Autzen Audibles

Seriously?

I think the coaches have proven themselves as far a recruiting talent. This sky is falling, we're losing all the 5 stars happens every year, and frankly is just a tired, recycled argument. Do we need to list recent 2 star recruits every time this brought up?

Oregon is a different animal entirely and they are looking for guys that fit, not guys that scouting services give a bunch of stars to.

At least 40% of those 4/5 star guys will be busts each year based on the past, yet 40% of our recruits aren't busts the last few years. There is a reason we don't have nearly as many busts that we have had in the past, or as many as most teams have, just offering the top 100 guys on a recruiting service list. That is because the coaches know exactly what they are doing. And they do it quite well. I can be a frustrating ride, but going to BCS bowls three years in a row doesn't happen to Oregon without coaches knowing how to recruit and get top-tier talent to Eugene.

Actually I think we are in better shape than we usually are that is point, so patience young grasshopper...patience. As always, this is a marathon not a sprint.

I have to agree with Caravaggio's concerns here to a degree. Because conversely, the argument that Chip recruits for the 'system' and does not pay attention to stars is just as tired and recycled as squawking about losing 5 stars. IMO. Though it's a bang-your-head against the wall exercise using say, Alabama or SC or TX as a way of comparison, there is just no way Chip would take a JC or Johnny No Name 2 star over almost anyone these teams have already signed - unless you're talking about a five step drop proto NFL QB or a WR who doesn't like to lay wood on a fly sweep.

If you think 40% of the 5 stars will be bust-o-rama, I submit that only 10% of the 2 stars will be great players. And you're right, I think the coaches know how to recruit, as they have proved it. They have proved it by going to three straight BCS bowls - but those also happen to coincide with the best three years of recruiting classes (star-wise) that Oregon has ever inked, and there is no way they get there without those 4 and 5 stars. Those guys are almost universally the Ducks best players.

That said, I will fully reserve judgement til signing day - but seeing virtually every tier 1 team lock up the bulk of their class early now, and knowing that only last year there were players that had interest, that the Ducks wanted, but that eventually signed elsewhere because they didn't get an offer soon enough, and this snowball effect you see with teams like SC (committed players doing the yeoman's share of the recruiting, and doing it well) - and yeah, I'm a little worried.

What's up wit you Michelangelo? You are dead on right = sorta where I am at this point in recruiting with Lb position. Some have suggested a techtonic shift has occured as far as getting on kids much, much earlier. Going hard after soph's is now the new normal??? Too early to tell - but certainly shocking approach especially when Juxtaposed with present Duck philosophy. P.S. I love Chip and what he has accomplished since arriving, so this in no way an anti-Chip Rant! To my way of thinking - offering a JC guy in July signal's waving a white flag (unless Fairely, Newton, Long type prospect).

You're making the typical knee jerk excuses without actually addressing anything I said. There is something going on this year, and if you're too much of a blind homer to see it, then I pity you. Whether it be bad luck, NCAA issues, USC, a low talent year, Oregon took months and months to evaluate(and not offer) a large group of blue chip talent, and is now offering unrated players and looking through the JC ranks. Why? That doesn't raise any questions to you? Your blind faith is welcome when you're in the stands at Autzen, but sometimes questions need to be asked about the program. I've been following recruiting for over a decade, so don't condescend to me that I'm not being patient. I'm raising a valid point that you are refusing to ignore because you're so insecure that you can't even comprehend something might not be perfectly Ducky.

I don't think it neccessary to be complacent in our recruiting abilities, but it is far too early to be panicked or start questioning our methods, which have proven successful. You point out that our success has coincided with our three best recruiting classes ever, but most of those players have had minimal impact on our team as of yet (yes there is DAT, Clay, Colt, Fisher, Mitchell, etc.). The class that has truly fueled our success was not as heralded as our last three and that was the class of 2008 (the first class Chip was really here to recruit). The 2008 class included LaMike, DT, Josh Kaddu (2*), LGB, Dion Jordan, Boyett (3*), Barner (3*), Masoli (2*) Kiko (3*), Nick Cody, Chris Harper (our highest rated recruit and least impactful player). The truth of the matter is that a recruiting class can't truly be judged until they get a chance to hit the field. Espn reranked the 2008 classes last year, and ours ranked second in the nation (from a 2008 ranking of 24). I don't imagine that anyone on this Board would have predicted that the 2008 class would be as epic as it has been, but I also bet the coaches thought they had something special back then. Low and behold, they did! I think the coaches do a supreme job of determining talent and potential, and while we might not understand why they would offer Chris Seisay before Priest Willis, I'm pretty sure they have a good reasoning behind it. The coaches are not lazy, nor do they lack the confidence that they can recruit any kid they want. It could be argued that offering and pursuing every 5* is lazy (also ineffective). Just because some of you don't understand our coaches process, doesn't mean the process is broken. I gauruntee that USC recruited a higher ranked class in 2008, than Oregon, but in retrospect, I wouldn't trade ours for any other class in the country.

Maybe they called Willis a few times and he pretty much told them he wasn't interested, had no plans to visit, etc, etc. Great, move on. Don't extend an offer just to be on his list. But doesn't it raise questions in your mind when there are 4 and 5 star players tweeting about how much swag Oregon has, and we don't offer? There was a guy last year, Shittu? who straight up said on twitter that he'd come here if we offered. Now maybe(probably) he was blowing smoke and the coaches didn't trust him or like what they heard about his personality or whatever, but he's not the first in what is now a long line of highly rated players who show public love for Oregon, who never get offered. And of course we have all the built in excuses used by people who never want to perform any self analysis. He has bad grades (except his finalists were CAL and Stanford). He is a bad guy. (Except he was the president of the key club and volunteered at the humane society every week. This is also a ridiculous insult to all the other programs who offered him.)

It's great that the coaches do things their own way and potentially aren't influenced by outside evaluations as much, but again, broken record here, it raises VALID questions that should not just be dismissed, as to why blue chip guys who can almost literally pick where they want to go, don't get interest from Oregon while the Ducks are now evaluating NEW players.

Instead of just flaming me, maybe people could actually think about it. In fact, while writing these posts I've come up with a couple more ideas.

Maybe the coaching staff is "gun shy" about using recruiting services. Maybe they are already performing a self sanction that they hope will be accepted by the NCAA(no recruiting service use for xxx)?

Maybe they feel like they got burned by chasing 5 star guys to the very end the last 2 years and are having a (over)reaction and not spending time on guys who are less likely to come here for whatever reason.

And another broken record here, but for everyone cherry picking recruiting stats, the FACT of the matter is that ratings matter in a HUGE way. They are a fantastic predictor of future success, and they ARE an accurate evaluation of whole classes in general. Sure they miss on individual players, but when you take the entire body of work into account, they are absolutely accurate and a determining factor in how good a program is. If you want to say that we just have better coaches, I'm behind that 100%, but denying the ratings of recruiting services is just ignorant. It's also an insult to all the guys on this network who do it for a living.

I agree with all of this in spades. Save for Shittu... He banged on Oregon publicly. I don't fault the staff for fading him in the end. But then again, maybe he banged on Oregon because he wasn't shown much love? Who knows...

I have. I'll go back and peruse again to see if my point holds up though...

I agree to some extent with both of you, and with you on Shittu. It sounded like they had him on campus for a camp or something and the players did not give their seal of approval. He supposed acted like a total dick. Then he flamed Oregon super hard on twitter, until Cal fell apart on him. After that he openly pines for an Oregon offer on twitter. I have no problem whatsoever no offering him. I do begin to question where we are going with this class. A ton of early talent was interested and not nearly enough offers came out of it. We misplayed our hand with a QB and ended up without one in all likelihood. We have a major need at LB and 2/3 of the cream has already been siphoned off the top. And most importantly despite our successes and our belief in the way we do things, everybody else at the top is moving in the opposite direction. What worked in 2009, might not work as well in 2013. I just see the pool of players unsigned come the fall as shrinking every year, and if you wanna rely on the Arik Armsteads of the world to have option A and B fall apart on them before you strike you are going to end up empty handed. The staff will need to adjust their timeline. The recruiting world isnt going to change to suit their preferences. I think we will end up doing fine in the end, but I seriously doubt we are squeezing the most out of our opportunities.