Well, it's Monday, and unfortunately, there's not much good news going around. So, let's get the bad stuff out of the way.
- In recruiting news, Brennan Clay, who had previously stated that "Oregon is kind of my dream school," has committed to Oklahoma. Clay would have been a great player in our offense, but to make matters worse, according to Rob Moseley, Ethan Grant, an early Oregon 2010 commit, has decided to open up his recruitment. Oregon must pick up multiple running backs in 2010, with both Blount and Crenshaw graduating. This news does not help those prospects.
- While not available online at this point, Phil Steele's college football preview is out, and he's breaking from the norm in regards to Oregon. He has Oregon finishing tied for 5th in the Pac-10, tied with Oregon State and Stanford and doesn't have Oregon finishing in his top 40 nationally. He seems to be looking very long and hard at the lack of experience Oregon is returning, with just 9 starters returning overall, and so few offensive line starts coming back. He even went so far as to say last week on an Idaho radio station, that he favors BSU in the opener by 10 points. While most of his concerns are legitimate, my main problem with Steele's prognostication is that he lists Oregon's linebacking units as the 8th best in the Pac-10, which in my mind is absurd.
- Then again, as much as Steele and others want to claim how accurate they are, none come close to perfection. As Doc Saturday and gang pointed out in their Friday roundtable, the surprise teams will come from where you least expect them.
- To temper that pessimism, AJ Jacobson from Duck Sports Authority has a pre-fall camp preview on the O-line. Jacobson doesn't have much new info, but is reassuring that we haven't seen the offensive line yet. We can't really take much from the spring, due to the injury issues. But that also means that we don't know what will happen. Greatwood is stressing hard work and competition, which will be vital, and seems to be fairly confident in the unit. Unfortunately, we'll just have to wait and see.
- In alumni news, Kellen Clemens is holding no ill will to his new competition, Mark Sanchez, and is making him feel at home. Clemens learned a lot from Chad Penenington and is now passing that on.
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Lastly, in their continuing rundown of the top 30 coaches in Pac-10 history, Rich Brooks comes in #25 and Slick Rick comes in #24. While Brooks gets in the list for winning a Pac-10 title at Oregon and setting Oregon on the initial path to success, I think that Neuheisel is vastly overrated. He hasn't shown that he could sustain success at a school, and has yet to show that he can build it. If he is a success at UCLA, then he deserves this type of ranking, but at this point, it's unfounded.
As always, leave your links, comments, and opinions below. GO DUCKS!