If there’s one thing we learned from the Ducks’ football season it’s that it never hurts to have a stockpile of quarterbacks ready to play at a moment’s notice.
Although senior Brady Leaf stepped in after Dennis Dixon went down, injuries derailed his chance to keep the offense moving and, because third-stringer Nate Costa was out for the season with a knee injury suffered during practice, the quarterback job fell to two redshirt freshmen who were overwhelmed upon seeing action against UCLA.
But with Justin Roper’s performance in the Sun Bowl (17-of-30 for 180 yards and four touchdowns), the coaching staff proved that it’s capable of making any quarterback with the right set of skills look good in the spread offense, if given enough time to prepare them for action.
Although I’d bet Roper won’t be the starting quarterback next year, he’ll still be given a chance to prove otherwise and will make the competition in the spring more interesting.
Roper will have to battle with Costa, who at this point will be limited to no-contact drills while recovering from ACL surgery, BYU transfers Sam Doman and Cade Cooper, and potential recruits Darron Thomas and Kelly Page, who have verbally committed to Oregon.
Cody Kempt, who was in front of Roper on the depth chart before suffering an injury during the Civil War, will likely be converted to play as a defensive back next season.
And that’s not including Terrelle Pryor, the No.1-rated quarterback on several recruiting Web sites. He has yet to make a commitment but reiterated during the U.S. Army All-Amercian Bowl on Saturday that Oregon remains among his choices alongside Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Florida. But I wouldn’t hold my breath for him. He’s yet to schedule a visit to Eugene and appears willing to follow former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez to Michigan.
So with five or six quarterbacks competing for the starting job next year, Duck fans should be pleased to know that there’s plenty of depth at the position that took a sharp drop off after Dixon went down. Roper, as good as he was during the Sun Bowl, may still wind up being the fifth-stringer for another year, or he may be the starter depending on how he performs during the spring.
Whatever the case, fans should realize that, should Oregon fall into the same pitfalls of injuries to its quarterbacks, there’s still plenty of talent deep in reserve. And it’s full of players who are designed to fit into the spread-option scheme; there isn’t a stiff-legged player who is prone to being sacked among them.
Thomas, the four-star Texas high school recruit, is a near clone of Dixon. He and Pryor signal the change in recruits’ attitude towards Oregon. As a result, the Ducks should have great success in recruiting dual-threat quarterbacks who look to make themselves the next Dennis Dixon, as opposed to the next Vince Young or Tim Tebow.
As long as the Ducks’ offense continues to run the spread-option effectively, Oregon may never have to suffer the same fate as it did this season when the offense fell apart without Dixon’s presence. Whether or not his successors are as capable as he was, Oregon will continue to see crops of talented recruits wishing to follow in his footsteps and an injury to the starter may be negligible when the backup has the exact same set of skills.
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