The Critical Factor for 2011

Talent isn't the question, and neither is depth.  With some key impact newcomers on the way, the 2011 Ducks have an answer to every loss on the roster, and enough ability and athleticism to win another conference  title and contend for a return trip to the national championship.

They lost two linebackers, and they have four to replace them.  They lost a savvy veteran wide receiver, and they'll have four fast, talented ones to line up in his place, plus two returning ones with experience and skill.  Three offensive linemen graduate, but six are ready to play.  Their quarterback has a year of experience.  Their Consensus All-American running back has three capable  teammates who would start any other year, promising enough in their own right to keep him fresh and keep opponents off balance. 

It goes on like that.  Defensive line seems to be a question mark, but there are multiple plausible answers.  Oregon's defensive line could easily be deeper and more talented this season, with six solid returnees and four promising newcomers, including a couple with staggering potential.

Oregon has the most impressive roster of athletes it has ever had.  What Chip Kelly is building here, in terms of speed and ability and quality and depth, in terms of character and commitment and suitability for his style of play, is utterly unprecedented.

There is only missing element, one crucial question that can only be answered over the next six months.

Does this group have the will and desire to be great? 

They have more talent than any group in school history, more potential than last year's squad could have hoped for.  In fact, last year's team wasn't the most talented team in the conference.  They worked hard.  They had unity and leadership and character.  Chip Kelly was often asked when he knew that team would be something special.  His answer was, unfailingly, "In spring practice.  They never had a bad practice."

The challenge for 2011 is, the leaders who set the tone at those practices are all gone.  Bo Thran.  Jordan Holmes.  Spencer Paysinger.  Casey Matthews.  Kenny Rowe.  Talmadge Jackson III.  It isn't their talent that will be missed.  The players taking their place all have faster 40 times and more stars.  They're are bigger and stronger and more sought after. 

Oregon's young standouts, like Darron Thomas, Cliff Harris, LaMichael James, Carson York, John Boyett and Michael Clay;  Eddie Pleasant, Terrell Turner, Josh Kaddu, David Paulson--they have to be the leaders now.  They have to set the pace in summer drills, when no one is watching.  They have to set the mix of horseplay and seriousness (a team without either is lost).  They have to articulate the goals and provide the example, the standard of work and improvement necessary to beat LSU and 11 other teams hungry to knock off the Ducks.

Last summer or the summer before, these guys could cruise or kick box or cut up.   Now they are the ones who will dictate the personality of this team and determine its focus.

Hard work built a championship season.  If winning was all about recruiting ratings and reputation, UCLA and USC and Cal would win the conference every year.  Oregon was better, in game after game, because they prepared harder, and bought in to one goal and one purpose.

And the minute they forget that, or fail to honor it with a daily commitment to being better, they will become just another underachieving football team with bloated expectations.

Are Darron Thomas, LaMichael James, Cliff Harris and the rest ready to be leaders as well as stars?  Because without leadership, teams don't achieve at a championship level.

One important point is, true leadership isn't about calling attention to yourself.  It isn't phony towel waving or clapping and rah-rahing like a windup stuffed monkey with cymbals.  Dennis Dixon, Nick Reed and Will Tukuafu were all leaders, and all three were quiet guys who went about their business.  They just did so with a resolve and maturity that set an example.  There wasn't any doubt who was in charge, and what the pace should be.