Ducks Attack Message Board Forum

Curious what you guys think as I'm sure you have your fingers more on the pulse then I do.

I'm a casual reader of this site and this is the only site I read for recruiting info. Of course I check the scout commit list and team rankings form time to time as well.

Is it just me or do we seem to have a mediocre recruiting season going on so far? Seems like many other Pac-10 programs are doing better and of course many other national programs. Kind of odd when we just came off a BCS title game, Rose Bowl before that and have won 3 straight league championships and 3 straight BCS games.

I'm no expert but my take is that this is a really really solid class. There's no topper like DAT or Jstew or Ngata that we'd all love to have but top to bottom its seriously quality. There's no "fillers", every guy was a great get IMO. It's not as good as last years but it's still right up there. What would have last years class been like without DAT? Any better than this years? It seems like we'll finish with at least Pharaoh Brown & Deforest Buckner, both elite talents as well.

We're still Oregon, our classes will never compare to the traditional powers'. If we start winning some of these BCS bowls instead of just playing in them I think we'll see things start to change. But this years class is still legit. Another thing to consider is this years team was extremely young do the depth chart wasn't exactly appealing to recruits. It's hard to have an insane class when you aren't really losing anybody.

I would guess we finish 4th in the Pac12 behind Usc, Cal and Stanford. Its looking like we're going to miss out on all the top offensive and defensive linemen which sucks though. I think we finish with around ten 4 stars and it should be a top 20-25 class as long as sanctions don't crush us before signing day. It's a solid class with some good players but nobody really stands out thus far as an absolute stud that will demand playing time from day one. A few years ago this class is amazing but after last year it will be hard to beat, and the competition is getting better and spending more money.

Yeah, I also don't really follow the recruiting much. And I also recently took a look and it appears that this class will be somewhat disappointing given the success of the program.

It appears we will miss out on OL. Completely. They are now offering new guys, so it seems like all the guys on the board said no thanks.

It appears that we will miss out on all the "Name Brand" targets at DL. We will bring in quite a few bodies at DL, but mostly we are getting the players that other Pac12 teams didn't want. Projects and sleepers. That's great and all, but we need help at DE immediately. We need guys that can compete next year.

Marshall at RB looks solid, but he doesn't seem all that fast to me. We're missing playmakers on offense, that's for sure. No DJ Foster. We need at least one standout, exciting offensive weapon in each class IMO, and we don't have that yet this year.

We didn't really get anybody at LB or the Secondary. For sure some of these guys are players and will end up starting: legit guys but nobody that stands out.

I am NOT being negative about this, and the sky isn't falling. This class is filled with talented young men that are going to be successful football players. But it's hard not to be disappointed when there aren't really any standout players on the list, and it doesn't appear we are in the running for any standouts either. Meanwhile Cal is going to clean up and take every single 4 and 5 star on the west coast.

I still think it is too early to tell. We usually close so strong. Hopefully there are still some surprises out there.

vagusnerve wrote:Yeah, I also don't really follow the recruiting much. And I also recently took a look and it appears that this class will be somewhat disappointing given the success of the program.

It appears we will miss out on OL. Completely. They are now offering new guys, so it seems like all the guys on the board said no thanks.

It appears that we will miss out on all the "Name Brand" targets at DL. We will bring in quite a few bodies at DL, but mostly we are getting the players that other Pac12 teams didn't want. Projects and sleepers. That's great and all, but we need help at DE immediately. We need guys that can compete next year.

Marshall at RB looks solid, but he doesn't seem all that fast to me. We're missing playmakers on offense, that's for sure. No DJ Foster. We need at least one standout, exciting offensive weapon in each class IMO, and we don't have that yet this year.

We didn't really get anybody at LB or the Secondary. For sure some of these guys are players and will end up starting: legit guys but nobody that stands out.

I am NOT being negative about this, and the sky isn't falling. This class is filled with talented young men that are going to be successful football players. But it's hard not to be disappointed when there aren't really any standout players on the list, and it doesn't appear we are in the running for any standouts either. Meanwhile Cal is going to clean up and take every single 4 and 5 star on the west coast.

I think that it is a pretty solid class and I am hopeful that we will finish strong. Still it is difficult to not be a little disappointed with the OL recruiting, when there we so many good ones available and we keep ending up in BCS games.

AugustDuck wrote:

vagusnerve wrote:Yeah, I also don't really follow the recruiting much. And I also recently took a look and it appears that this class will be somewhat disappointing given the success of the program.

It appears we will miss out on OL. Completely. They are now offering new guys, so it seems like all the guys on the board said no thanks.

It appears that we will miss out on all the "Name Brand" targets at DL. We will bring in quite a few bodies at DL, but mostly we are getting the players that other Pac12 teams didn't want. Projects and sleepers. That's great and all, but we need help at DE immediately. We need guys that can compete next year.

Marshall at RB looks solid, but he doesn't seem all that fast to me. We're missing playmakers on offense, that's for sure. No DJ Foster. We need at least one standout, exciting offensive weapon in each class IMO, and we don't have that yet this year.

We didn't really get anybody at LB or the Secondary. For sure some of these guys are players and will end up starting: legit guys but nobody that stands out.

I am NOT being negative about this, and the sky isn't falling. This class is filled with talented young men that are going to be successful football players. But it's hard not to be disappointed when there aren't really any standout players on the list, and it doesn't appear we are in the running for any standouts either. Meanwhile Cal is going to clean up and take every single 4 and 5 star on the west coast.

I think that it is a pretty solid class and I am hopeful that we will finish strong. Still it is difficult to not be a little disappointed with the OL recruiting, when there we so many good ones available and we keep ending up in BCS games.

Yes, it's a solid class. We've got talented players across the board, including some guys with the potential to be really, really good.

However, getting guys like Armstead and/or McCarthy would have really amped up the recruiting. Our future remains bright, but we need stars at DB, DL and OL to become elite.

Hopefully we do finish strong with some surprises. I don't doubt that we will pick up a couple of good players at the end.

But we really need a good OL or two, a DE that can get in to the rotation next year and a playmaker on offense to complete this class.

vagusnerve wrote:Marshall at RB looks solid, but he doesn't seem all that fast to me.

Huh? I have no idea where you came up with that, but a lack of speed is not on the list of concerns when it comes to Marshall.

gogreen55 wrote:

vagusnerve wrote:Marshall at RB looks solid, but he doesn't seem all that fast to me.

Huh? I have no idea where you came up with that, but a lack of speed is not on the list of concerns when it comes to Marshall.

Just watching his highlights is how i came up with it.

KB, DAT and LMJ all have this amazing burst and elite level speed. Marshall's got good speed and great moves, and a lot of power. But he doesn't seem to have that burst or elite speed. I'm not down on him at all. He looks like a great back, just not in the same league as the guys we have now.

vagusnerve wrote:Yeah, I also don't really follow the recruiting much. And I also recently took a look and it appears that this class will be somewhat disappointing given the success of the program.

It appears we will miss out on OL. Completely. They are now offering new guys, so it seems like all the guys on the board said no thanks.

It appears that we will miss out on all the "Name Brand" targets at DL. We will bring in quite a few bodies at DL, but mostly we are getting the players that other Pac12 teams didn't want. Projects and sleepers. That's great and all, but we need help at DE immediately. We need guys that can compete next year.

Marshall at RB looks solid, but he doesn't seem all that fast to me. We're missing playmakers on offense, that's for sure. No DJ Foster. We need at least one standout, exciting offensive weapon in each class IMO, and we don't have that yet this year.

We didn't really get anybody at LB or the Secondary. For sure some of these guys are players and will end up starting: legit guys but nobody that stands out.

I am NOT being negative about this, and the sky isn't falling. This class is filled with talented young men that are going to be successful football players. But it's hard not to be disappointed when there aren't really any standout players on the list, and it doesn't appear we are in the running for any standouts either. Meanwhile Cal is going to clean up and take every single 4 and 5 star on the west coast.

Mostly agree with this post. Even 5 years ago this class for us would've been stellar. However, I was looking at recruiting classes for the last 10 teams that competed in the BCS championship game and ours to this point has much less star power.

vagusnerve wrote:

gogreen55 wrote:

vagusnerve wrote:Marshall at RB looks solid, but he doesn't seem all that fast to me.

Huh? I have no idea where you came up with that, but a lack of speed is not on the list of concerns when it comes to Marshall.

Just watching his highlights is how i came up with it.

KB, DAT and LMJ all have this amazing burst and elite level speed. Marshall's got good speed and great moves, and a lot of power. But he doesn't seem to have that burst or elite speed. I'm not down on him at all. He looks like a great back, just not in the same league as the guys we have now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQIPSkad ... re=related

Couldn't be more wrong. Just watch the guy pull away in the film. Notice how he is making cuts at full speed, while others just seem to be standing there? Byron is going to be just like LaMike 2.0. Well, LMJ deserves more credit, he was amazing. I just don't see a huge drop off with byron in there though. I think he will be a very good replacement.

http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/A ... AID=950734

vagusnerve wrote:

gogreen55 wrote:

vagusnerve wrote:Marshall at RB looks solid, but he doesn't seem all that fast to me.

Huh? I have no idea where you came up with that, but a lack of speed is not on the list of concerns when it comes to Marshall.

Just watching his highlights is how i came up with it.

KB, DAT and LMJ all have this amazing burst and elite level speed. Marshall's got good speed and great moves, and a lot of power. But he doesn't seem to have that burst or elite speed. I'm not down on him at all. He looks like a great back, just not in the same league as the guys we have now.

After 3 years in college LaMichael recorded a 100 meter best of 10.62 running on one of the best tracks in the world. As a high school junior Byron Marshall clocked a 10.67 and ran 10.73 in the state meet prelims, where DAT had a 10.57 but don't know if the same heat.

vagusnerve wrote:Just watching his highlights is how i came up with it.

Uhhh, ok? Not sure which highlights you watched, but like the previous poster provided, here is some help...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQIPSkadfo4

Seriously, I don't think there is a scout in college football that would agree with your assessment. Marshall is the fastest running back recruit on the West Coast this year. It is apparent he is extremely fast from his tapes, but if there is any question, he has track times to back it up as well. He was the fastest sophomore in the entire state of California, and also ranked #1 in the state in the long jump. He then gave up track and concentrated on football. As a sophomore in high school, he ran an electronically timed 100m dash (10.67) that was faster than Kenjon Barner has ever ran in college. As far as I know, DAT's personal best in the 100m dash is 10.57 seconds. I doubt DAT's sophomore times were on Marshall's level. Speed, quickness and explosive athletic ability are not things that are in question when it comes to Marshall. As with LMJ and DAT, the only knock on him coming out of high school is size and durability.

Cant wait to see this kid run the ball. But first he has Kenyon, DAT, Trey in front of him. Were in good shape. I see us maybe going after one more for depth. If he comes in and gets immediate carries then he will have earned them. He has all the tools to be a great back here. But we have several
backs that fit that mold right now. A really nice place to be i would say.

Hey guys, as I said, I'm not down on BM at all. I think he's got a bright future in front of him at the O.

I just don't see that burst that LMJ, KB and DAT have on film. And yes, those guys had that burst in their HS tapes. That burst is what makes players so effective in our offense IMO. Huff is fast too, but he doesn't have the burst either.

Getting back to the theme of the post, I would really like to see CK & Co. land a big playmaker at WR. Stanford looks like a great replacement for the LT position (and we need that big time). But it would be great to add another playmaker on offense. Foster would've been a huge get IMO.

How do things turn out with Pharoah Brown and the Buckner guy? Those are two MAJOR NEEDS at TE and DE and if we can land those two it means we've filled some needs. I think a talented DT and OL are also major needs at this point.