Ducks need newcomer Jestin Jacobs to be the beating heart of an improved defense

New Oregon linebacker Jestin Jacobs comes to Eugene from the Smashmouth region of the Big Ten, the flyover middle where cornfields dot the route to the stadium and linebackers finish games with paint from the opposing team on the forehead of their helmets.

He's a 6-4, 240-pound transfer from Iowa, a place where fans like their football extra crispy and deep-fried like an Oreo at the state fair, snow-blown in the dead of November with a side of extra punts. In 2021 he was an integral part of a defense that allowed a stingy 19.2 points a game and 3.15 yards a carry. Toughness is etched into the beak of the Hawkeye.

They were 10-4 and champions of the Big 10 West, defeating Indiana 34-6 and Northwestern 17-12, Penn State 23-20, Snooze Ball football where the punters get overtime and the cheerleaders wear stocking caps and sweats.

Jacobs wanted a change of scenery. At spring practice he told reporters that he'd always liked the Ducks growing up. It became his favorite school watching Marcus Mariota and De'Anthony Thomas.

He'll have a chance to work on new skills in the quarterback-rich, pass-happy PAC-12, where offense doesn't look like something out of a grainy black and white video from the 1950s. A redshirt junior, he plans to play just one last year of college football, taking dead aim at the NFL draft.

Fast and athletic coming out of high school, an Adidas All-American and 4-star recruit, Iowa snagged him away from Ohio State. He's from Northmont High School in Englewood, Ohio, an hour drive from the Horseshoe. It takes a strong streak of independence to spurn the Buckeyes, rarely done in the Midwest. They usually get everybody they want.

Jacobs has honed his body. He was 6-4, 190 as a prospect, 240 pounds when he stepped off the plane at the Eugene Airport. 

He started 8 games for the 2021 Hawkeyes, flying around as an outside linebacker in the 4-3 and 4-2-5, a run stopper who chipped in 53 tackles, three pass deflections, a forced fumble and 21 swaps of paint. Scouts forecast him to emerge as a pro prospect in 2022, but he was injured two games into the season and had to have surgery. 

In three seasons he's had just one interception and never recorded a sack. If he wants to realize that early-round NFL dream he'll have to pick up the pace.  Long and physical, Jacobs blankets tight ends and slot receivers with 4.6 speed.

The Oregon defense lacked this kind of intensity last season. They were atrocious on third downs, sieve-like over the middle and mediocre against the run. At times they seemed to lack the will to get off the field or get off blocks; in the fourth quarter against Oregon State they appeared to quit.

Oregon needs Jestin Jacobs to be the man in the middle, a defensive playmaker who fires up a unit and gives it personality and aggressiveness. That's been missing since Troy Dye left campus. A good defense needs a beating heart, a Casey Matthews, a Michael Clay. Jacobs has the size and speed. It will be interesting to see how he handles the increased responsibility.