2023 Linebackers

[StevensTechU]

The inside linebackers this year feature 3 former safeties, including a walk-on, starting and in heavy rotation and so far has been the clear and obvious weakness of either side of the ball. It's gotten me thinking about similar situations in the recent past where there's been a largely talented team aiming for 10+ wins but had a position group that really just lacked the talent seen elsewhere. So here's my trip down memory lane.

2015 - In the year following Erick Dargan's graduation, and departures of Ifo and Troy Hill, the ducks struggled in the defensive backfield. Tyree Robinson, Reggie Daniels, and Chris Seisay proved that they weren't the answer despite bringing size and athleticism. By the Wazzu game, wide receiver Charles Nelson was moved to a safety spot to plug the very clear hole.

2015 - Also during that horrendous 2015 season, Oregon fans bore witness to the depth at QB behind last-second-transfer Vernon Adams. Both Taylor Alie and Jeff Lockie played meaningful snaps that season, and all of us will die a little earlier as a result of the pain in watching it.

2016-2018 - These were some leeeaaan years for Oregon linebackers, and featured guys like Kaulana Apelu (an undersized walk on running back) and Fotu Leiato (safety version of Justin Flowe) play a lot of football for the Ducks. AJ Hotchkins would transfer and improve dramatically in a lower conference, but also a major piece of the struggle.

[Duck07]

It's frankly far more rare for Oregon to have an actual LB room than for it not to. After Clay/Alonso it's pretty much Mitchell/Matson as far as competent LB Duos go and this is over a 20 year period.

[OregonFan4Life]

I guess my question is, why didn’t the coaches do more in the offseason to fix this glaring issue? I wouldn’t say the secondary is stellar, but they’re more than good enough. If the LB group was the same quality as the secondary, what would the ceiling for this team be? I guess with the transfer portal why didn’t the coaches do more to bring in better transfers? Or did they try and just miss on some good LB transfers?

[buckmarkduck]

They landed two lbs. Justin just hasn’t played yet.

[StevensTechU]

I guess my question is, why didn’t the coaches do more in the offseason to fix this glaring issue? I wouldn’t say the secondary is stellar, but they’re more than good enough. If the LB group was the same quality as the secondary, what would the ceiling for this team be? I guess with the transfer portal why didn’t the coaches do more to bring in better transfers? Or did they try and just miss on some good LB transfers?

When they signed Connor Soelle, it became pretty clear that they were missing on guys. Soelle was primarily a special teams guy at Arizona State and sort of the definition of "just a body."

[OregonFan4Life]

I guess my question is, why didn’t the coaches do more in the offseason to fix this glaring issue? I wouldn’t say the secondary is stellar, but they’re more than good enough. If the LB group was the same quality as the secondary, what would the ceiling for this team be? I guess with the transfer portal why didn’t the coaches do more to bring in better transfers? Or did they try and just miss on some good LB transfers?

When they signed Connor Soelle, it became pretty clear that they were missing on guys. Soelle was primarily a special teams guy at Arizona State and sort of the definition of "just a body."

Gotcha, it’s just a bummer to see one position be so bad while the rest of the team is actually really good. I truly believe if the LB was just good, not even great, this could be a playoff team. Makes sense though that with how bad the LB group was last year it’d take more than a year to fix it.

[lmduck]

I was told there were some 'possible' guys in the portal but some of them did not fit the scheme OR the culture so they passed.

[duck92]

https://mgoblue.com/sports/football/ros ... mann/24425 This is one of the guys I really wanted. No idea if we went after him.

[ducks5ever]

They landed two lbs. Justin just hasn’t played yet.

Soelle didn't play against Hawaii until the 4th quarter.

The options are fairly limited as I don't recall that many "ready-to-go" type players available in the portal in the first place.

Your best shot to find an actual quality player is probably a place where the coaching staff imploded after the end of the season, and that doesn't happen a lot.

[wepto]

Seems like the path forward is for teams with NIL money to spend to scout players from teams that don't. Then have back channels gauge interest / compensation demands. Caleb Williams pretty much openly recruited Dorian Singer to USC. Tampering isn't being enforced.

Not sure why the staff couldn't land LBs.

End of the day, I don't see any advantage in having a recruiter like Tosh anymore. Highest bidder will win 90% of the time. Ducks seem a little slow to adapt--though not as far behind as Clemson.

It's time to put together a NFL style scouting department. But don't actually call it that, just give the scouts the title of 'analyst', it's already normal to have a ton of extra 'coaches' / 'analysts' around.

[ducks5ever]

Seems like the path forward is for teams with NIL money to spend to scout players from teams that don't. Then have back channels gauge interest / compensation demands. Caleb Williams pretty much openly recruited Dorian Singer to USC. Tampering isn't being enforced.

I'd rather not. This is a playoff/bowl/ncaa ban waiting to happen. If it were so easy, the teams with the most money should field the best teams. It's too early to make a judgement but so far, the cfb landscape outside Georgia looks like it has the most parity in years this season.

There are a few notable teams with faster than normal rises (Texas/FSU; maybe Oregon State?) but that's about it.

[buckmarkduck]

I watched Tulane play, and their LBs are really good. Wouldn’t mind grabbing one of them.

[GrantDuck]

I guess my question is, why didn’t the coaches do more in the offseason to fix this glaring issue? I wouldn’t say the secondary is stellar, but they’re more than good enough. If the LB group was the same quality as the secondary, what would the ceiling for this team be? I guess with the transfer portal why didn’t the coaches do more to bring in better transfers? Or did they try and just miss on some good LB transfers?

When they signed Connor Soelle, it became pretty clear that they were missing on guys. Soelle was primarily a special teams guy at Arizona State and sort of the definition of "just a body."

Can speak to this specifically, I think there were only like 1-2 highly touted linebackers on the whole west coast in the 2023 cycle. It was possibly the weakest LB recruiting year in 10+ years on the west coast. Jacobs was one of the better guys in the transfer market. Combine that with Flowe basically not working out and Sewell leaving early.

2024 class we have 3 absolute studs coming in who also fit Lanning's defense.

Really hoping Jacobs can be healthy and be the player he was at Iowa, because that guy is the best LBer on the team instantly.