Oregon's coaching staff has a phenomenal track record in developing players, particularly in assigning them positions. They took a lumbering tight end from St. Anthony, Idaho, sent him off on a two-year Mormon mission, started him on offense, moved him to defensive end, where he redshirted and spent a year on the scout team He worked hard in the weight room, added strength and ferocity. The first two years he was a reserve, earning a letter, appearing in all 13 games. In his last two, he emerged as a leader and a star: Brandon Bair.
In the Harry Potter movies my oldest granddaughter Kourtney likes, there is a talking hat that assigns the new entrants to the school into their houses. The Duck coaches have no such magic, but they do have an uncanny knack for recognizing the potential in the player and finding a fit. A tough, agile safety gets moved to receiver, catching his first touchdown pass as a freshman in the Civil War. Jeff Maehl finishes his career this year as one of the most outstanding and reliable wideouts in Oregon history. There's a shortage of healthy running backs one spring, and a dynamic young cornerback gets some snaps carrying the ball. He looks good, quick to the hole and decisive with his cuts. Kenjon Barner becomes an all-purpose wizard, providing big plays running, receiving and returning, a star in the making with two bright years ahead of him.
Most division one players play two ways in high school. They are standouts at the previous level, and their coaches need them to impact games as many ways as possible. Spencer Paysinger came to Oregon as a receiver. Josh Huff was a high school cornerback, quarterback, receiver and running back, who played on a national all-star team as a cornerback at the end of his outstanding prep career in Texas, where they take football pretty seriously. Jordan Holmes, from Yuba City, California, was a three-time all-league at offensive tackle, had five sacks and 11 tfls on the defensive line, and was 26-4 his senior year of high school as a wrestler. Steve Greatwood moved him inside to center, and he made the PAC-10 All-Academic team twice and First Team All PAC-10 as a senior for the Ducks.
The point is, the Oregon staff faces these decisions over and over. It's a critical part of the evaluation process with recruits and young players. Offense or defense? Redshirt or play right away? Inside or outside? Starter or role player? Sometimes the decisions are agonizing and hotly debated. Ken Woody says Dante Rosario and Terrence Whitehead would have made fearsome linebackers, and may have had a biggger upside on the defensive side of the ball. Some of the criticism directed at Nick Aliotti has to be tempered for two reasons: One, he has been far more effective than a superficial analysis suggests, and two, at Oregon, in the offense/defense debate, the defense usually loses.
One of the most-watched position placements in school history will begin on March 28th when Colt Lyerla reports for spring practice. The Ducks are a team with many contributors, but this young man has a special set of abilities. As Fish Duck pointed out, he could be awesome at tight end or slot receiver, catching passes with 4.55 speed, a 6-5, 230-pound frame, and a 40-inch vertical leap. At Hillsboro high school he was dynamic with the ball in his hands, two-time All-State, rushing for 40 touchdowns and 2,400 yards as a junior in a 13-1 state championship season.
Lyerla has explosive hips and a fierce work ethic. He trains year-round, a workout warrior. Imagine him at drop end or outside linebacker in the Oregon system. He could become a dominating player, a game changer. His package of physical skills has been compared to Julius Peppers and Brian Urlacher. He starred at outside linebacker in the U.S. Army All-America Game.
It could go either way. The five-star prospect would be unstoppable running the fade route at the goal line, or he could be indomitable stoning one on a critical drive. Lyerla could win one-on-one matchups on either side of the ball. Michael Dyer would be down and stay down. He would make big plays in space, game after game.
Given their track record, and their steadiness in relating to and developing players, the Oregon coaching staff will make the right call on this one, and the Oregon native's progress will be closely watched and debated. In one way Duck fans are lucky he chose Eugene, given the intense and inevitable scrutiny he'll face as the most celebrated in-state recruit since Ndamukong Suh.
The debate on the message boards will be intense, and each day of practice reports will be pored over, awaited like puffs of smoke from the conclave. Where does Lyerla land, and how quickly does he make a difference?
We'll know by the end of August, and then for sure when they line up in September. Anxiously-awaited decisions like these have come to nothing previously. Malachi Lewis is one notorious example. A highly-touted prospect who never found his place. Linebacker? Running back? Tight End? In the end he got lost in the shuffle, never quite fast enough or driven enough to stand out. But Colt Lyerla inspires a whole 'nother level of speculation and certainty. If he is blessed with good health and remains the self-directed, switched-on, young athlete that he is, he's going to be a star. A probable impact player from day one.
And the best place for him is outside linebacker, where he can change 40 plays a game, where his touches are limited only by his instincts and desire.
[Editor's note: Adam Jude has an excellent piece in today's Register-Guard on this same topic. I did not read it before writing this one.
In Jude's article Lyerla himself expresses a preference for receiver: “Offensively, being 6-5, 225 and still having good speed, it can create a lot of matchup problems as far as being a receiver. I can stretch the field vertically or horizontally,” he said. “And on defense, I’m a little tall for a linebacker, but I feel like my speed fits there.”
While he certainly has every right to pursue his own goals and self-assessment as an athlete, and he'll excel at any of the spots, linebacker is the decidedly better choice. Remember Ed Dickson, lost on a milk carton? Receivers, even good ones, can be lost or overlooked for games at a stretch. While Oregon has a bevy of difference-makers on the offensive side of the ball, including four top-quality incoming receiver recruits and three solid tight ends, the Ducks have rarely had a linebacker with Lyerla's athletic ability and potential to dictate the outcome of games.
Either way, Oregon fans will wish him well and support him at the top of their lungs. On Wednesday, he becomes one of ours, officially and for all time. We love every one of them, from Kiko Alonso to Carson York. [Currently we don't have a "Z." They'll have to work on that next recruiting cycle.]
No comments:
Post a Comment