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The Last Time Oregon Was Looking for a QB
AZDuck
Member Posts: 15,381
Holy shit. Amazing we were in on all these guys.
http://projects.registerguard.com/rg/sports/24973017-81/ducks-quarterbacks-oregon-prehm-quarterback.html.csp
http://projects.registerguard.com/rg/sports/24973017-81/ducks-quarterbacks-oregon-prehm-quarterback.html.csp
Given the makeup of the current roster, the Ducks stand to enter 2011 with just two veterans at quarterback, Darron Thomas and Daryle Hawkins. Thomas will enter his redshirt sophomore season this fall battling senior Nate Costa for the starting job, and Hawkins comes off his redshirt year figuring to be pushed by heralded incoming freshman Bryan Bennett.
Generally the UO football team has carried five quarterbacks per season, and thus it was expected the Ducks would try to sign two come February, when Costa’s eligibility will be exhausted. In the past week, Oregon has indeed received two verbal commitments from prep signal-callers — but the player thought to be atop the Ducks’ wish list at the position is still uncommitted, as is a wonderfully athletic prospect from Florida who has said he’d like to be in Eugene come 2011.
As problems go, it’s a good one to have, but the Ducks might have to make some tough choices in the coming months, recruiting analysts believe, both in deciding which recruits to sign and potentially regarding position changes for one or two players.
Matt Prehm, co-publisher of the website DuckTerritory.com, believes Oregon’s top target at quarterback this year is Brett Hundley, a prototypical dual-threat athlete from Arizona. In recent weeks, Prehm and others also reported that Marcus Mariota, from Hawaii, and Jerrard Randall, from Florida, planned to commit during visits to Eugene. (It is understood in recruiting circles that UO coach Chip Kelly won’t formally accept a commitment until a player has visited.)
That was three quarterbacks for two spots, math that Prehm figured the Ducks would make work, assuming they could lure Hundley.
“They got an opportunity to land three really good quarterbacks, so I think they shifted to three,” Prehm said.
The Ducks hosted a football camp last week, and over the weekend news did indeed break that one of the quarterback recruits had committed — just not one of the guys anybody was talking about. Johnny Manziel, a little-known player from Kerryville, Texas, was offered a scholarship while attending Oregon’s camp, and he accepted. Four-star offensive lineman Andre Yruretagoyena of Scottsdale, Ariz., also committed to the Ducks after visiting campus last week.
Once the news of Manziel’s commitment was digested, the conventional wisdom became that Oregon would still hope to sign three quarterbacks, with Manziel replacing Mariota, who had also expressed interest in Washington. Then, late Tuesday, Mariota contacted once of Prehm’s co-workers at DuckTerritory.com. Mariota had committed to Kelly over the weekend after being offered a scholarship, too.
“I just want to go in there and compete,” Mariota told Rivals.com. “Everybody has a fair shot at the job. It’s only going to make us better as quarterbacks to go in and compete and work hard and push each other.”
Signing four quarterbacks seems unlikely for Oregon. But Hundley is still available, as is Randall, and both are among the top 150 recruits in the nation as ranked by ESPN.
Hundley is a 6-foot-4, 220-pound native of Chandler, Ariz., who is also considering Washington, UCLA, Arizona and Texas A&M. Prehm thinks the Ducks lead, along with the Huskies and Bruins, two programs with head coaches respected for grooming NFL talent at quarterback.
“Chip Kelly has always said the quarterbacks he wants are guys that are quarterbacks first and also can run,” Prehm said. “That fits Hundley to a T. His strength is his arm ... but he also can move.”
Perhaps more raw is Randall, who, Prehm said, grew enamored with watching the Ducks in 2007 and has expressed an interest in becoming “the next Dennis Dixon.” Athletically, Randall has the potential to do so, Prehm said.
A potential fix for the numbers problem at quarterback involves position changes. Hawkins, the redshirt freshman, can play wide receiver, and while Mariota and Manziel say they’ve committed to play quarterback, either is athletic enough to play another position. Randall might not be a candidate to do so with the Ducks, as he said he intends to pass up an offer to play receiver at Florida if he can be a quarterback at Oregon.
With fall camp weeks away, it remains extremely early in a recruiting cycle that figured to be fun to watch given the need for multiple quarterbacks. It has become even more so given recent developments, and figures to stay that way into February and beyond.
Comments
Hun, take a look at the time stamp.