Five Crucial Things Darron Thomas Must Do to Succeed as a First-Year Starter, and five he must learn to avoid

What in the name of Ramsen Golpashin is going on here? The Oregon Ducks are defending the PAC-10 title and competing for the national championship with a first-year starter at quarterback?

The Alabama Crimson Tide had a first-year quarterback last season, and they went undefeated in winning their conference and the national title. Of course, they had a favorable schedule and a deep team with a hard-hitting athletic defense and a standout running back, lots of team speed and aggressiveness. Hey wait a minute...

A lot hinges on Darron Thomas and his learning curve. He's replacing a Heisman trophy candidate who triggered the most electric offense in the country. Masoli made defenses choose on every play, but unfortunately he gave his coach no choice. He had to go. Losing an experienced senior quarterback hurts, but he's gone now, serving probation in another town. Chip Kelly says as far as the Ducks are concerned at this point it's just as if he graduated. The next guy has to take advantage of his opportunity, and we'll have the next guy for three years.

But Darron Thomas has to step up now. The 18 returning starters on his team are ready to win, and this may be the best overall team Oregon has ever had in terms of talent, depth and speed.

You don't waste that on an experiment, a feel-good story or potential. As the Oregon starter Thomas has to get up to speed and progress every week. He has to become comfortable in the job and in command of the offense by game five when Stanford comes to town for the Ducks' first meeting with a conference contender. The first four games of the season Oregon can get by with a quarterback who manages the game and limits his mistakes, but to put away Stanford they need the quarterback to make plays and lead the offense.

Opposing defensive coordinators will test Darron Thomas. He's inexperienced; it's inevitable that they will pressure him, blitz and stunt and scrape, disguising coverages, overloading the box, shifting formations, presenting him with odd fronts and jailbreak rushes. They'll hit him in the mouth. They'll try to intimidate and confuse him. He'll have to grow up in a hurry and absorb teaching like a sponge. Fortunately he has a great teacher, and lots of weapons around him.

What are the keys to his growth and progression as the Oregon starter?

First, the don'ts. He has to learn to avoid or minimize the following things, the five bugaboos of inexperienced quarterbacks:

1. Locking on to one receiver and telegraphing his targets.
2. Holding on to the ball too long.
3. Failing to check down to 2nd and 3rd receivers.
4. Forcing the ball into coverage.
5. Trying to make a play on his own on every down. Relying too much on his arm or his legs, and too little on the speed and talent in the Oregon offense.

However, you can't teach with negatives, especially exclusively. That makes an athlete stiff and overburdened and afraid of making mistakes. Coaches who instruct that way have quarterbacks who are always fearfully looking over to the sideline. It's why Mike Ditka's teams got such rotten quarterback play, for example. The only successful quarterback he ever had was Jim McMahon, a stubborn rebel who could tune him out.

Chip Kelly doesn't teach that way. He's taken two inexperienced quarterbacks and turned them into standouts, and one of those is making a bid to start in the NFL.

He are the five things DT must do to develop into an effective PAC-10 quarterback:

1. Be decisive in the zone read.

He won't make the right read every time, and defensive coordinators will try very hard to frustrate and confuse him at the line of scrimmage, but he has to trust his reads, and make confident decisions. He has to establish himself as a threat to run, and distribute the ball to Barner and James with good instincts. Darron has to be the kind of point guard who scores fourteen points with twelve assists one night, and dishes off 20 times the next, and believes in himself enough to take the 3-pointer when the defense lays back. In short, he has to be decisive, instinctive and in command. Just play football. He's run the zone read since high school and there's every reason to think he can be effective. He's a good athlete, and the way he most genuinely resembles Dennis Dixon is that he has large, athletic hands, a great asset in the zone read ball handling. He'll have opportunities to fool cameramen and the entire right side of defenses. Those lead to big gains and force defenders to stay at home.

2. Be committed to improving every week.

He must absorb as much from game experience and Kelly/Helfrich as he can, stay attentive and focused and push himself in film study and practice. He has to grow in the job every week, because the Oregon season gets progressively harder, and the PAC-10 is a deep, competitive conference. Oregon is the hunted now. They will get every one's best shot, and the level of competence he achieves by game two won't be nearly enough for the critical games that come later.

If the Ducks are to achieve their potential this year, at some point the light has to come on for Darron Thomas. That will only happen if he works hard and remains a coachable, teachable quarterback, committed to improving all season long. He has to grow in leadership and command of the offense. A time will come in the season when they need a drive to win or they need him to step up and win a game. He has to make himself ready for those situations if he wants to win a championship.

3. Use the weapons around him.

This one came from Joey Harrington. In a radio interview at 95.5 The Game he said the keys for Thomas were to get comfortable in his offense and trust his teammates, to realize he doesn't have to make a play on every down, just make the plays that are there and distribute the ball the rest of the time. He has to let the game come to him and strive to be in the flow of it.

4. Practice and develop good habits in the passing game.

Looking off defenders and going through progressions are what separate good quarterbacks from mediocre ones. Darron throws a pretty ball. As a freshman against Boise State he proved he can sling it, but the ability to scan the field and pick the right target, have that clock in your head and the confidence that slows things down in the pocket, that is something only experiences teaches. He'll have to learn to feel pressure and recognize when things are breaking down, recognize when it's time to take off running, improvise or throw the ball away,

Darron has to get experienced in a hurry. Jim Harbaugh and the rest of the PAC-10 coaches will be looking for his weaknesses.

5. Be Darron Thomas.

This is the most important. The coaches didn't make a mistake in naming him as the starter. Thomas doesn't have to be Jeremiah Masoli, Dennis Dixon or Vince Young, and he shouldn't try to be. Oh, there are things he can take from their game and use, but his job is to be Darron Thomas, to trust himself and be himself and rely on his teammates and coaches and just play football. He can't pressure himself to do it all at once. He must learn from his mistakes, accept them, and learn to minimize them without dwelling on them or getting discouraged. If he struggles a little at times he has to rely on his teammates to pick him up.

He can't play scared or cautious, afraid of making a mistake. Above all he needs to have fun out there and remember he's playing a game on Saturday afternoon with his best friends. He'll play his best football if he allows himself to just play and enjoy it. He's a very spirited, laid back, enthusiastic kid, and that will serve him well in all the attention and expectation.