Haywarduck

Eric, amazing article, and I look forward to better understanding all you wrote as the Lanning era progresses. For now I can agree completely with the last sentence you wrote. The defense that Coach Lanning looks to implement with the Oregon Ducks looks to be one that prioritizes speed and aggressiveness; something I’m sure will be a major hit with everyone in Autzen, except the opposing offenses.

A lazy natural can also kill the culture of a team. Paying players or really anyone who has a passion for what they do can also destroy that drive. A team which just focus's on getting the elite talent also doesn't lead to greatness. The best example of a lazy natural is Allen Iverson. He seldom wanted to practice and his teams suffered, and he never reached the pinnacle. Every player has an impact on the team and a player who doesn't have to try as hard as the others just demoralizes the rest of the team. This kind of dynamic can drain a team, especially one where the elite isn't the norm, and can't be put in it's place when underperforming. Another phenomenum is the fact monetizing a passion can kill the passion. When a child or really anyone does something out of passion, is intrinsically motivated, and you overload external motivators you often kill the harmony that drove that spirit. This is where a focus on merely competing at the NIL game will ultimately destroy a program. The intrinsic motivation is the one you want to cultivate, not infect with an overwhelming external force. Lastly Oregon's recent focus on winning the recruiting battle as an end all was also a dead end. Recruiting is one part of an equation, a qualitative equation, but it is only a part. It is easy to quantify so it is easy to get excited about it. Too much emphasis and you become Texas, or SC. The culture of the team is critical and having players come to a team which highlights their recruiting chops just leads to underperformance once they hit the field. We need a renewed emphasis on creating talent, and teamwork, really a synergy of effort from a group of players. The emphasis should be on building towards greatness, not being great or getting great individually. Everyone is important and everything is significant. I love the idea we can recruit at the elite level, but the elite level is so much more than just signing the recruit. Becoming exceptional as a team involves everyone building each other, and the team coming first. I actually think this is why the ex-players recently spoke out, that is the Oregon way, and it was lost under Mario.

Why should he, might as well be wined and dined until spring ball. There aren't any rules on portal life, right? Recruiting visit limits are out the portal, I mean door, and he is just a free agent testing it all out. He is just living the portal dream life! I mean what school wouldn't have him come and do a walk through? Until he is sick of it why should he make a decision. He is just paving the path of those high interest recruits thinking of entering the portal of the future.

Talent meeting development means entertainment. I look forward to this story evolving into part of the legend of the new Oregon offense. We had talent meet little development and a void on entertainment. It is part of our past, time to move onward!

It is certainly easy to get apocalyptic as many did when the radio came about and it was the end of everything. Then tv was certainly the end of it all. Now the phone is definitely the end of this generation. While I can see the negatives of the NIL and the portal it is just another step in the long line of the good and bad fighting it out. I just hope Oregon can finds its way to stay on the right side of what is best for these amazing young people I see out there. We have done a very good job of doing the right thing so far. I have to trust Oregon will stay on the right side, and the end won't come anywhere close to Eugene and OBD! I do think bad will take down some of the programs out there, at least temporarily.

Get of my lawn college football!

When a kid is making 50k a year with free room and board what incentive does he have to work hard. Most kids need something to work towards, a carrot out there they have to keep reaching for. The only thing they will be reaching for is the phone to call dominos to deliver pizza and wings. Whoever is selling kegerators, and delivers kegs is going to be one of the big beneficiaries. The Texas A@M experiment is destined to self destruct. My prediction is the programs who focus on academic help while helping kids become successful longterm will win out at this game in the end. Right now it looks like whoever spends the most is going to win. I don't think the final outcome has been seen yet.

A guy who is 3 years past high school and has freshman eligibility, not too bad. I would imagine our new O-line coach has had, or will have a pretty good conversation with Logan. A 20+ year old freshman is either a bust, or somebody you want to keep in the program! The O-line is a critical component of any team and I hope we can continue the strength at this position.

One of the smartest, most successful guys I know said, you don't so much as invent things, you just find the smartest way to do something and do it better. I am not sure buying student athletes is the smartest way to do it. I have said it before, I think you will create a jail blazers team gone bad. It is a great way to bring talent to a college. I am not sure it is the solution to creating the best team, or group of talented players.

Maybe it isn't musical chairs?

I think the Lanning machine might have hit second gear. Now lets pop the clutch and put it in third and keep accelerate until signing day!

The Dana magic continues!

Until then we could capitalize on this by offering any 5* who transfers before halftime the opportunity to pick the second halves uniform combination. Maybe a nike shoe made with their name could be created before the game to entice the elite talent over to our side. We could have the shoe in a box which explodes as the half ends if the player doesn't switch sides by then. We must compete in this new era!

Ryan Walk worked out ok? Somebody thinks they know something about this kid, and I hope they are right.

One thing Oregon could do is make the whole credit transfer easier for student athletes. If you transfer to Oregon your credits transfer more fully and you can graduate. Programs who focus on the student will do better in the end. A kid who wants to graduate is going to be a better teammate, and citizen in the end. It is also what is best for everyone. There will always be the outliers who don't care about graduating and are destined for the NFL, but those aren't the norm. I hope Oregon can differentiate with their facilities and educational opportunities. A shift in the credit transfer rate would help the new normal within college athletics. It does seem like the whole transfer portal NIL is going to leave many with their peak earning behind them, and broke, along with no college education, or credits which add up to anything. Not a great outcome and there needs to some adjustments by the colleges to make the opportunities for positive outcomes more likely.

All the best, best of luck, Go Robbie!

I suppose the high school kids sign Feb. 2nd, but then you have the JTT types who wait. Then there is the portal, but is there a limit on when that stops. It seems like the whole roster game is musical chairs until, I don't really know anymore. Does anyone have a take on when rosters fill up and the transfer portal is effectively closed? Until the music stops I don't know if I can really pay too much attention, it's making me sick!

I am left wondering why we haven't ever really had an elite NFL receiver come through Oregon. We have had elite O-lineman, elite QB's multiple times and definitely elite RB's, but zip on the WR's. Why wouldn't a top receiver want to be part of that dynamic? I love the money being put toward defensive coaching, but the wideouts need to be a priority for us to get over the hump on winning it all. Bobby Moore was elite, but seldom have we seen greatness at receiver.

You can go by the recruiting services and who they say you should recruit, or do the leg work required to develop your own lists. I think it is incredibly important to talk to the coaches who see the players, and better know their potential. It is potential in almost every recruit which counts. There are certainly 5* players who have abilities some players will never reach. There are also heights no one knows a player will reach without really doing the hard work. It sounds like this is why Don Johnson is so good. He doesn't just set up contact with top recruits from recruiting services. He pounds the pavement and gets to know where the hidden gems are and starts the work on those guys. That is what makes the Oregon's great. We aren't going to always be able to pull the elite talent, but we can pull in the elite potential with the right effort.

Thanks for the complements, and I think, too often, we try to be, or look prescient. We try and think we know what is going to happen, or know more than others. What is most important is to be present and understand what is happening. You do a great job of reflecting on this, and really highlighting that impact on yourself and the college game. I completely agree the job of college athletics is to better prepare our youth to do great things, most often off the field of play they are involved in at college. The whole NIL and even the portal is shifting the ability of programs to do that for the student athlete and that is sad. Fortunately our program is able to compete on this platform and move toward the ultimate goal for the alumni and the athlete's, to win it all. Unfortunately we are also part of this shift away from what is most important, the student in the athlete. We aren't able to teach them the lesson most important, as well was possible in the past. I suppose the golden age is always in the past. I too am off to the gym. Hopefully I can better clear my mind of this element. There seems to be so much out there which I can put my mental energy towards and have a better return. In the end I will be back, but I too question the college game even more than ever. It is fun to get philosophical while talking about a game!

All the best to DJ James going forward!

As somebody who is more interested in the culture of a championship team than the star players Rudy has always pulled at me. Every great team has the extra stuff few players bring to a program, and even fewer coaches instill into programs. There is an edge that is hard to define. Rudy begins to define that edge and the difference between very good teams and great teams. This edge was why we would have lost 9 out of 10 or more to Utah. This years team didn't have that edge, and that is what I want to see with a Lanning team. What blows me away about the old Duck teams is how good they were, compared to the skill level at every position. We didn't have a loaded team with NFL talent, just the effort, expectations instilled by Bellotti and CK to beat the team across the line of scrimmage on every down. Can Dan Lanning create that culture again where everyone exceeds his potential both individually and as a team. Winning in recruiting is only one step toward that goal.

The percentage of college student, general population, who transfer during their time at college is about 30%. With the transfer portal the student athletes are just better reflecting the general population. Much like those who came to college with a girl friend, how many are still in that relationship? With coaches changing and new recruits coming in it is surprising more don't, look elsewhere. This is why it is so critical to make Oregon the most appealing school in the nation to play football at. If you build it they will come, and stay. One item was watching NFL games it was pretty telling the schools the starters came from, mostly SEC. We need to get kids into the NFL at a better clip, or they will just come for the show, and leave for the opportunity to make the show. We need to compete at the highest level and show we can better get the student athletes to the next level.

I think they might be the third best team in the state of Washington. The thing about the dawg program is they are becoming much like a Monty Python movie, laughable.

This is why it is critical the school, Oregon is as attractive as possible. There will always be slick salesman who can sway a young student athlete. The school and opportunities at the program should draw the student athlete. You also have to make the sure the program aligns with what the student athlete is sold. Bru McCoy always dreamed of going to sc, but the school never really added up to his fantasy, the same could be said of some of our student athletes. The job of the coach, and program is to make the dreams of the players come true, if they work hard and persevere. At Oregon the program makes it as easy as possible for those dreams to come true for coach and student athlete. That is the magic of the Oregon Football Program. I will add as long as we keep making student athletes and coaches successful our formula will continue to outperform other programs. Most programs look for coaches to be their saviors. They also can be hyper critical of the student athlete who doesn't live up to the hype. We need to keep more than an arms length from that type of thinking. If a student athlete wants to go to another program, best of luck. Hopefully we have someone else doing an even better job this student athlete doesn't want to compete against. If a coach wants to leave, congrats on the success. Hopefully you have moved to a better position and we will reload.