They do have a number of "Summer Winners" type tweets. Things saying the Ducks did very well recruiting again. However they are still only ranked 7th in the preseason Football Polls. I thought they would have been higher. Maybe the QB position is holding them back a bit?
I prefer to be ranked lower at the beginning of the season. Either way preseason polls are a joke because it's based on reputation and how many players are returning, (Especially at QB, as you mentioned) Until they start playing the games, the people running the polls, have no clue because they don't know how good the freshman and sophomores are that redshirted.
I'm surprised they are ranked that high. Look at who they lost on defense: Jordan Burch - DL (starter) Derrick Harmon - DL (starter) Jamaree Caldwell - DL (starter) Keyon Ware-Hudson - DL (2nd unit) Jeffrey Bassa - LB (starter) Jestin Jacobs - LB (2nd unit Conner Soelle - LB (2nd unit) Brandon Johnson - DB (starter) Nikko Reed - DB (starter - nickel) Jabbar Muhammed - DB (starter) Kam Alexander - DB (2nd unit) Tysheem Johnson - DB (starter) Kobe Savage - DB (starter) Dontae Manning - DB (starter) and on offense: Dillon Gabriel - QB (starter) Jordan James - RB (starter) Tez Johnson - WR (starter) Traeshon Holden - WR (starter) Terrance Ferguson - TE (starter) Patrick Herbert - TE (backup) Josh Connerly - OL (starter) Marcus Harper - OL (starter) Nishad Strother - OL (starter) Ajani Cornelius - OL (starter) so, overall, 17 starters; 18 if you count a nickel package are gone * the 4 best interior DLinemen graduated * all 5 (with a nickel package) DB's are gone * the captain of the defense (Bassa) is gone * 4 of 5 OLinemen graduated * starting QB, RB, and TE are gone * all three starting WR's are gone; 2 graduated and one injured (Stewart) * the assumed starting nickel, Daylen Austin has legal problems no matter how much talent was left, that's just too much experience to lose, and at the college level, experience counts for a lot. Inexperienced teams tend to lose games they should have won in the first half of the season, and the Ducks have some land mines then: Oklahoma State - @Penn State - Indiana. Their closing 4 games are pretty scary as well: @Iowa - Minnesota - USC - @Washington
Pre season rankings are a joke. Our total d wasnt superb last year, so if we can improve the d we should be very dangerous. Im nit ti concerned about the O.
I don't think it's going to take very long to turn that outside perception around to where thats viewed as yet another strength of this roster. The other rumblings I'm hearing from fall camp is that they are very bullish on the OLine's potential, especially for run blocking. The new RB transfer Hughes is supposed to be great and of course Noah is a heck of a backup, so the run game should be improved and the basis of the Offense. With the receivers featuring multiple speed burners including the TE Sadiq & Dante Moore having the best Duck arm talent since Herbert, Defenses are going to have to play a Safety back to protect against the deep ball... which means the underneath routes and the run game should feast. If I was a betting man I'd be putting some dollars down as I think this is their best roster maybe ever. The roster is bigger, faster and deeper with even the 3rd string being filled with blue chip talents. Can not wait! https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...s-can-actually-win-the-national-championship/ STOMP
Kid that originally committed to us and then went down to UCLA? Get all these kids mixed up. Hope he’s ready to lead us.
It's great but recruiting during the summer is just for show. Only matters when they sign on the dotted line.... and even then they can still leave.
Yeah that's him. He was originally recruited by The OC who left when offered the HC job at ASU. Skip Kelly swooped in and stole him right after. The encouraging part is he sat all last year learning the offense. So he should be ready, but yeah, they'll be a learning curve
Yes, Dante Moore. He flipped during recruitment from UO to UCLA presumably for the opportunity to start right away. He got that starting spot which came with getting the crap beat out of him every week behind a bad OLine. Following his Freshman year & Chip Kelly leaving for Ohio State, he transferred to Oregon after Dillon Gabriel had, knowing he'd be a backup for at least a year. Praise from teammates past and present for his plus arm talent has been seeping out which combined with his high ranking as a recruit has people projecting him to start though the Duck coaching staff not named a starter. The other tidbit of note on him is that he recently spoke about having worked on his speed where he claims to have been clocked at 21.5 MPH which is WR type speed. I think we're going to get a show from him this year STOMP
there are flips for sure, but it may be that schools/collectives are structuring NIL contracts such that flips will be fewer and more difficult to accomplish. I've seen a rumor that many of these NIL deals are front-loaded and that a recruit who flips would have to pay back whatever the NIL amount was....and chances are high a lot of that money will already have been spent. A lot of greedy family around some of these guys
is he a traditional drop back quarterback or more of an option run quarterback? Excited to see him play
He's not a bad athlete by any means and can run if needed, but he's a traditional QB operating from the pocket. More then any Duck QB since Herbert, Dante has elite arm talent to both stretch the field with deep balls and layer it in with accuracy and touch. The ball zips effortlessly out of his hand like few others. Combining that with a receiving group that has probably the most speed in Duck history should indeed be exciting. But again, they should be featuring a much improved running game as their offensive basis, with the buzz from fall camp that the staff really is high on the OLine's potential. The transfer RB Makhi Hughes from Tulane will be an NFL back. Defenses will be in a catch 22 of trying to stop the run by stacking the box or getting beat over the top. STOMP
