Siaki Ika leaving LSU, entering transfer portal

[StevensTechU]

The Ducks are deep in the mix here. If Mario wants Ika, he will be a Duck. He is built like Coach Joe and is a monster. If they take Ika, they will not be able to take Foreman (likely headed to the SEC), Wright (USC because of film school) or Foster (likely OU). In my opinion a bird in hand. Ika body types don't grow on trees. I believe they will take him and set 100% on signing JTT.

I also believe there will be some departures after this season. Randazzo and likely 3-4 others. This will give the Ducks some flexibility in their roster for next season to add transfers.

Can you imagine our DL for the next 2-3 years with Ika and JTT? These are SEC problems....

We need to push out 6-7 guys actually. But the writing is on the wall for a number of guys unfortunately

This is the leanest I think I've seen an Oregon roster in the last 10 years. While I don't think the top-end talent is necessarily the best it's ever been, there aren't glaring holes on the first team, and the 2nd and 3rd teams are riddled with guys with lots of potential to contribute in their latter years. I think I'm used to seeing a roster where you could realistically cut 1/4 of the guys and have no regrets from a talent standpoint.

[jimmy12]

The Ducks are deep in the mix here. If Mario wants Ika, he will be a Duck. He is built like Coach Joe and is a monster. If they take Ika, they will not be able to take Foreman (likely headed to the SEC), Wright (USC because of film school) or Foster (likely OU). In my opinion a bird in hand. Ika body types don't grow on trees. I believe they will take him and set 100% on signing JTT.

I also believe there will be some departures after this season. Randazzo and likely 3-4 others. This will give the Ducks some flexibility in their roster for next season to add transfers.

Can you imagine our DL for the next 2-3 years with Ika and JTT? These are SEC problems....

We need to push out 6-7 guys actually. But the writing is on the wall for a number of guys unfortunately

This is the leanest I think I've seen an Oregon roster in the last 10 years. While I don't think the top-end talent is necessarily the best it's ever been, there aren't glaring holes on the first team, and the 2nd and 3rd teams are riddled with guys with lots of potential to contribute in their latter years. I think I'm used to seeing a roster where you could realistically cut 1/4 of the guys and have no regrets from a talent standpoint.

I agree with you on the offensive side. There are a lot of ????

But on the Defensive side, we've only had 1 team like this and that team had Defo and Armstead.

[lukeyrid13]

After this next class comes in, our roster will be chalk full of blue chippers across the board at every position group.

[GoDucksIn09]

Do we know if Oregon is in talks with him. I know they recruited him heavily. Is it just because of that, or is their genuine interest on both sides. I am not connected to any of it, so merely asking. That does not make me an idiot.

[Quietduck]

I can't say I'm happy to hear the "push them out" chant from the fans. That is one thing that the big teams do but not something I want us to copy. If they want to leave, fine. If they need to leave to get playing time again fine, but pushing them out the door, not so fine. While legal and within the rules, I'm not sure it's ethical or right.

[GrantDuck]

Yeah, I'm not cool with "pushing kids out" either.

If kids aren't getting PT and want to leave, sure. If kids are working hard and want to stay we need to honor their choice.

[lukeyrid13]

I'm not a fan of it either....but if you just look at the math, we need(ed) 8-9 transfers to fit in a full class of 25 this year. Looks like: Randazzo and Eaford have already but we still need 5-7 more most likely.

[GoDucksTroll]

I’m not in favor of pulling scholarships to incoming recruits after the summer, that really hurts the kids chances of finding a good landing spot. Unless it’s for academic or behavior issues, since the scholarship offer says so. Arizona State pilled two last year on the week of signing day to free up space for Johnny Wilson and Elijah Badger. The other week five kids had their offer pulled by Herm. Troubling when it’s a trend like that.

But if they’ve been on the team for a few years and aren’t ever going to produce meaningful results then either take a medical retirement or transfer. Medical retirement gives a full scholarship anyway. Academic scholarships are tied to performance. If your grades don’t meet the standard you could lose it or not have it renewed.

[Quietduck]

Who decides "meaningful results" for the kid just being on the team may be the thing holding their world together. The coaches recruited them and brought them here and now they throw them to the side because they like someone better. Nope can't go there. At the worst, it's four years maybe five. If someone has to pay for poor judgment on an athlete's future I would rather it was the adults that made that judgment, not the kid. Also, many late bloomers don't show until their junior or senior season and then explode we would miss those as well.

[pudgejeff]

Who decides "meaningful results" for the kid just being on the team may be the thing holding their world together. The coaches recruited them and brought them here and now they throw them to the side because they like someone better. Nope can't go there. At the worst, it's four years maybe five. If someone has to pay for poor judgment on an athlete's future I would rather it was the adults that made that judgment, not the kid. Also, many late bloomers don't show until their junior or senior season and then explode we would miss those as well.

From what I can tell, at least from this group of coaches is that we’d never push someone out. We may say hey, you’re falling behind here and we wanna he honest, but by some of the kids that have stayed and finished even though they were never gonna play they are looking out for the kids best interest and if that’s to stay then I don’t think they push.

[jimmy12]

I'm not a fan of it either....but if you just look at the math, we need(ed) 8-9 transfers to fit in a full class of 25 this year. Looks like: Randazzo and Eaford have already but we still need 5-7 more most likely.

Andrew Johnson too. LB

[jimmy12]

Do we know if Oregon is in talks with him. I know they recruited him heavily. Is it just because of that, or is their genuine interest on both sides. I am not connected to any of it, so merely asking. That does not make me an idiot.

YES-- The Ducks knew before he announced his departure from LSU. He called Oregon. (there was no violation, he just let them know of his interest)

[ducks5ever]

To be fair, it's the tough reality but pushing certain players out is in the best interest of everyone involved.... If you're the 3rd/4th string X position and there will be 3 more people joining the position next year with high ceilings, what are their chances of getting off the practice team next year? For the player, it's better to be told that so they can get actual playing experience somewhere else to do what they like to do....

Back to Ika, I wonder if we actually have a shot since he left LSU because they ran a 4-3 and it sounded like he wanted to play in a 3-4 setup. Our base is a 4-3?? Utah runs a 4-3 too if that helps so not sure if they're in the running too....

[spacefrog13x]

To be fair, it's the tough reality but pushing certain players out is in the best interest of everyone involved.... If you're the 3rd/4th string X position and there will be 3 more people joining the position next year with high ceilings, what are their chances of getting off the practice team next year? For the player, it's better to be told that so they can get actual playing experience somewhere else to do what they like to do....

Back to Ika, I wonder if we actually have a shot since he left LSU because they ran a 4-3 and it sounded like he wanted to play in a 3-4 setup. Our base is a 4-3?? Utah runs a 4-3 too if that helps so not sure if they're in the running too....

I was under the impression the Duck defense used a hybrid 3-4 with one of the linebackers playing a hybrid DE/LB

[lukeyrid13]

Our base personnel is actually a 3-3-5 with 3 safeties essentially by typically playing a nickel safety.

Overall, the Avalaos defense is very fluid and versatile but we also run: 3-4 and 2-4 personnel sometimes. I can't think of any situation where we really ran a 4-3 personnel at all last year. If we had 4 lineman in, they weren't set up in 4-3 formation. We did run a bear set (5-2) against UW in a few short yardage situations but only a few of the lineman had their hands in the ground.