note on my statewide radio show that coaches I interviewed started to craft their answers a little differently. Most notably, when I’d ask how a particular player looked in practice I got some new-era thinking.

 

It used to be that coaches would lean into the question and talk specifically about the one player. That’s gone. Unless I drill down with follow-up questions on the specific player what I typically encounter in 2022 is a coach who is cognizant of the feelings of every player in that position group and anyone in their friend and family circle who might be listening.  They now tip toe around the question.

 

Oregon QB Ty Thompson was a five-star recruit out of high school.

 

“I love our entire quarterback room,” coaches now often say.

 

Or the coach will reel off a checklist of everyone at the position, making sure that nobody on the roster is left out. The transfer portal did that, folks.

----------------------------------------------------

On Friday, I spoke with UO women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves about his roster. He lost a carload of players to the transfer portal when the season ended, including three talented sophomores. Questions swirled about whether there might be something larger going on with the program but Graves assured me it was the way of the new world.

 

Graves said: “I looked today, there are more than 900 Division I women’s basketball players in the portal — 900. The season hasn’t even finished yet. It’s tough. It’s like NBA free agency every year.”

 

He’s right.

 

College football and men’s basketball both had the same flurry of transfer activity. Further, I told Graves that I felt like coaches weren’t being as candid and authentic about the depth chart anymore. At least not in public-facing appearances. Not just one coach — almost all of them. There is now almost no upside and a lot of potential downside to publicly talking about what’s happening with the roster.

 

“We’re not honest. We’re not honest with you. We’re often times not honest with our own players because we’re trying to keep them warm,” Graves said. “Gone are the days quite frankly when you could come in and hope to play a little bit as a freshman, play more as a sophomore, kind of move into the rotation and maybe start as a junior. Those days are over."

 

“Kids are looking for what they can get right now.”

 

I love the concept of the transfer portal. It has a place in college athletics. But I think it’s enabling the teaching of some piss-poor life lessons. The portal has become an extension of the club-sports scene, where parents move their child out of one club and jump to another because their kid didn’t get playing time or got some constructive criticism.

 

Gone is resilience.

Absent is accountability.

 

What we have in its wake is a new-era of athletics marked by transient behaviors. Three high schools in four years? Sure. Four different club coaches in four seasons? Yup. It’s happening. Now, we’re watching college players jump in and out of the portal, seeking more playing time, a better opportunity, and sometimes the added incentive of an endorsement deal.

 

 

The portal needs to stay part of college athletics, but so does common sense. I wonder if the solution is to limit the transfer portal window to a two-month period after the end of every season. College courses have an “add/drop” deadline. So should college athletics. Because what we have now is a flimsy free-for-all that makes some college programs feel like bus stops.

 

I don’t blame Lanning one bit for letting the media into practice. I admire that he had Thompson take the first reps. He’s learned from Mario Cristobal’s sins in this way. Thompson worked hard, stuck with the program through a head coaching change and we’re told has a load of talent.

 

He got rewarded and encouraged by Lanning.

 

Thompson went first.

 

It may keep him around if he ends up second.

[Charles Fischer]

That quote by Kelly Graves is something for us all to take note of, as it is probably true with all coaches now, in all sports--due to the portal.

[Haywarduck]

Our last qb was a transfer, the starter before him transferred, we will probably have some transfers from our qb recruits, and this years qb will probably be a transfer. The qb battle doesn't have transfer written all over it, the position does. I'm not sure that is going to change anytime soon.

 

The only thing that has worked in the past, and maybe should be tried in the future, is to recruit some multi-sport 3 star athletes at the position. I tend to think the transfer portal is going to be the chosen way going forward, if recent history is any measure of the future. We are not alone in this situation either, many programs are starting transfers at qb. 

 

4 of the last 7 starting qb's at Oregon have either transferred in or transferred out. The previous 10 starting qb's were our recruits who earned their way on the field at Oregon. This type of recruitment and development is a thing of the past, or at least going the way of the land line.

 

I used the idea of the land line, because these transfers coming into Oregon have no connection to our program. There are also like a cell phone, you have them under contract until they break, or have to be replaced, with another one.

[DuckIt]

Regardless if the younger guys were more talented or better, it was clear that MC favored his seasoned veterans with minutes. He wasn't about to gamble his 10 win season on unproven raw talent. The only exception would be Noah Sewell.  If he kept Noah on the bench, he truly would have looked dumb and inept, not that he didn't still leave me with that impression of him.

[Mike West]

I call the transfer portal Antonio Brown Syndrome...

 

At least the kids aren't stupid enough to trash their former coaches and players.  

 

 

[Jon Joseph]

On 4/2/2022 at 3:43 PM, Charles Fischer said:

That quote by Kelly Graves is something for us all to take note of, as it is probably true with all coaches now, in all sports--due to the portal.

AMEN! Roster management in the NBA and NFL today is a piece of cake compared to CBB and CFB.

 

'Get your scorecard! Can't tell the players without a scorecard!'

[Babyjesus615]

Honestly college football is just starting to catch up to where college basketball has been for 20 years. The main reason this is not sitting well with us (including me) is because college football seemed, for decades, to be one of the sports where culture reigned supreme. It was what kept the 4*s and 5*s around on the same team and sometimes meant they didn't see the field until year 2 or 3.

 

When the NCAA created the one-time free transfer rule, it created collegiate free agency. So many of these kids no longer care if they even graduate any more. All they want is to put together a season or two of good tape then bounce for the League. This is exactly how college basketball has been for quite a long time. These athletes come in, have a good year, then take off to the NBA or the D League.

 

Because football is the high contact, human chess-game that we love, I think we assume that these men who go to literal battle every weekend develop a closer comraderie than most of the other sports. And this close relationship is actually required for teams to be successful with the O-Line needing to act as a single unit, the center being able to have a feel for his QB and all the little nuances. The QB and his receivers gelling so balls can be placed in the perfect spot.

 

But here we are in 2022 where a QB is allowed to transfer, usually with the expectation that he be named the starter, and then try to develop some sort of relationship with the existing guys around him. It has been extremely hit-and-miss with how this ultimately works out. I like the person that Bo Nix is, but he left Auburn after he felt like his job was no longer secure. He should be given no additional securities here. I just hope Ty uses him to bring the best in himself out on the field.

[Jon Joseph]

On 4/3/2022 at 8:19 AM, Mike West said:

I call the transfer portal Antonio Brown Syndrome...

 

At least the kids aren't stupid enough to trash their former coaches and players.  

 

 

Will be fascinating when the G5 and especially the P5, take over CFB rules and regulations from the NCAA. Will there be an attempt to rein in CFB 'free agency' and NIL? Will any such attempt be sustainable in a court of law?

 

Will there be uniform rules and regs in the G5/P5; or, will it vary by conference? 

 

A big issue for me, will there be caps on the # of CFB players a team can have on scholarship? Will the Power 2 have rules and regs the other conferences cannot afford? Such as the number of assistant coaches and not just 'advisors' that you can have on your staff?

 

Will the B1G and the SEC be in lockstep? Or, will the B1G based on 'academic integrity' go a different way?

 

Of course today, in theory, you can have 85 players on scholarship and X number of walk-ons whose tuition, etc., is more than covered by NIL deals. Saban has already hinted that he is taking a look at 'this.' 

 

Without a Players Union with which to negotiate, can anything on the transfer and NIL front be regulated?  And if there is such a union, who or what will constitute 'management?'

 

Instead of driving myself nuts with all of the hypos, I'm going to watch and enjoy while I can.

[Nevada Dawg]

On 4/3/2022 at 10:24 AM, Babyjesus615 said:

Honestly college football is just starting to catch up to where college basketball has been for 20 years. The main reason this is not sitting well with us (including me) is because college football seemed, for decades, to be one of the sports where culture reigned supreme. It was what kept the 4*s and 5*s around on the same team and sometimes meant they didn't see the field until year 2 or 3.

 

When the NCAA created the one-time free transfer rule, it created collegiate free agency. So many of these kids no longer care if they even graduate any more. All they want is to put together a season or two of good tape then bounce for the League. This is exactly how college basketball has been for quite a long time. These athletes come in, have a good year, then take off to the NBA or the D League.

 

Because football is the high contact, human chess-game that we love, I think we assume that these men who go to literal battle every weekend develop a closer comraderie than most of the other sports. And this close relationship is actually required for teams to be successful with the O-Line needing to act as a single unit, the center being able to have a feel for his QB and all the little nuances. The QB and his receivers gelling so balls can be placed in the perfect spot.

 

But here we are in 2022 where a QB is allowed to transfer, usually with the expectation that he be named the starter, and then try to develop some sort of relationship with the existing guys around him. It has been extremely hit-and-miss with how this ultimately works out. I like the person that Bo Nix is, but he left Auburn after he felt like his job was no longer secure. He should be given no additional securities here. I just hope Ty uses him to bring the best in himself out on the field.

Bo Jackson left Auburn largely because the new head coach created a dumpster fire there and the program no longer seemed to have a sense of direction.

[Nevada Dawg]

What a Freudian slip! I meant to say Bo Nix, not Jackson, in my above comment. Sorry.