Good morning everyone. It was a fairly quiet weekend before a flurry of recruiting info hit last night, so let's get to it.
- Rob Moseley has a very long profile on Chip Kelly that was in Sunday's Register Guard. Moseley had the challenge of doing the piece without any input from Kelly, who is not keen on talking about his personal life. However, Moseley talked to his old mentors and co-workers, and the piece is a great profile of Kelly's background and how he came to be at Oregon. Moseley also included a sidebar on the talent that has come out of Kelly's hometown of Manchester, NH.
- Center/DE recruit Hroniss Grasu committed to Oregon over the weekend. Encino Crespi high school has been a fertile ground for the Ducks lately, as QB commit Bryan Bennett and baseball commit Ryon Healy also attend the school. Grasu is a great pickup for the Ducks, and it's rumored that he will play center as a Duck, filling very important hole created by Hamani Stevens' absence. Grasu is athletic, and Kelly and Greatwood are very excited about his commitment to the Ducks, and he figures to fit in well in Oregon's system. Also Grasu will not be making any official visits this fall, so it seems like his commitment is a done deal. In other recruiting news, football and track star Tyler Stephenson, who had been highly interested in Oregon, committed to Baylor over the weekend after attending a camp there.
- In baseball recruiting, top Oregon commits pitcher Tyler Matzek and outfielder Jake Marisnick, drafted in the first and third rounds, respectively, have still not signed with their teams. They have until August 17th to sign any contracts or they will be college bound. While there is still plenty of time, Duck fans have been given a bit of possibly false hope from this tweet by Marisnick.
- The Register Guard has another video introduction with new Oregon players Daryle Hawkins and Nick Cole, so make sure to check that out.
- The ODE writes on the summer conditioning in which the football team is voluntarily participating. Oregon is working four out of five days a week. Contrast that with Purdue's once a week workouts or Washington's two. This article also gives a very good look into the new coaching style of Chip Kelly, who is definitely much more hard-nosed than Bellotti was. Kelly is less the talker that Bellotti was, and punishments are doled out immediately, ususally in the form of being "run ragged." However, for now at least, this is getting the team ready. LB Spencer Paysinger has high hopes for the defense, and says that "its going to be the best it has been in five or six years," and isn't worried at all about the D-line. And, the team has revenge on the mind. Motivation will be at an all time high when Oregon steps onto the blue turf in September.
Got any opinions on the latest news? Comment away! GO DUCKS!