After an exciting weekend of Duck basketball, Duck football takes center stage this week as national signing day is Wednesday. On to the quack!
- Lache Seastrunk's hometown paper has an article on his commitment to Oregon. Seastrunk had a lot of good things to say about Coach Kelly, and Autzen as well. Also fun: the Ducks have commitments from the top two running backs in Texas.
- In other recruiting news, kicker Alejandro Maldonado, who was previously verbally committed to UW, has switched his commitment to Oregon. Maldonado is ranked from 7th-30th by various recruiting services, and looks to compete against Mike Bowlin and Rob Beard. Maldonado committed after visiting campus this weekend. Also visiting this weekend was Eric Dungy, son of Tony Dungy.
- The Oregonian is helping us get to know some future Duck commits. In their running series, they profile JC commits OL Ryan Clanton and TE Brandon Williams, who are both already on campus. Also, they look at North Carolina's CB James Scales and LB Chris McCain. However, McCain's commitment status is uncertain right now, and he will be re-picking his school of choice on Wednesday.
- LeGarrette Blount and Ed Dickson and good showings in the Senior Bowl over the weekend. Blount finished with 35 yards on seven carries and scored a touchdown, while Dickson caught a 31-yard pass from OSU's Sean Canfield. While the game itself is important, more important is the week of practice leading up to the game, and both players positioned themselves well for the draft. Dickson figures to be a second or third round pick, based on his exceptional pass catch ability. He will have a tough time rising above that as he is not an elite blocker. After Blount's performance, he will almost certainly be drafted, and maybe as high as the 5th round, with an ability to improve that at the combine. However, Blount did have his issues during the week, and will have a hard time rising above the 3rd round.
- Ken Goe has a farewell to Rich Brooks, after he recently retired from Kentucky. Goe writes about Brooks' legacy of taking perennial losers, and leaving them in much better shape than he found them. While he won't be remembered all that much outside of Oregon or Kentucky,
- SBNation's Chris Dobbertean has this week's Bracketology. The Pac-10 is still a one-bid league, with Cal slated to hold an 11-seed. I don't even know if there are words to describe just how pathetic the Pac-10 is this year. Leagues I didn't even know existed are going to have more bids to the tourney than the Pac-10.
- Lastly, baseball is right around the corner, and the Ducks look to improve from the Pac-10 worst record last year. Leading the way will be pitcher Drew Gagnier, who was recently named to the Preseason Stopper of the Year Watch List. This award will go to the top relief pitcher in NCAA baseball.
Got anything else you want to discuss or share? Leave it below. GO DUCKS!