In a blow to the wide receiver depth for the Oregon offense, according to the official Oregon Football twitter feed:
Tyrece Gaines & Diante Jackson declared ineligible for 2010 for not meeting academic standards says Chip Kelly
Gaines and Jackson were supposed to be the saviors of the WR corp during the 2009 recruiting class, when fans were clammoring for the Ducks to get some big recruits in that area.
But an area that looks to be stocked with talent at the beginning of last season is now looking incredibly thin. Over this offseason, the Ducks have lost Jamere Holland and Garrett Embry for good, and Gaines and Jackson for at least the 2010 season.
The starters are set fairly well for the 2010 season, led by seniors Jeff Maehl and D.J. Davis and Junior Lavasier Tunei, but after that, the Ducks are looking at a whole lot of untested and unheralded players. Walk-on Justin Hoffman, who has really stepped up during the last two seasons and worked his way into the two-deep, will need to continue his development, as will redshirt freshmen Blake Cantu and Nick Cole.
Luckily, the Ducks have two highly touted WRs coming in this fall, Josh Huff (as long as he doesn't have any grades issues, which has been rumored) and Keanon Lowe, who will be seeing the field very early in their Oregon careers.
While I don't see a need to worry yet, it's definitely not something to get excited about. The Ducks will have only 8 scholarship WRs in 2010, and will have only 6 WRs with playing experience heading into 2011.
But while Oregon may not have traditional WRs at its disposal, if there's a coach that can get the most out of his players offensively, it's Chip Kelly. This could very well be a situation of, "where one door closes, another door opens." Despite the attrition at the receiver position, Oregon still has many skill position players to count on, and it will be exciting to see how Chip changes his offense to reflect the talent distribution.