A group of rich white men banded together because they didn’t want to pay taxes. No, not just recently. I’m talking about 238 years ago at the time of the American Revolution. The end result of that decision — which, if you’ve ever walked the Freedom Trail in Boston you know, was mostly arrived at in taverns — was the beginning of …
Football fans are stuck in the doldrums, and with no wind in their sails, they’re just waiting for the endless (month-long) break between mini-camp and training camp to end. Luckily you have us football writers, struggling furiously to generate enough hot air to fill those sails. Chip Kelly’s Eagles finished spring workouts full of smiles, with no drama (after the DeSean Jackson release and …
The off season for the Oregon Ducks football team has proven to be a little hectic, causing some fans to wonder what will happen to their favored program. With the unusual amount of transfers and departures in the off season, there are going to be questions about the depth of talent and concerns with the coaches retaining the scholarship players. I’m …
Juwaan Williams is a long way from home. Almost 3,000 miles away to be semi-exact. However, the distance hasn’t stopped him from making a big impression — on the Ducks. Williams hails from Tucker, Georgia, an unincorporated community in the northern part of the state. There, he attended the aptly named Tucker High School and became a star athlete. The …
Football Recruiting Commitments Yesterday morning, Oregon received some much needed news after several disappointing months on the quarterback front. Dual threat Travis Waller (4-Star/Anaheim, CA/Rivals250) committed to Mark Helfrich and Co. amid a long recruiting rapport that saw the Ducks offer Waller on June 21st. A long rumored Oregon lean, the 6-foot-2, 195 lb. do-it-all quarterback announced his decision via …
In a June 27 analysis, ESPN’s Ted Miller rated Oregon’s receivers as “We’ll see.” Ted awarded “Great shape” to receivers for Stanford, Arizona, WSU, USC, ASU and the Berkeley Bears. UCLA, Utah, Washington, OSU and even Colorado got “Good shape.” That left only Oregon to receive the dreaded “We’ll see.” Einstein and I disagree. Just as the theory of special …
There’s a lot more to defensive football than many people realize, as this isn’t a little kid’s soccer game with a herd of midgets chasing the ball. What coaches refer to as run fits are more like a well-choreographed dance. Run fits are the defensive responsibilities given to particular players in attacking a blocker or ball carrier either to the inside …
Is Mark Helfrich a better recruiter than Chip Kelly? That question has slowly crept into the minds of Duck recruiting fanatics as the early commitments have seemingly poured in over the last few weeks. Earlier this week, writing for Duck Sports Authority, I talked about the change in early commitments not being significantly different for the Ducks. At the time …
The Oregon football team lost three great defenders for the upcoming season in Avery Patterson, Brian Jackson and Terrance Mitchell — but the good news is in the fresher faces. Redshirt freshman Tyree Robinson worked his tail off last year, and he told Yahoo Sports that “it’s time to step up.” With a hole to fill at the safety position, Robinson …
2013 was the first season in the recent wave of conference realignments that the five power conferences didn’t see any member change conferences. Tomorrow that hiatus ends as realignment returns with Louisville, Rutgers and Maryland all finding new homes amongst the five power conferences, the latter two joining the Big Ten. It only makes sense that the biggest increase in …
World Cup fever is all over America right now so I am sure everyone couldn’t care less about the NCAA trials or the off season action. The excitement soccer fans are experiencing with the world cup will be the same felt by college football fans when the playoffs start. While the world cup is going on, we have Les …
The Oregon Ducks’ success in recent years came at such a fast pace, that it hit Duck fans maybe too rapidly and just as hard. Their program went from zero to hero as fast as you can say, “We should have been in every National Championship since 2010 but let it slip in the most painful way to watch.” It …
