The 2011 Oregon football recruiting class, to date, is best known for producing electric running back De’Anthony Thomas — who wasted no time setting fire to Oregon’s record books in his freshman season.
Aside from tight end Colt Lyerla, Thomas was the only true freshman to score a touchdown on offense last season, and it’s easy to forget that 2011’s star-crossed class also included a slew of talented wide receivers. Despite their high star-ratings, Devon Blackmon, Tacoi Sumler and B.J. Kelley each wore a redshirt during their first seasons with the Ducks. Now, as spring practices enter their second week, the trio is looking to show off its improvement. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3378&SPID=233&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205125608&Q_SEASON=2012@@
The results, predictably, have been mixed.
“They’ve been OK,” head coach Chip Kelly said after Monday’s practice. “They need to be more consistent. You know, some days they have a good day, then they don’t bounce back and play the same way the next day. So it’s still a work in progress for those guys out there.”
If the growing process is uneven, it’s not for lack of work ethic. Blackmon, for his part, spent extra time after winter workouts taking passes from Bryan Bennett and Marcus Mariota in the Moshofsky Center — “relentless, all the time,” as he described it — to establish a connection with the team’s future passers.
Now he and his fellow receivers are back in the Moshofsky Center, under considerably increased pressure but also with renewed confidence on their side.
“I feel like all the freshmen receivers that redshirted can make a big impact,” Blackmon said. “I think I’m going to have a big year, I think the whole receiving group is going to have a big year because we feel like we need to step up for the team.”
Indeed, the departures of both Lavasier Tuinei and David Paulson leave plenty of room on the depth chart for the team’s young and hungry receivers. With Justin Hoffman’s return in question due to multiple concussions, junior Josh Huff is the only starter sure to return from the receiving corps. According to Blackmon, Huff has stepped seamlessly into a leadership role.
“He’s the real leader, mainly,” Blackmon said. “He takes his time with the freshmen and helps them a lot.”
It has turned into a tight-knit group, though, and one that has become accustomed to policing itself. The consistency on the field may not be there yet, but Blackmon says they’ve each learned to look out for each other in their own way.
“We all govern each other,” Blackmon said. “We all make sure that each of us is doing good and we all lead each other.”
Whether any of this will translate to the field in the fall is impossible to say. But the progress is there for all to see, including Kelly himself.
“The whole group’s been working really hard as a group,” Kelly said. “Every day somebody else kind of sticks out, but there hasn’t been one guy that you’ve been like wow, that kid’s really stepping up.”@@All names checked, even if there are no links -Thomas@@