Why is it we CAN'T recruit DT's???

[nogerO]

I know, Haloti and Igor...but that was light years ago? Anyone else feel this way? Just seems to me that we see this same thing EVERY year...puzzling...

[woundedknees]

After having Haloti and Igor, I honestly expected the Ducks to do a better job getting decent DTs to commit... Not necessarily of that caliber, but certainly guys with size, and the ability to develop into dominant middle men.

Shows how much I know!

Don't read me wrong... There have been some great, smaller stature guys who played for the Ducks, but the luxury of a shut down DT/nose tackle type hasn't been there.

Thank God for Kenny Rowe, Casey Mathews, and the rest of the guys.

[MacDuck]

I'll give my list, far from complete and maybe a bit simplistic, but I believe somewhat accurate. 10 things below. I don't expect everyone to agree w/ all 10 and that's ok.

1. DT is probably the hardest position for most D1 schools to fill simply because most scholarship worthy PSAs aren't 6'1-6'5 and weigh 260-320 lbs. So Oregon isn't the only school that struggles in this area. Right now, of the 12 schools in our conference, commit lists show a total of 48 defensive linemen as verbal commits, but only 16 of those show as DTs. That's exactly a 2/3rds to 1/3rd split. Cal & WSU have the most DTs at 3 while UCLA, UA, & CU currently show 0. The average DT verbal per team is 1.33.

2. the biggest pool of these kids are in the south (SEC country); Texas; upper midwest; and other large urban areas. State of Oregon has 1 of those (large urban area), but also traditionally doesn't produce a lot of D1 FB players at any position, so the local pool is extremely limited.

. why no shortage of OLs, but short on DTs? This is going to sound like a stereo-type, but a higher % of OLs across most CFB lines are white kids. What do we have more of in Oregon and the west coast?

4. Is there a reason why we don't see a higher % of white kids who end up as DTs? Not sure why, but for some reason big white kids typically end up making better OLs than DLs.

5. What about the Pacific Island type players that so many west coast schools have had on their rosters? We have had success with plenty of them such as Haloti, Patu, Toeania. Problem here is there simply isn't as many of them as a population group and the competition is fierce amongst west coast schools to get them. The biggest advantage actually goes to BYU & Utah as a high % of these kids are Mormon and are attracted to those schools in Utah. These kids often make great DLs, just wish we had more in Oregon.

6. Another factor is the type of player Oregon is trying to attract. Due to the high # of plays and the overall pace that our defense has to play at it's tough for some big boys to play in our system. Azzinaro & Kelly have concluded that a slightly undersized kid may be better suited to perform in our system. This isn't all inclusive as there have been several big kids that we have pursued, but all in all we seem to like a liittle leaner body type and it's also easier to find a 250-270 lb HS kid and bulk him up to play on the inside than the kid who is ready made for DT spot. This area is also coming under more criticism as we have watched large, more athletic DLs have their way with our OL in the last 2 BCS bowl games. As CK has indicated, he'd luv to have a bunch of Nick Fairleys & Cameron Heywards, but so would every other FCS school.

7. We did get behind the 8 ball with our DL recruiting and we're still catching up. Due to poor recruiting under Michael Gray, 3 prominent DT kids never qualified. Myles Wade, Simi Fili, and the JC Justin Thompson were all expected to be studs who could hold down the middle of our defensive line for years. From what I have heard, Gray did a good job in terms of getting them in in terms of signing, but it was also his responsibility to be on top of their academic status. He informed the staff that everything would be alright and he didn't have any contingency plans in place. These kids not ever qualifying to play at Oregon left a big hole in our DT depth & continuity that we're struggling to recover from. Actually, here is a list of DL players, going to back thru our class of 2006, that were signed and either never qualified or have departed. Left the cupboard a lot thinner for Azz & Co to work with. '06: Micah Howeth, Dexter Manley; '07: Dominic Glover, John Laidet, Fili, Wade, Tonio Celotto (huge loss); '08: Thompson; '09: Justin Brown, Keaton Arden, Andrew Iupati, Terrance Montgomery. More casualties on the DL than any other position group over the last 5 classes.

8. Azzinaro is not Tosh Lupoi. Jerry has certainly had some success landing a few very good players in his short time here, but let's face it, he's not the type of coach that's going to come across as a high energy, young, fun type of guy that lots of kids are going to gravitate to. Now recruiting defensive linemen isn't all on Jerry, but he is a big part of the equation. IMO he's a better "coach" than "recruiter". He's also had a little bad luck. Dominique Easley was all set to be a Duck until he was swayed to UF at the last minute. I think everyone would be feeling a lot better about DT depth is he was entering his SO year as a Duck.

9. The ongoing high % of these type of players that have academic difficulties. Once again the stereo-type comes in, but I believe it's accurate. The biggest pool of ready made DTs comes from African American families. Unfortunately, this is also a group that has a very high % of poverty and single parent households. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that when you combine poverty & 1 parent households together it's not a conducive atmosphere for academic excellence. We've experienced this first hand. It simply lowers the number of prospective kids even more that could end up here. I also believe, though I can't prove it, that in the SEC, where CFB is king and a huge amt of competition exists to sign these kids, that there are ways for a lot of these kids w/suspect academics to somehow find themselves eligible. I really feel this happens a lot less out west and in other parts of the country as well (hint, hint).

10. Perception & negative recruiting. I really believe that other schools, esp those in our conference, know that if Oregon can start to bring in more of the bigger more athletic interior players, like USC primarily has, that we'll almost be impossible to stop given how well we're already doing w/o a lot of these type of kids. Coaches on other teams are working overtime to try and point out things like our academics; the rainy weather; not as many NFL players; and even the "you'll be on the field longer" type arguments due to the type of fast strike offense we run, etc. Good recruiters, though we wouldn't always agree with their tactics, likely are pulling out all the stops and are winning some of these battles. Kelly & Co. don't operate that way as we're more choosy than ever as CK wants a particular type of player at Oregon. We fans of recruiting want results NOW, but the staff doesn't always see it that way.

[briarduck]

^Dude that kicked ass, great writeup!

All that equate to, it not easy recruiting to Oregon but the coaches are doing everything in their power to do so...

Thanks again MacDuck...now we need to forward this to everyone that bitches and point out that as difficult a job we have, we finished undefeated in the PAC10 and 2 time PAC10 Champs and 12-1 and 3ird in the nation! (And please we would beat TCU!)

Holy crap we had a great year! Lets see what happens Feb 2nd LOI Day!

[woundedknees]

Amazing what truths we see when one stops worrying about being PC, isn't it?

Thanks MacDuck!

[Duck07]

I'll add that most DTs don't really see the field early either. Also, I don't think negative recruiting helps any program, you might get a kid to your program because of it, but its a bad slope to go down because of what you are now reinforcing to that kid.

Ultimately though, I think all this melodrama over DT is a little over-hyped, especially when the most glaring weakness on this team is NOT DT, but OL.

[woundedknees]

i wonder how probation or coaching carousel effect the current status of currently commited players such as Klein Oaks (Texas) Jon Lewis (Currently committed to Texas Tech, CK is scheduled to visit in-home on Tuesday), or the 2 DTs on Stanford's list, Anthony Hayes, and Lance Callahan (Both in the 6'3/290+ range)

[Supreme]

I'll add that most DTs don't really see the field early either. Also, I don't think negative recruiting helps any program, you might get a kid to your program because of it, but its a bad slope to go down because of what you are now reinforcing to that kid.

Ultimately though, I think all this melodrama over DT is a little over-hyped, especially when the most glaring weakness on this team is NOT DT, but OL.

Everyone negative recruits, and in my opinion, it's an effective tactic.

[buckmarkduck]

Something else that Mac left out, but Oregon's biggest population of minorities also is it's poorest school district and they don't have the funding for football like other school districts down south. If I where a betting man, I would bet the PIL could produce 6-12 D1 players every year if they had the support from the city from a young age like Texas gives it's athletes from a very young age. There is a some great athletes who just never get a chance to show it. Or they do show it, but the support in the classroom isn't there and they never are encouraged to be successful in school.

Portland metro is the 19th biggest city in the US, yet it only produces 2-4 D1 players a year. That's something that has to change.

[fecta23]

So are we just going to the ignor Ebert and Ricky H?

[buckmarkduck]

Yes fecta, facts have no place here.

[ducksrock]

Something else that Mac left out, but Oregon's biggest population of minorities also is it's poorest school district and they don't have the funding for football like other school districts down south. If I where a betting man, I would bet the PIL could produce 6-12 D1 players every year if they had the support from the city from a young age like Texas gives it's athletes from a very young age. There is a some great athletes who just never get a chance to show it. Or they do show it, but the support in the classroom isn't there and they never are encouraged to be successful in school.

Portland metro is the 19th biggest city in the US, yet it only produces 2-4 D1 players a year. That's something that has to change.

Portland proper is ranked 30th in population http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763098.html

And we put out what we put out...Apparently not the recruiting hotbed that the Southern/warmer climates produce....

[duckfan96]

Thought RH was a good dt recruit...that plays for Oregon. A 4 star? The JC guy...supposed to be pretty good. But yeah Oregon never gets em.

[buckmarkduck]

Yes 4* also played in the army all American game. Pretty big time recruit, arguably are #1 recruit last year.

Drock that's why I said metro, I guess we have fallen now 23.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_U ... ical_Areas

[Supreme]

Something else that Mac left out, but Oregon's biggest population of minorities also is it's poorest school district and they don't have the funding for football like other school districts down south. If I where a betting man, I would bet the PIL could produce 6-12 D1 players every year if they had the support from the city from a young age like Texas gives it's athletes from a very young age. There is a some great athletes who just never get a chance to show it. Or they do show it, but the support in the classroom isn't there and they never are encouraged to be successful in school.

Portland metro is the 19th biggest city in the US, yet it only produces 2-4 D1 players a year. That's something that has to change.

I wouldn't hold my breath. Unless there's a major influx of African Americans to the Portland metro, things will remain as they are.