No bad feelings this year

[UOducksTK1]

Let's not lie, losing Bryce Brown, Tajh Boyd, Terrelle Pryor, Tommy Streeter, Aarony Boyd, Curtis McNeal, and lots of other in the last few years, made a lot of us angry and frustrated even weeks and months after their decisions.

But this year feels different. Losing Owa and the NC 3 definitely was rough, but I'm already over it. After the Pryor and Brown fiascoes, it honestly bothered me for quite a while. However this class is so loaded right now, that I don't even care about any other players or schools in the country. I'm very satisfied with this class, more than any other class ever.

Go ducks!

[pudgejeff]

I think it has a lot to do with the fact we already knew we weren't getting them...except McCain which we kinda new...With Boyd and Brown we though we had them up til the point the put the other hat on

[pdxduck]

I'm still a little bitter about how the Easley thing happened. But I'll get over it.

[karlhungis]

I'm still a little bitter about how the Easley thing happened. But I'll get over it.

Same here. That was about as close to the Brown / Boyd situation as we got this year.

[pezsez1]

Just based on films, I think the offensive player I'm most excited about is Josh Huff... he looks like the ideal fit for CK's Tazer position! A guy who can run, throw and catch? Merry Christmas, Chip!

I'm also stoked about Seastrunk. What I find most exciting about him isn't his speed, but his ability to catch long passes in the open field!

Can't wait to see these newest Ducks start shredding opposing defenses.

[gofightingducks]

I am excited about the possibility of bringing a NC to the Ducks track and field team now that we have a handful of really fast sprinters to balance the team. LMJ, Barner, Lache, Huff, even Bennett ran track in HS. Hopefully they all want to run track!!

[GoDucksIn09]

The thing with Easley did bother me but probably more so was the drama with King and McCain. They played the ducks for suckers. I know they are kids but that is not cool when are being recruited I do not care who you are or who the team is. As far as Owa.. it sucks to have a guy so highly rated in our state which does not happen much.. and have him go elsewhere. So often distance is a factor and when we have a top notch recruit in our own state we lose him and distance is not a factor. Everybody keeps saying well next year.. maybe next year.. and it never comes to fruition. We do not have problems recruiting offenseive players.. but we still have a long ways to go with defense.

I saw an interview with Tommy Tuberville who is taking over at Texas Tech.. a team who is known for their offense and was interested in what he said. It was something like this. Everybody knows I am a defensive minded coach and in the SEC you have to play great defense. I believe to compete for national championships must have a great offense.. and have a defense that is just as good.

Is it any wonder why we are not there yet?

[dthomas=ddixon]

I was thinking last night & really I've never been this stocked ona recruiting class ever. Maybe its because there's so many skill position players that are easy to get excited about.

[freedjr]

No bad feelings for me either. I'm a little annoyed how McCain played us, but that's life. And he is just a kid, and I did and said some pretty dumb things at that age.

I can't wait to see what happens with our running backs. The funny thing is with LGB gone most of last season, I forgot how nice it is to have a power back (until OSeew) and can't wait to see Williams running over tired defenses who have been chasing Lamike/Seastrunk all game!

[glazeduck]

Easley: As I've said time and again, this was a kick to the nuts. Given our needs, and his abilities, it was almost like a virgin being offered Jessica Alba (pre-childbirth) as his "first" and then having that taken away right before the pants drop. Easley will be a star, just not for us. I wish him the best though, he seems like a great kid and I'm happy that we'll only have to face him in the next 4 NCs! As somebody said in another thread, its also hard to blame the kid for going to Florida. They have just about everything we do plus alot more.

Owa: Can't hold this one against him. While he kept his recruitment open, he never commit-teased, and apparently it was something on our end that caused him to drop us. That, combined with the (in my opinion) more-than-understandable decision to choose warmer weather, a beautiful campus, more prestigious degree, in a MUCH bigger tv market, can't blame him. It's frustrating to lose such a great local talent, especially given Portland's "little brother" persona on the west coast, but to me, losing Owa is disappointing, not angering.

NC3: My take on these kids might sound like the quintessential "we never wanted these guys anyway" comment, but the REALITY of them, is that only Allen will make ANY impact in the next 2 years. It's sounding like King will need more surgery and will certainly need extended rehab, so he'll no doubt redshirt, and when he comes back, like Chip said yesterday, it'll have been more than 2 years since he played football. Tough to imagine him being able to contribute as a RS Frosh. While McCain has an impressively athletic frame he's got a good 40 lbs of muscle to put on before he'll be able to hold up in the Pac. That doesn't come on overnight, especially w/ a guy as skinny as he is. It's going to take a TON of work on his end to gain and maintain that weight, and I wouldn't be shocked if he never gets there. At 6'6 he doesn't have the fluidity and athleticism to be a coverage lb, and as a rush lb he'll be easy to gain leverage on. While it would have been nice to have these guys for their stars (2 more 4* players and a 5* would've probably lofted us close to the top 5 IMO), it's hard to imagine more than Allen being a contributor in the next 3 years - a period, in my mind that's easily replaceable with more ready high school kids or JUCO guys.

[greenyellow]

I'm over it already. We have our class so there's nothing we can do about it. It's on to spring ball and next year's recruits.

[freedjr]

Easley: As I've said time and again, this was a kick to the nuts. Given our needs, and his abilities, it was almost like a virgin being offered Jessica Alba (pre-childbirth) as his "first" and then having that taken away right before the pants drop.

Jessica Alba post childbirth taken away at the last minute would be a kick to the nuts as well. Virgin or not.

[glazeduck]

Easley: As I've said time and again, this was a kick to the nuts. Given our needs, and his abilities, it was almost like a virgin being offered Jessica Alba (pre-childbirth) as his "first" and then having that taken away right before the pants drop.

Jessica Alba post childbirth taken away at the last minute would be a kick to the nuts as well. Virgin or not.

Good point. I'd take either with a gigantic $h*t-eating grin on my face!

[TualatinDuck]

^^ what he said!

[bigfootlebowski]

Let's not lie, losing Bryce Brown, Tajh Boyd, Terrelle Pryor, Tommy Streeter, Aarony Boyd, Curtis McNeal, and lots of other in the last few years, made a lot of us angry and frustrated even weeks and months after their decisions.

But this year feels different. Losing Owa and the NC 3 definitely was rough, but I'm already over it. After the Pryor and Brown fiascoes, it honestly bothered me for quite a while. However this class is so loaded right now, that I don't even care about any other players or schools in the country. I'm very satisfied with this class, more than any other class ever.

Go ducks!

we all talk about how defense wins championships and it does, but obviously it comes down to who scores more points...if we can play at a similar level defensively as last year...we have poentially a far more explosive offense next year...with the redshirt recievers and help at rb and tzr so maybe we can largely make up for the defensive deficiencies...