When talking about the head coach who started Oregon on its winning ways in the modern age, people often think of Chip Kelly — he is the one who built the program, many would proclaim. While Kelly did certainly have a lot of success at Oregon, Mike Bellotti is the man who first set Oregon on course with a culture of winning. …
News With Vernon Adams safely in the confines of Oregon’s locker room, head coach Mark Helfrich & Co. can stare slightly into the future without angst. Beyond the practice fields, the recruiting lull that shrouds the early part of fall is already beginning to lift as several recruits have sprung from the woodwork with future plans. Oregon’s receiver corps has …
News Just over a month separates “We, The Oregon Faithful” from our first glimpse of a re-tooled Lightning Yellow and Thunder Green squad with aspirations of Bowling in January. With fall camp just around the corner, recruiting will take a back seat to the maturation of the current lineup, but nonetheless will still produce underlying storylines heading into the fall. …
It’s always nice to have youth, especially in the ever-evolving world of college football. With youth comes great excitement and thrill. Typically, the goal is to have the younger athletes learn from those that have been there before them, in the hope of providing both short-term stability and long-term longevity. In my most recent article, An Oregon Ducks Dynasty in the Making, …
News Not unlike the smoky horizon of the west coast, the ’15-’16 recruiting cycle has settled into a mid-summer haze, seeing several key story lines move into a holding pattern. While much has been made of Bryce Youngquist’s (4-Star/Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rivals250) recruitment rapport with Eugene, the vaunted linebacker has finally given himself a deadline to announce his commitment. This coming …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out It was just a year ago that many fans were crying “now or never” for Duck football. After all, it was going to be the last year for Marcus Mariota, Hroniss Grasu, Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Arik Armstead, Erik Dargan, Tony Washington … and the list goes on. “Now” didn’t quite happen, but in the aftermath, it hardly seems …
Dynasties are defined by long-term success and longevity. Programs at Alabama and Ohio State have defined what it’s like to have success, displaying the ability to adapt to new challenges every year. Right now, whether fans realize it or not, the University of Oregon Ducks’ football team is on the cusp of greatness. Molded by seven 10-win seasons in a row, Pac-12 dominance, and big-game wins; …
News Linebackers headman, Erik Chinander, is rapidly becoming one of the Pac-12’s more formidable recruiters. The second-year coach has found his niche among the nation’s elite defenders. Last week, outside backer Bryce Youngquist (4-Star/Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rivlas250) indicated his program decision may come sooner than expected as Oregon continues to fill its depth chart of the future. A longtime target, Youngquist has gone …
ESPN writer Kevin Gemmell understands Oregon and its offense more than your typical national writer or talking head. As he correctly points out, “What do you think of when you think of Oregon? Fine, after all of the uniform combinations. You think of offense. And specifically, the ground game.” OK, so he has the requisite “too many jerseys” one-liner, but he understands that …
Set the way-back machine to 1951 and get your DeLoreans up to 88 MPH. We’re going back to look at a famous Duck from Oregon‘s rich history. While Oregon has had many great coaches over the years, I think we can all agree that the coolest name of them all belongs to Len Casanova. Known as Cas to his friends, he …
As a student at the University of Oregon, and a diehard fan of the Ducks, it’s frustrating to see how concerned people are with the football team heading into this season. It seems as if every fan is saying “The void that Marcus Mariota left behind might be too much for the Ducks to overcome.” Instead, people should be talking about the …
In my last article I discussed all that Gary Campbell has done for the Oregon Duck program and his impressive collection of game-day suits. Even though his collection of suits is impressive, he may not even be the best dressed coach at Oregon. There is one man who can challenge him for college football’s best dressed coach and that is Don …