For every Marcus Mariota, there is a Dane Ebanez, J.R. Maffie and Axel McQuaw. For every first-round draft pick there are scores of players who come to practice every day, hitting the trenches and working just as hard as the stars. Yet these players pass quietly through the hallowed halls of Oregon with little or no acclaim, sometimes without scholarships …
Who will lead the 2013 Oregon Ducks in tackles?
The huge question on defense is, who will be the leading tackler in the fall? From 2009 thru 2011, the final Oregon defensive statistics listed John Boyett as one of the top two tacklers on the team alongside Casey Matthews and Spencer Paysinger. The next season after the BCS Title game, Michael Clay, DeWitt Stuckey and Kiko Alonso stepped in for Matthews and Paysinger to rack …
Recruiting Update: Faster Than a Speeding Bullet
Football Recruiting Commitments Special teams are far from the most glamorous positions on the gridiron, however, within Oregon’s system, every slot of the depth chart is of equal importance. Heading into 2013, the Ducks wasted no time in securing senior long snapper Drew Howell’s replacement in that of Tanner Carew (2-Star/La Verne, CA), a venerable athlete and the No. 1-ranked …
Athletic supremacy – the Battle of Birds
As the 2012-2013 college athletic season comes to an end, very few of the 346 Division I schools can say they had success across all sports. This makes perfect sense, since some schools tend to focus on one sports program over another. For example, Duke and Mike Krzyzewski are awaited by fans and media to contend for another national title …
Gut wrenching times with Chip Kelly
With the new era of Helfrich football just over the rise, I thought it would be a good time to look back at the Chip Kelly era. Specifically the most gut wrenching parts of it. As we are all huge Ducks fans, some of the most vivid memories we have over the last four seasons are the losses. Chip Kelly was such a …
Rivalry Losing Steam In Politically Correct World
The debate over rival-rooting-etiquette came into question this week on a local radio show, prompting passionate calls of “We’re all in the same state,” and “I root for both teams unless they’re playing each other.” Quite frankly, I had to turn the channel. I wrote an article after the Newtown shooting talking about the lines between passion and insensitivity in sports being blurred, with …
The Overreaction to “Big Games”
A week after the Oregon baseball team got eliminated from the College World Series I went on Twitter with a question in mind: Were any Ducks fans angry at coach George Horton for this disappointing end to the season? I typed his name into the search bar and scrolled through the tweets, looking at the pages like I was watching …
Notes from around the college football nation: Middle School recruiting frenzy and Vandalism destroys college football
I recently got one step closer to kick off - just purchased my Athlon Sports College football preview magazine. Once I have that magazine in my hands, life is good. It makes me realize the season is almost here (even though it is forever away). We still have so much to talk about. The recruiting trail for middle school kids is …
Father’s Day Gift List for Fans Around the Country
While most people know FishDuck as being the preeminent source of innovative knowledge about all things sport having to do with the University of Oregon (as well as Philadelphia, wink wink say no more) what most do not realize is that FishDuck is also a leading research and analysis firm with respect to societal opinion. We have partnered with the …
Trouble in Philly Town for Chip?
Philadelphia’s fans are notoriously critical and, as the Eagles mini-camp finished up, there were signs that the burst of initial excitement over Chip Kelly’s new regime was dissolving in a drizzle of worries. The only question is, how much of this worry is legitimate and how much is instinctive gloom-mongering by the fans who once booed Santa Claus? 1. Starting …
Meet Your New Ducks: Another Hawaiian Football Guru
Here he is, the first verbal commitment of the 2014 class. It’s strange to think that none of these guys will even play a down at Autzen for another year and three months; however, their development and success over that time plays a vital role in determining the future of our beloved Ducks. As history has shown, the “star” system …
Recruiting Update: Baker to “Quack?”
Football Recruiting Commitments Oregon has never been the biggest player in the JUCO ranks due to a crop of venerable prep recruiting classes. Recently however, stars such as former offensive lineman Kyle Long seem to have upped the Ducks’ interest in the junior college pipeline. Last week, Oregon received commitments from two highly touted recruits in that of defensive end Tui …
