He'd trade all his draft picks and load his team with free agents, malcontents and retreads, angry guys with squashed noses who drank lots of beer and liked to kick ass. He spent a lot of the owners' money and made the playoffs seven times, winning 116 games. Before he was done he punched a ticket to Canton. He coached with his jaw jutted out, working a wad of gum, licking his hands before a big play. He'd watch from the sidelines in a team windbreaker, across from Landry looking stiff and robotic in a snap-brim hat and grey suit, Allen leaning forward with his hands on his knees, clapping his hands like a stuffed toy monkey with cymbals when the kickoff team made a tackle inside the 20. His teams sang corny songs in the locker room and prided themselves on special teams. The future is now. In the long run we're all dead.
Chip Kelly is on record as saying this a future-is-now year for the Oregon Ducks. He told Ken Goe of the Oregonian:
“Our future is now,” Kelly said. “We’re not saving anybody for anything. If a person, I don’t care what class he is, gives us the opportunity to win a football game – I don’t look at and say let’s redshirt this kid for five years from now. You do that, you might not be here five years from now."
That means if Brian Bennett needs to play this year, he'll play. If one of the young running backs needs to enter the rotation, they'll be sent in, whether it's the third game or the seventh or the tenth.
Redshirt years can be tricky. A lot of players really benefit from the extra year of seasoning, but some can't handle the demotion or the obscurity. Now that Oregon is recruiting at a much higher level than ever before, they're getting talented athletes who were stars at the last level. Big stars with three scrapbooks at home, and 600 friends on their Facebook. They want to hear their name called. They want to be starters, first string, have something to brag about when they go home for a week or two in June. Chris Harper couldn't handle being a role player, or adjusting to a new position. He left for home and stayed, saying he wanted to be a quarterback. Now he's playing slot receiver for Kansas State. We'll see him September 4th versus UCLA.
I don't think any player has made better use of a redshirt year than LaMichael James did in 2008. He gained some weight and got stronger, learned the offense and showcased his talents on the scout team. Duck coaches knew they had something special. He got a good start in the classroom. When Blount imploded he was ready for his closeup. You know the rest.
I don't know how well the younger guys would listen, but there are three or four guys who would greatly benefit from James' example in embracing a redshirt year. Eric Dungy, for example, has shown great hands in fall camp, but the consensus is he needs a year in the weight room before being thrown into the receiver rotation. Dungy wasn't highly recruited out of high school and has the great football background, so he is likely to adjust very well to redshirting. With a couple of the other guys, it may be a more difficult assignment.
Lache Seastrunk showed flashes of five-star brilliance in fall camp, outrunning the number one defense and leaving defenders tackling air, forty-five-degree-angle cuts with a Barry Sanders double lean, but other moments where his rookie status was glaringly apparent, lining up wrong or missing the play, muffing kicks and punts. Will the most highly-touted Duck recruit adjust to a year out of the spotlight? It would pay huge dividends in his development, and spread out the running back wealth the Ducks enjoy. Oregon could go with a rotation of LMJ, Barner, and Alston, and the other promising freshman, Dontae Williams, a physical specimen with a mature, chiseled body that appears PAC-10 ready. But Seastrunk might chafe, watching these guys get the carries and the cheers.
The other option is to use him in a package. He hasn't mastered the offense, but Coach could get him 4-8 touches in specific situations, teaching him up week by week. Right now, I'd lean toward holding him back a year, but particularly with running backs, circumstances often force your hand.
The most talented, athletic quarterback in Duck practices might be true freshman Brian Bennett. He has the biggest arm. During the recruiting season some Duck fans falsely assumed he was a slow-footed Brady Leaf clone, a pass-first throwback to the Pro Style Ducks of four uniform designs ago. But Goducks.com says of Bennett, "Has been timed at 4.52 in the 40 meters and 4.16 in the shuttle run. As a track athlete, boasts a long jump of 22-10, triple jump of 46-6, a broad jump of 10-6 and has a 36-inch vertical." A 36-inch vertical is a big number for a quarterback, even a spread quarterback. Clearly he has wheels enough for the job, a good makeup, and he doesn't seem to be intimidated by the speed or sophistication of the college game.
Bennett is one of those guys who has been to all the camps and filmed workouts that amount to a college scouting combine. He was a three-year starter at a big-time high school, Long Beach Poly, the same school that spawned Kevin Prince of UCLA. He took his team to the state championship as a first-year starter, after Prince went down with an injury in game one. Bennett threw out of a spread formation in high school, for over 6,000 yards in three seasons, and that's helped him pick things up quickly in Eugene.
That said, I hope he isn't needed in 2010. The program lists him at 6' 2" 183 but if he is a pound over 175 I'll buy him a week's worth of Taco Bell. (Although I can't really; it'd be a violation of NCAA rules.) He'll certainly play if necessary, but a year to fill out and develop would be a tremendous benefit to him. Still, I think he has the poise and confidence and ability to play in an emergency, and handle it. I just hope he doesn't have to.
Here are the three newcomers who will play immediately, and their likely roles:
Rickie Heimuli, Defensive Tackle
The 6-4, 318-lb. Heimuli was the signing day surprise that took the Ducks 2010 recruiting class to a whole new level, the big, anchoring defensive tackle prospect they desperately needed at a thin position. They got valuable extra depth when they inked Isaac Remington from the junior college ranks, and it helped to see redshirt freshman Wade Keliikipi put together very a productive spring camp and back it up in the fall. He appears ready to contribute. Senior Zac Clark has shaken off back problems, and with Senior Brandon Bair ably manning one tackle spot, a position of apparent weakness now appears solid. Heimuli is talented, strong and quick, and has earned a spot in the rotation. He too has a PAC-10-ready body, excellent instincts and a good motor.
Flight Pattern: After Bair, who will conduct a season-long audition for the early rounds of the NFL draft, Heimuli will emerge as the standout of this group of capable tackles. Oregon's front four (and sometimes three) will surprise with its productivity and fierceness in 2010. The league isn't ready for the pride, tenacity, technique and improvement in this group.
Justin Hoffman/Josh Huff, Wide Receivers
Hoffman, a sophomore walk-on from Churchill High School who earned a scholarship with sticky hands and tough blocking, has worked his way into the mix at wide receiver, a position where the Ducks need depth after the scattered solo flying of Embry, Gaines, Jackson and Holland in the tumultuous off season. While Hoffman is the journeyman Huff is the natural, strong and sleek and smooth, with game breaking speed.
Flight Pattern: With depth and health a concern at wide receiver these two have a chance to step in and fill a vital gap in the Ducks' offensive plans for this season. Wide receiver is one position where a young player can readily be coached to make an immediate contribution based on ability and effort. I list these two as a tandem because they are two halves of a perfect whole. Together they could give Oregon a full complement of dependable, productive receivers, plus establish themselves for next season when the three starters are lost to graduation.
Alejandro Maldonado, kicker
A high school teammate of freshman safety Derrick Malone, Maldonado has to play whether he wins the kicking job or not, because Sophomore Rob Beard, an off-season Fulmer Cup contributor for the Ducks, is suspended for game one. Either way the redshirt is burned. Maldonado has a big leg, is a woeful second to Rice at punter. Neither of the kickers has been consistent, and the Ducks, who have enjoyed a long tradition of consistency and reliability from their kickers, might struggle a little more than usual at this position. The offense will have to pick up the slack with red zone efficiency, and the defense will have to win their half of the field position battle.
Kicker is one area where Duck fans have been spoiled by success. The Oregon faithful can recite the names of their favorites, each one virtually automatic and capable of giving the team a big lift with a crucial kick: Villegas, Frankel, Seigel, Flint, McCallum, Thompson, Martinez, Evensen. Duck fans are like Boston Red Sox or St. Louis Cardinal fans; they're passionate and knowledgeable, fans who appreciate the nuances and subtleties of the game, so much so that they could down three beers and a nacho talking Duck football and not get out of the kickers. Get them to the receivers, quarterbacks and linebackers and it's time to order another nacho and another round of beers. Better make it a pitcher.
Flight Pattern: It's hard to judge kickers in fall camp, because timing and preparation in the kicking game is so critical. Especially with newcomers there's there's a feeling that dress rehearsal was a little spotty and the first curtain will be a little sketchy. Maldonado has the talent to find his mark, however, and just might emerge as the star of his class by the time PAC-10 play begins.
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