Every dedicated Duck (and Spartan) fan remembers the pivotal play in Oregon’s 46-27 comeback victory last September. Third-and-11, down by nine with little momentum and an anxious Autzen stadium looking on, Marcus Mariota miraculously evaded Spartan defenders before shoveling the ball to Royce Freeman for a first down. This determination rejuvenated the Duck spirits as they went on to score four unanswered …
When looking at Oregon’s linebacker unit from 2014, a common theme often arises — inconsistency. FishDuck.com discussed it here and here, as others did here. In my experience, inconsistency typically stems from player inexperience and mental overload, both of which seemed to be confounding factors for the Oregon linebacking crew — as they were a bit inexperienced and working under a new …
Oregon’s linebackers have continued to demonstrate that the Ducks are just as physical as the next team: lean, mean, hard hitting terminators that pace just beyond the defensive line, chasing after the ball like a gang of wild pit-bulls. But one recent Oregon commit for the 2015 class, Steilcoom high school’s Fotu Leiato II, may change the definition of what it means to be a Duck …
After Joe Walker slashed through the line to dump a Stanford Cardinal running back to the turf, the fan behind me leaned over and said, “God, I love that kid.” Yeah, a lot of other Oregon fans agree; this year, Walker has emerged as Oregon’s go-to linebacker when the Ducks face the run. Against rush-happy Stanford, he had nine tackles …
The departure of Kiko Alonzo and Michael Clay after 2012 made last season a rebuilding year of sorts for the Duck linebacker corps, and some maintain the Ducks’ run defense suffered accordingly. The numbers reveal that the Ducks gave up 169 ypg on the ground, up from 142 ypg the year before. How much that attributed to the extra loss …