Marcus Mariota has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes with only two interceptions this year and is well on his way to becoming the most efficient passer in NCAA history. Yes, an accomplishment worthy of celebration, but Mariota couldn’t have done it without great young receivers, including Darren Carrington, Dwayne Stanford, Charles Nelson and Devon Allen. How did these players develop into playmakers so quickly? The simple answer is Matt Lubick, the receiver coach for the Ducks.
Oregon Receiver Coach, Matt Lubick
Lubick, in his second year at Oregon, has a long resume of successful coaching stops, the most recent at Duke. During his first year with the Ducks, he helped Josh Huff and Bralon Addison become the most productive receiving tandem in Oregon history with Huff eclipsing a 33-year-old record for receiving yards. With Huff gone to the NFL and Addison out for the year with an injury, Lubick had to roll up his sleeves and get his young crew ready for action fast.
Lubick’s success this season is amazing. Stanford is a go-to possession receiver, Carrington makes amazing acrobatic plays, and Nelson and Allen are arguably the fastest pair of receivers in the nation. The best news yet for Duck fans is that they’re all underclassmen. We’ll have them around for years to come. Not only is Lubick a great coach, he’s a crackerjack recruiter who served as the recruiting coordinator during his stint at Duke. And he was credited with pulling in several high-profile recruits when he was at Arizona State.
As Oregon’s offense shifts from a primarily run-oriented approach to a more balanced attack with a renewed emphasis on passing, expect to hear more about Oregon’s new coaching star, Lubick. He’s a keeper.
Top Photo by Kevin Cline
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Raised in the Central Oregon mill town of Prineville beneath deep blue skies and rim rock, I attended the University of Oregon and during my collegiate summers, I worked in a lumber mill and also fought range fires on the Oregon High Desert for the Bureau of Land Management. After graduating from college at the University of Oregon, I swung from being budding hippy to cop work. I’m still wondering about how that came about. I was a police officer with the Port of Portland and after leaving police work, I obtained an MFA degree in Creative Writing from Vermont College. I live in Portland, Oregon with my wife, my daughter and a spunky bichon frise named Pumpkin. I’ve had short stories publishing in two Main Street Press anthologies. Harkness is my first novel.