Last week I wrote that no starter was safe on Oregon’s offense. One of the positions not mentioned in that article were the running backs. In the Spring Game, there were only three active running backs: the two starters in C.J. Verdell and Travis Dye, as well as walk-on Aaron Smith. Dye looks as dynamic as ever and will absolutely see …
The Oregon Spring Game showed off the years of work Mario Cristobal and his coaching staff have put in on the recruiting trail. Oregon team has the deepest and most talented roster in program history. This led to one of the most competitive Spring Games in recent memory, where the offense narrowly defeated the defense. The competition was not limited …
With every new hire, Mario Cristobal declares it an upgrade. In most cases to date, this seems true. However, was each one of these hires really an upgrade for the Oregon program? In the case of the new defensive coordinator, this would seem to be true. When Mario Cristobal took over the program at the end of 2017, he inherited, …
Spring football is finally here, and Oregon’s new Defensive Coordinator, Tim DeRuyter, is wasting no time adapting the roles of his players to fit his defense. Kayvon Thibodeaux is one of those players on the move within the defense, and he shared the news during Tuesday’s post-practice press conference. This spring, Thibodeaux is moving to more of an outside linebacker …
Everyone wrote off the Pac-12 in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The highest seed any Pac-12 team was given was Colorado at No. 5. As a result, all five Pac-12 teams were underdogs and the four remaining in the tournament will continue to be underdogs, and that’s absolutely perfect. The Pac-12 is the underdog conference after all; not supposed to …
Justin Herbert was the NFL’s 2020 Offensive Rookie of the Year. His first year in the NFL with the Los Angles Chargers was a resounding success and silenced his doubters. As Oregon fans, we all knew his potential but even we were surprised by just how good he was in his rookie year. Herbert showcased a set of abilities in …
Another year, another coaching hire at Oregon. This is starting to become an unwelcome trend. Every single year of Mario Cristobal’s tenure has come with new coaching hires and is unlikely to stop any time soon. Hiring assistant coaches and coordinators can have a massive impact on a program, and Cristobal has done a fine job in hiring coaches that …
Oregon and USC seem primed to be the top two schools in the Pac-12. Both have top ten recruiting classes for the 2021 recruiting cycle according to Rivals and both teams are already projected to win their respective divisions. In terms of raw talent, Oregon and USC are miles ahead of the rest of the conference. It wouldn’t come as …
Mario Cristobal is building something special at Oregon. He is taking a school that sits at the physical and metaphorical fringes of the College Football world and elevating it into a football power. Now, none of this would be possible without the prominent coaches who came before him: Rich Brooks, Mike Bellotti, Chip Kelly, and Mark Helfrich. All these coaches …
With change comes opportunity. As Andy Avalos leaves Oregon to take the head coaching job at Boise State, there is an opportunity for Mario Cristobal to evaluate the Oregon defense and elevate the defense to the next level. Coach Eric Boles was kind enough to give us his most recent list of top five defensive coordinator candidates, which shows us …
Dear Mario Cristobal, I, like many Duck fans, have appreciated the recruiting revolution and the defensive reinvigoration brought during your tenure. The back-to-back Pac-12 Championships are a major step accomplishment for an Oregon program that bottomed out in 2016. It has been a fast rebuild back to the top of the Pac-12, and for that we are appreciative. There is …
This year was marked by an underachieving defense from the outset. However, it is worth reiterating that a great deal of the defense’s underachievement came as the result of Jevon Holland, Brady Breeze and Thomas Graham opting out. At the end of the season, though, we can say that this is the start of a new era for Oregon’s defense. Mario …
