Nations Top JUCO LB STILL visiting the Ducks

[Groundswell]

A middle of the pac D with a spectacular O could lead to a lot of wins

I hear you, but the direct statistical comparison to that is Washington State. If we want to be Washington State good, then ok. But then we're comparing ourselves to Washington State.

BTW, our scoring offense last year was middle of the PAC. However, at least on offense we can make a convincing case being in the top 2-3 next year and right near the top.

[duckfan22]

Willie has stated he wants a championship...first we have to have a top ten defense and the
same on Offense because your going to have to score on a top ten defense. Its clear watching the
recent natty and the past few years that we have had talent to go get there but we were not the
biggest, strongest. Just need the atheletes a notch above where weve been.. team needs to be
deep also.. Every year the Alabamas, clemsons ohio states lose a ton of players to the nfl and
they reload with just as good players.

[Sir-1]

Hotchkins was horrible last year.. The guy was a big disappointment.

Walker was just as bad, and probably worse, in his first year as Hotchkins was last year. Walker really took major strides in his second year, hopefully Hotchkins can do the same. Hotchkins also has the benefit of having Leavitt as his position coach. But he has to overcome learning a new system rather than just progressing in the same system as Walker did.

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[LikeLamike]

Springs looked like an NFL prospect early in the year. Then he fell off big-time.

Because he stopped giving a s***.. we have talent.. lack of motivation in the gym and on the field are the reason we lag so far behind everyone else. No reason we can't be a middle of the road defense

[Groundswell]

Springs looked like an NFL prospect early in the year. Then he fell off big-time.

Because he stopped giving a s***.. we have talent.. lack of motivation in the gym and on the field are the reason we lag so far behind everyone else. No reason we can't be a middle of the road defense

But if we're saying that great coaching and great motivation and great training is going to get us to the 65th ranked defense in the country as best case scenario then we really don't have any talent.

[Phenom]

Springs looked like an NFL prospect early in the year. Then he fell off big-time.

Because he stopped giving a s***.. we have talent.. lack of motivation in the gym and on the field are the reason we lag so far behind everyone else. No reason we can't be a middle of the road defense

But if we're saying that great coaching and great motivation and great training is going to get us to the 65th ranked defense in the country as best case scenario then we really don't have any talent.

What are you expecting in the first year?

I don't know about "great" talent but I think we're decently talented on defense.

[TheHypeIsReal]

Think about it like this...

The playoff teams this year the lowest ranked defense was Washington at 16. They were good against Alabama. PAC top teams were Colorado at 24 and USC at 27. In order for us to have a shot at the PAC championship and to be competitive in the playoff we need to get well inside the top 30. Even with these coaches, this roster can't get there in the next two years. We improve 20 spots next year, we'll still be the 106th ranked defense. We improve 40 spots 86th. We need to improve 100 spots to get to 26th, and that's still probably not good enough to win a playoff.

The game is very different even to just a few years ago when our crazy offense could contend with a defense in the 30's. We won't be legit until we replace a ton of players with better talent.

I know some of you are simply saying we can be a lot better under these new coaches. No argument. But we're miles away. Talent is the major obstacle.

I am calling my shot. We will have a middle of the pack defense next year.

That would be around 65. Not out of the question. I'm thinking more like 80 as a measure of success. But maybe our old coaches were just so bad that over 2 years we were awful even with good players. Hard to quantify how many spots coaches can improve a team.

There isn't a huge statistical difference between 65 and 80 so I would consider that a success as well. I think a lot of people got burned with their optimism for improvement last year so expectations are lower than they should be.

[duxforlyfe]

A middle of the pac D with a spectacular O could lead to a lot of wins

I hear you, but the direct statistical comparison to that is Washington State. If we want to be Washington State good, then ok. But then we're comparing ourselves to Washington State.

BTW, our scoring offense last year was middle of the PAC. However, at least on offense we can make a convincing case being in the top 2-3 next year and right near the top.

WSU was a better team than us last year. Did we want to be like WSU was last year for the next five years? Hell no, but for 2017 it would be an improvement. I think that's what brich75 meant. In 2018 I'd like to see us competing for a PAC title.


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[Groundswell]

Springs looked like an NFL prospect early in the year. Then he fell off big-time.

Because he stopped giving a s***.. we have talent.. lack of motivation in the gym and on the field are the reason we lag so far behind everyone else. No reason we can't be a middle of the road defense

But if we're saying that great coaching and great motivation and great training is going to get us to the 65th ranked defense in the country as best case scenario then we really don't have any talent.

What are you expecting in the first year?

I don't know about "great" talent but I think we're decently talented on defense.

I have to think if everything goes right we could potentially climb up to 65. I think that's best case scenario. Probably not likely. Now, I could be underestimating how good our 2015 & 2016 defensive recruits are because we don't have much film on them. But they still need a season of work yet.

Seriously, go look at our defensive commits back to 2013. Most are gone, moved positions, medically retired, or have been marginal players. It's kind of shocking. Put a list together of the guys you think are "decently talented". It's a short list. And decent is the key term for those guys too. To me "decent talent" is a solid rotation guy. Next, try to put a list of "stars" together. Tell me how far past Dye you get. Again, I don't want to come off as dissing players. I'm more concerned about fan expectations. Now, I think we're heading in the right direction. We got some good players coming in 2017. Our younger players from 2015/16 will have better coaching. But I think we have a bunch of youth and a few decently talented players and one star on defense. Not a lot to work with.

A defense rated 65-80 would certainly be an improvement and would have to be considered a success for the coaches. It wouldn't be a talented defense.

[travelingd]

I think the 65 to 80 range is reachable.... it's not like we have all scrubs either, a lot of guys have just not reached their potential or possibly been pushed to their potential.... Plus there are a lot of players way better suited for the 3-4 already... My biggest worry on the d for next year is the Safety position... I think we have enough to have a very solid DLine with Jelks, Mondeaux, Carlberg, Manu, Baker, Cumberlander and George none of them are stars on there own but in a solid rotation and with Big Joe pushing them that they will surprise a few and be better than expected... LB again the last couple of years have been tough but with Dye, Swain, Hollins, Young, Moi, Hotchkins, and then we'll see with Winston, Briscoe, and Simms but we do have some good looking young guys that the 3-4 is better suited to...