went back to Chip Kelly's 1st class to see some of Oregon's 3-star recruits: Bryan Bennett Erick Dargan Hronis Grassu Troy Hill Derrick Malone Terrance Mitchell Tony Washington Keanon Lowe Jake Fisher Matt Pierson Charles Nelson Jalen Jelks Tyrell Crosby Henry Mondeaux Justin Hollins Shane Lemieux Calvin Thockmorton DeForest Buckner Alex Balducci Dwayne Stanford Cameron Hunt Kani Benoit Elijah George Johnny Mundt Marcus Mariotta Joe Walker Jake Pisarcik (2-star) Ugo Amadi Jacob Breeland Gary Baker Drayton Carlberg Jake Hanson Gus Cumberlander Brady Breeze Justin Herbert Troy Dye Jaylon Redd CJ Verdell Popo Aumavae Alex Forsythe Nick Pickett Austin Faoliu Jordon Scott Johnny Johnson Verone McKinley Travis Dye Keyon Ware-Hudson Drew Mathis Brandon Dorlus Trikweze Bridges Juwan Johnson Jonathon Denis Braydon Swinson Bennett Williams TJ Bass (I stopped at 2020) that list kind of fits with what I've been told: that being that with all the national evaluation services, pegging proper value for skill position players has gotten better, but there are still misses most of the big misses occur on the lines, especially the OLine. It's much harder to evaluate desire and capacity for improvement with 17 year old big kids. If you look at that list, Oregon has had lots of 3-star OLine recruits turn into All-Pac-12 players and NFL draft picks it used to be that Oregon could not compete for 5-star OLinemen. They'd never landed one and had plenty of misses going after 4-stars that committed elsewhere. So, under Steve Greatwood and especially Mike Bellotti (and a little with Chip Kelly) Oregon's process was to grow their own. They would recruit those rangy 3-star and 2-star kids that, as they matured, could add mass & muscle without compromising mobility. Oregon had incredible success with OLines that averaged 280-290 pound across the line instead of 320-330 pounds. IIRC, Oregon led the Pac-12 in rushing for 11 straight seasons and their OLines were always one of the lightest around. It's a big reason that Bellotti wanted to go to the spread. He knew that OLinemen who could create small gaps at the line of scrimmage and still get to the 2nd level to block LB's and safeties would be deadly if Oregon could recruit RB's that hit gaps quickly. Enter stage left Jerimiah Johnson-Legarrett Blount-LMJ-Barner-DAT-Royce-Tyner I don't pay much attention to the star ratings of OLine recruits. Yeah, it great when the Duck can land a 5-star like Penei Sewell or Josh Connerly and thay can contribute as true freshman. But that's rare
The problem with MM at the end was that he hurt his throwing arm and he was seeing ghosts because of their awful line.
6'6 300 lb. Josiah is thought to be the best DT on the West Coast this year. He is also very young for his class and wont turn 17 until after his HS Senior season... that means in the tape above I relayed he's just 15 going up against guys as old as 18. Very stoked about this one STOMP
rivals has Davison as a 5* and #18 best player overall. He looks like a real talent but the frosting on top is that Oregon lands yet another from SoCal powerhouse Mater Dei which USC used to have a pipeline from. STOMP
Clemens wasn't a three star. He was a high four star, top 5 QB nationally. He was in the same class as Derek Anderson and Nic Costa who all hailed from Oregon and were all top 10 national QB prospects. Kellen Clemens was the highest rated among them. https://www.elite11.com/2000elite11
Ducks expected to land a kid name Brame who is the 3 best TE in the nation. Kid out of Kansas he’s announcing tomorrow
