A bit disappointed today

Oregon’s recruiting needs are not the norm in college football. We don’t need a 6’5" quarterback that can throw it a mile, a 350 pound tackle, or three of four defensive studs. We need a quarterback with great decision making, wheels, and the ability to keep his adrenaline in check while running the fastest offense in football. We need multiple running backs who specialize in elusiveness and breakaway speed. We need 25 different defensive guys that have a high motor, a nose for the ball, and the drive to compete for playing time. The tall QB with the cannon arm is going to get the five-star rating, but he isn’t the QB for our system. The team that gets three or four defensive studs because their team only plays 15 guys a game on defense will have the high ranking, but I’m happy with our ten defensive players that allow us to play more than 20 guys in any game.

Also, we’re developing our talent better than any team in the Pac-12. UCLA consistently ranks in the top 10-15 in recruiting; they can have it, cuz they’re gonna keep being a 6-7 team with their current coaches and athletic department. USC picks up more five-stars, but also has more five-star flameouts.

Long story short, we just won three straight Pac-12 titles with less highly regarded players than the ones in this class.

We’re doing just fine.

While we don’t need or necessarily want the monster linemen that Alabama seems to attract, it bothers me a little bit that we lost some recruiting wars to other teams. It bothers me that we couldn’t beat Texas or Washington or TAM for some of the players we were going after. I don’t mind not getting the elite of the elite, but I’d really like it to be that when we go after a kid, we get that kid.

More often than not that’s the case, and Arik Armstead coming to Oregon is in a lot of ways more momentous a recruiting coup than DAT was last year. But I’m a little sad that we lost out on some of the players we did target.

In 2008 Oregon did not make the top 25 in recruiting rankings. Last month in the re-ranking Oregon was the #2 or 3 ranked team overall because of guys like DT, LMJ and KJB.

CK and his staff have proven they know what they’re doing. I don’t care if we finished last in the country, if CK got the guys he wanted, I’d trust him to have done the right thing for this team and program.

I’ll continue to take Oregon winning Pac-12 Championships.

Getting the most All-Americans in school history? Getting 5 players that were at the Army All-American game? If you need validation for the recruiting class, then that’s a good place to start.

But I’m thinking that Chip Kelly and the coaching staff don’t need that validation. They went out and got a lot of their top targets. Byron Marshall is “only” a 4-star, but he was the #1 RB target for the Ducks. Oregon went after Rodrigues before anyone else and got him.

Oregon got a ton of talent on the defensive line, and offerred only those players that they wanted. For example, they didn’t offer Aziz Shittu, a 5-star who signed with Stanford.

Recruiting isn’t about getting stars, it’s about scouting players and getting who YOU want. Stars can be a side-effect, but not necessarily. Oregon is obviously getting very talented players. They may have some difference of opinion with the ranking services over who is the best, but that’s OK. They are, for the most part, going out there and getting the players that they want.

And there’s disappointment?

That is silly.

I have seen a few tables on Oregon’s recruiting rankings over the past 10 years and we have steadily improved from an average 2.5* to a 3.5* class. This growth is remarkable and speaks to the depth we have acquired and ability to bounce back from key injuries and attrition. Sure , we had some amazing names with a bunch of stars but what else in those classes: 2* guys who were undersized (yes, many overproduced). Realize that marquee names are one thing but consistency in talent and size throughout the class is what allows us to combat the fatigue and endure the entire season. It is also the next step for this program going into the next 10 years.

It’s also important to realize that regardless of the success we have, Oregon will never be in a competitive location situation with Alabama, LSU, tOSU, Florida, USC, Texas, Oklahoma, etc. Those states have insane HS systems in place. If you are comparing our class to a national list, then you have to dig deeper then the just which class is better etc. Oregon as a state develops few D1 athletes. This is a fact and until its HS systems improve and the athletes show up this will always bee true. This will always put us on the outside of the top 15 looking in. No matter how good our class looks, theirs will just look as good or better.

Finally, concern over losing Brostek, Johnson and Shaq are not a disappointment. Brostek is UW legacy, Shaq is Tupoi’s right hand man and Johnson is a local TX legend. Those weren’t winnable battles. Get over them.

Look deeper than the news reels for the true talent of this class. Loaded on the DL. Nasty DEs that will make you proud. Boys that will put on 25-30 lbs under Radcliffe and tear the mother up. Skill players that are mad hungry for the ball and will produce. In addition, Kids that are proud to be Oregon Ducks. Proud to join a successful program and work, earn and play hard.

we only have 10 maybe 15 years. The points being (1) Why be disappointed with growth in our recruiting over the past 2 decades (2) Don’t compare to national lists with the establishments.

i guess i just don’t understand why someone would be disappointed with success and growth.

Cal fans are crying you a river.

I guess I can understand someone feeling disappointed. I’m not sure it’s a rational thing, but there are lot of folks walking around with overly puffed up expectations. No harm in aiming high.

I do think some people have lost sight of the fact that Eugene, as a destination, is a recruiting challenge. Not a Pullman or Corvallis challenge, but it’s not LA, San Francisco or Tempe either. To their credit, UO coaches continue to mostly overcome that. What we locked up yesterday was another GREAT recruiting class…for Oregon. I’ll take that, considering the recent uncertainty surround the head coach. Considering that Eugene is a small, often rainy town that isn’t for everyone, and that there’s a general lack of african-american culture, which is important to some recruits. Considering the school isn’t academically on par with some others on the west coast.

Maybe this class would’ve been just average or above average class at USC or Alabama or Ohio State. It is a very solid class for Oregon, where it’s been proven repeatedly that the program can compete with any other program no matter the recruiting rankings. That’s works for me.

Do you all realize how much talent we have on the roster from our recruiting efforts of the last 4 years? It’s obvious that in hearing Chip talk and hearing the inside recruiting scoops that we are getting the guys we really want. And for a team that plays football in Eugene, Oregon, far away from Texas and Florida, and lacking the sun and big cities of California, that is exceptional.

This is just another special recruiting class given the D-line and overall athletic talent we’re bringing in. Last year’s was special with the WR, LB, and O-line talent. We have our choice of RBs and QBs all over the country. We’ve brought in some freakishly athletic 6’5", 6’6" players with soft hands that can play TE or DE. Let’s not get disappointed when the fact is that we are recruiting better than 95% of all football programs, and despite ONLY being in the top 15-25 range for recruiting, we’ve finished in the top 5 two years in a row. The rankings are only a guideline IMO. The best barometer for how we are recruiting is as benzduck summarized, are we getting the players that we want and that fit our system? And the answer is an emphatic yes.