Signing Day Thread (Wednesday Feb 7)

[ncduck]

I wrote and deleted the same thoughts a few times. Eventually opting against the post because the very strongly negative opinions of the disheartened crew. I just didn’t want to deal with blow back because I disagree with someone. Thanks for posting this!

Yeah, as some have probably noticed, I don't mind a little blow back.

Hahahaha. We have.

[Groundswell]

One problem is we left scholarships on the table. We should have taken around 27. The staff had been representing that the inn was full, and they left 20 official visits on the table. We had to call 2 players up for offers on signing day to boot. We have numbers issues on the roster. It's not about how good this class is or isn't, as far as I read Duckenstien, but about how do we not find 4-5 more good players, and how did the staff get fooled by so many kids coming down the stretch. Fair concerns regardless of who we actually signed.

BTW, outside Shough, has Arroyo brought in anybody in the past year? I know he's had some Texas kids commit, but they de-committed, and I know the staff shares some of these recruiting responsibilities. But who am I missing that we can absolutely attribute to Arroyo? I can't remember if he was responsible for any of the kids we got last year.

That is an excellent take.

The staff got taken to the woosdshed.

Extremely lucky to get Crocker and Tucker after getting played.

I don't agree, I guess. I liked what Cristobal had to say about next year's class being so light and needing to save some scholarships for next year. Grad transfers make a lot of sense in that case, to make the classes more equal, and give the team room to take the best players they can every year, instead of loading up on bottom-of-the-barrel type guys. It's a bummer that they missed on all the Taggart decommits, but I thought they did a great job of getting three other guys in the last month. It wasn't luck, they worked hard to land them. I think JHop got a lot of you hyped up, saying that everyone and their cousin was still coming, but it wasn't ever true. None of the four or five (including Waddle) receivers in question ever committed to the ducks after Taggart left. How is that the new staff's fault? I think the people listening to JHop were the ones who got played. He made some bad guesses, and you all bought it. Nobody else thought all those guys were coming to Oregon, we just hoped a few of them would. We lost a recruiting battle to USC, UCLA, Florida State, and a couple of SEC teams. It happens. Most of those schools lost battles to Oregon this year as well.

The holes in the roster that took several years to create can't be totally fixed in one class. The new staff got three receivers and five defensive backs, including some four stars in each group. I think that's a pretty good haul, all things considered. Next year, I expect the rest of the holes to be filled.

I thought Battle and one of Ezeike or Williams would come to Oregon. And that just made sense to me and had nothing to do with Jhop. If the coaches knew they weren't coming, like you, they should have done something. They had 2 months to fill those spots. I didn't buy Waddle or Harrison sticking for a second. There were other WR interested in Oregon, and we should have tripped them. It's one thing to save some scholarships, but when you plan on taking a class of at least 26, and you end up with 22, you dropped the ball somewhere. I'm not saying these guys are bad recruiters or anything, but they didn't do an amazing job down the stretch. They clearly made mistakes at WR, LB, and DL. The staff has, sort of, admitted as much. You may not like JHop, and that's fine, but not everybody buys everything that comes out from his website. I do learn way more about what the coaches are thinking than anywhere else though. Good class overall, bad finish. Not to many people think otherwise, including Jhop.

[Phalanx]

I thought Battle and one of Ezeike or Williams would come to Oregon. And that just made sense to me and had nothing to do with Jhop. If the coaches knew they weren't coming, like you, they should have done something. They had 2 months to fill those spots. I didn't buy Waddle or Harrison sticking for a second. There were other WR interested in Oregon, and we should have tripped them. It's one thing to save some scholarships, but when you plan on taking a class of at least 26, and you end up with 22, you dropped the ball somewhere. I'm not saying these guys are bad recruiters or anything, but they didn't do an amazing job down the stretch. They clearly made mistakes at WR, LB, and DL. The staff has, sort of, admitted as much. You may not like JHop, and that's fine, but not everybody buys everything that comes out from his website. I do learn way more about what the coaches are thinking than anywhere else though. Good class overall, bad finish. Not to many people think otherwise, including Jhop.

I think the coaches did 'do something' (I am really starting to hate that phrase; it's not your fault). They recruited the heck out of those guys. But they lost, and it happens. You don't get everyone you want. Williams hurts because it was a last-minute decision, but so was Sewell, and we won that one vs. both USC and Alabama. Welcome to recruiting, you win some and you lose some, especially when you want the same guys that USC and Alabama want.

Every single class I have ever watched in the last two decades had something left to be desired afterwards. This was a good class, and under the circumstances, a great one. Way better than Taggart did in the same situation last year. You mentioned three positions...I get DL, although I think the team already had some pretty decent ones, and that is a position where freshmen can come in and do well, and their focus on that position for next year's class has already begun. I think the WR moaning is way overblown...we just got two four-star guys and one sleeper who also looks good, as well as a great TE prospect. I think that's a pretty good haul for one class. The LB thing I don't get at all. You don't like Cunningham, Johnson and Johnson? I think the ducks are pretty well fixed at linebacker anyway, I don't know why anyone would be fretting about that position.

[Groundswell]

I thought Battle and one of Ezeike or Williams would come to Oregon. And that just made sense to me and had nothing to do with Jhop. If the coaches knew they weren't coming, like you, they should have done something. They had 2 months to fill those spots. I didn't buy Waddle or Harrison sticking for a second. There were other WR interested in Oregon, and we should have tripped them. It's one thing to save some scholarships, but when you plan on taking a class of at least 26, and you end up with 22, you dropped the ball somewhere. I'm not saying these guys are bad recruiters or anything, but they didn't do an amazing job down the stretch. They clearly made mistakes at WR, LB, and DL. The staff has, sort of, admitted as much. You may not like JHop, and that's fine, but not everybody buys everything that comes out from his website. I do learn way more about what the coaches are thinking than anywhere else though. Good class overall, bad finish. Not to many people think otherwise, including Jhop.

I think the coaches did 'do something' (I am really starting to hate that phrase; it's not your fault). They recruited the heck out of those guys. But they lost, and it happens. You don't get everyone you want. Williams hurts because it was a last-minute decision, but so was Sewell, and we won that one vs. both USC and Alabama. Welcome to recruiting, you win some and you lose some, especially when you want the same guys that USC and Alabama want.

Every single class I have ever watched in the last two decades had something left to be desired afterwards. This was a good class, and under the circumstances, a great one. Way better than Taggart did in the same situation last year. You mentioned three positions...I get DL, although I think the team already had some pretty decent ones, and that is a position where freshmen can come in and do well, and their focus on that position for next year's class has already begun. I think the WR moaning is way overblown...we just got two four-star guys and one sleeper who also looks good, as well as a great TE prospect. I think that's a pretty good haul for one class. The LB thing I don't get at all. You don't like Cunningham, Johnson and Johnson? I think the ducks are pretty well fixed at linebacker anyway, I don't know why anyone would be fretting about that position.

The WR position is one the coaches themselves have said they dropped the ball on. If you disagree, I guess I see where you're coming from, but I think you're trying to hard there to be a contrarian. At LB, the coaches screwed up because they could have tripped James Miller, could have gotten James Miller, and we all knew Winston was waiting around to jump to USC if he got the offer, and I'm sure the coaches must have known too, because every fan was saying the same thing. The coaches knew they blew it because they were scrambling to try and get Miller after Winston jumped. They could have, and should have, had him. I like Miller more than Winston too, so that's part of why I see that as a mistake. I love the guys we got, but we left a scholarship on the table there. The DL was more of a cycle long problem. The internet does strange things to points of view. It's ok to say we had a nice class while at the same time pointing out that the stretch run wasn't pretty. No, we don't always get what we want. But to not even fill your class is a bad look. I would say the same about any staff.

Having said all that, I don't count this as a "strike against the coaching staff". More just a fan shooting the breeze about the situation, and trying to describe what happened without going "fan boy" or "I have no faith in these coaches".

[Phalanx]

The WR position is one the coaches themselves have said they dropped the ball on. If you disagree, I guess I see where you're coming from, but I think you're trying to hard there to be a contrarian. At LB, the coaches screwed up because they could have tripped James Miller, could have gotten James Miller, and we all knew Winston was waiting around to jump to USC if he got the offer, and I'm sure the coaches must have known too, because every fan was saying the same thing. The coaches knew they blew it because they were scrambling to try and get Miller after Winston jumped. They could have, and should have, had him. I like Miller more than Winston too, so that's part of why I see that as a mistake. I love the guys we got, but we left a scholarship on the table there. The DL was more of a cycle long problem. The internet does strange things to points of view. It's ok to say we had a nice class while at the same time pointing out that the stretch run wasn't pretty. No, we don't always get what we want. But to not even fill your class is a bad look. I would say the same about any staff.

Having said all that, I don't count this as a "strike against the coaching staff". More just a fan shooting the breeze about the situation, and trying to describe what happened without going "fan boy" or "I have no faith in these coaches".

Re:WR - I think I heard the interviews where the coaching staff discussed this, I wouldn't characterized what they said as 'we dropped the ball'. If you have a link, I am happy to watch it with an open mind. I think they wanted more receivers, and were disappointed that a few of those guys didn't come. On the other hand, I think they were happy to get the ones that did come. It just seems like we see this every year, it doesn't mean anyone 'dropped the ball'. They lost; you move on. I view this as a two-year fix, and in that light, three receivers per year seems pretty good. There are now 11 scholarship WR's on the team, along with three TE's and six RB's who can catch passes. It seems like we won't be hurting for bodies, even if they aren't as good as we would like. We'll see who develops.

The same interviews also had Cristobal explaining why they didn't fill the class. What happens if a bunch of great recruits want to come next year, but we don't have room? Again, if you are looking at this as a two-year fix, the way they are doing it makes more sense.

The linebacker thing doesn't matter to me. We got three guys. That's more or less how many we should get every year. There are 14 scholarship guys now on the team at that position I don't see a problem.

Thanks for shooting the breeze with me.

[maxduck]

I like that MC immediately admitted there were things they could do better then implemented procedures to be more effective. He has been a P5 head coach all of two months, there is a learning curve but he seems willing to face reality and change things that aren't working. Much better than Slick claiming no changes necessary when outscored 21-0 in the second half and almost losing the game.

[Duckenstein]

I thought Battle and one of Ezeike or Williams would come to Oregon. And that just made sense to me and had nothing to do with Jhop. If the coaches knew they weren't coming, like you, they should have done something. They had 2 months to fill those spots. I didn't buy Waddle or Harrison sticking for a second. There were other WR interested in Oregon, and we should have tripped them. It's one thing to save some scholarships, but when you plan on taking a class of at least 26, and you end up with 22, you dropped the ball somewhere. I'm not saying these guys are bad recruiters or anything, but they didn't do an amazing job down the stretch. They clearly made mistakes at WR, LB, and DL. The staff has, sort of, admitted as much. You may not like JHop, and that's fine, but not everybody buys everything that comes out from his website. I do learn way more about what the coaches are thinking than anywhere else though. Good class overall, bad finish. Not to many people think otherwise, including Jhop.

I think the coaches did 'do something' (I am really starting to hate that phrase; it's not your fault). They recruited the heck out of those guys. But they lost, and it happens. You don't get everyone you want. Williams hurts because it was a last-minute decision, but so was Sewell, and we won that one vs. both USC and Alabama. Welcome to recruiting, you win some and you lose some, especially when you want the same guys that USC and Alabama want.

Every single class I have ever watched in the last two decades had something left to be desired afterwards. This was a good class, and under the circumstances, a great one. Way better than Taggart did in the same situation last year. You mentioned three positions...I get DL, although I think the team already had some pretty decent ones, and that is a position where freshmen can come in and do well, and their focus on that position for next year's class has already begun. I think the WR moaning is way overblown...we just got two four-star guys and one sleeper who also looks good, as well as a great TE prospect. I think that's a pretty good haul for one class. The LB thing I don't get at all. You don't like Cunningham, Johnson and Johnson? I think the ducks are pretty well fixed at linebacker anyway, I don't know why anyone would be fretting about that position.

The WR position is one the coaches themselves have said they dropped the ball on. If you disagree, I guess I see where you're coming from, but I think you're trying to hard there to be a contrarian. At LB, the coaches screwed up because they could have tripped James Miller, could have gotten James Miller, and we all knew Winston was waiting around to jump to USC if he got the offer, and I'm sure the coaches must have known too, because every fan was saying the same thing. The coaches knew they blew it because they were scrambling to try and get Miller after Winston jumped. They could have, and should have, had him. I like Miller more than Winston too, so that's part of why I see that as a mistake. I love the guys we got, but we left a scholarship on the table there. The DL was more of a cycle long problem. The internet does strange things to points of view. It's ok to say we had a nice class while at the same time pointing out that the stretch run wasn't pretty. No, we don't always get what we want. But to not even fill your class is a bad look. I would say the same about any staff.

Having said all that, I don't count this as a "strike against the coaching staff". More just a fan shooting the breeze about the situation, and trying to describe what happened without going "fan boy" or "I have no faith in these coaches".

James Miller. That's a really bad miss and I'm sure that Cristobal learned a lesson there.

In a way, missing on Williams, Cota, Hufanga and Ezeike isn't quite as bad as missing on the guys that were told there was no room but would have been over joyed to play at Oregon.

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[Phenom]

We could've had Miller but he's not better than any of the LBs we signed and did we really need ANOTHER ILB? I've heard that's where our LB recruits project...

[Groundswell]

The WR position is one the coaches themselves have said they dropped the ball on. If you disagree, I guess I see where you're coming from, but I think you're trying to hard there to be a contrarian. At LB, the coaches screwed up because they could have tripped James Miller, could have gotten James Miller, and we all knew Winston was waiting around to jump to USC if he got the offer, and I'm sure the coaches must have known too, because every fan was saying the same thing. The coaches knew they blew it because they were scrambling to try and get Miller after Winston jumped. They could have, and should have, had him. I like Miller more than Winston too, so that's part of why I see that as a mistake. I love the guys we got, but we left a scholarship on the table there. The DL was more of a cycle long problem. The internet does strange things to points of view. It's ok to say we had a nice class while at the same time pointing out that the stretch run wasn't pretty. No, we don't always get what we want. But to not even fill your class is a bad look. I would say the same about any staff.

Having said all that, I don't count this as a "strike against the coaching staff". More just a fan shooting the breeze about the situation, and trying to describe what happened without going "fan boy" or "I have no faith in these coaches".

Thanks for shooting the breeze with me.

Back at you. Let me add a couple more things for context both for and against both sides of this. I think the over/under on the number of players who will leave the program between now and next signing day is around 7 between medical retirements, transfers, and somebody almost always gets kicked off the team. I think even if we had taken 25+ players we will still end up having north of 23 spots available for next year. I haven't done a detailed look at exactly where we are, but I think those ballparks are close. I'm a little less worried about room next year than most people are. However, there is some scuttle going around that we will sign a couple of non-grad transfers. Pretty good ones too. If that happens, they'll have to sit a year, but could essentially act like redshirts. So on the positive, I do think the staff is going to find some dudes that way.

[Duckenstein]

We could've had Miller but he's not better than any of the LBs we signed and did we really need ANOTHER ILB? I've heard that's where our LB recruits project...

Definitely have a point if that's where the commits are headed. Really need a rush specialist rather than an ILB.

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[Phenom]

We could've had Miller but he's not better than any of the LBs we signed and did we really need ANOTHER ILB? I've heard that's where our LB recruits project...

Definitely have a point if that's where the commits are headed. Really need a rush specialist rather than an ILB.

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Yup. That's the area of need.

[alxtw]

Sheds some light on why harrison chose fsu over oregon.

Harrison de-committed from Oregon in December when Taggart left the program, but Harrison said the coaching change wasn’t the only reason. FSU is known for championships and producing NFL players, both of which Harrison wants to achieve

“The offense Oregon was showing me is stuff that I do now in high school, but there was uncertainty of who would be calling the plays and how it would be called,” Harrison said.

“That was a big deal. At Florida State, they had a plan for me. From start to finish. … I feel like I’ll fit in their system that (Taggart) was showing me. And I feel like they will be able to develop me.”

[Phenom]

Lol poor child...

[Alan]

Just my two cents on the job done on this years sign recruits, wanted or not, lol. Cristobal did a fine job and seems to have developed a plan for the future. As mentioned before he had only two months to complete recruiting after Willie slithered to FSU, it seemed to take too long for,the coaching staff to settle after slick left. Also,for,recruits looking at the Ducks, Oregon has been a complete cluster for,the last couple of years, it's going take some time to fix that. IMO, the days of the Ducks going to,the playoffs and even being a national powerhouse are over....for how long...who knows? The Ducks will be a good "bowl" team, but not an elite team for some years. The Ducks are certainly are rebuilding.

[Duckenstein]

I've long thought Harrison is boom or bust. Wouldn't shock me to see him light up the ACC or to see him transferring out after a year or two

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