If you’re worried about Oregon tight end David Paulson’s meager stats so far this season, there’s less reason for concern than you think.
In today’s Register-Guard, former Emerald sportswriter (plug!) Adam Jude wrote an article about the Ducks’ tight end position, focusing on how freshman Colt Lyerla had two touchdown catches last week and three for the season while Paulson has had a solitary catch in the last two games and four catches for 26 yards on the season.
But if you go back to the halcyon days of yore — 2009 — you’ll notice the same sort of dynamic had started to develop with former Duck Ed Dickson as the starter and primary receiving threat on the team as Paulson was his backup. In the first three games of that season, Dickson had just four catches for 58 yards, with only one catch longer than 15 yards; Paulson had recorded two first-down catches and had 38 yards receiving of his own in the same time frame.
Then, in Oregon’s first Pac-10 game — yes, it was still called the Pac-10 in those days — Dickson destroyed California’s secondary, racking up 11 catches for 148 yards and three touchdowns, reigniting his season and helping to make Oregon’s passing attack respectable. (When matched with the spectacular running attack of Jeremiah Masoli and LaMichael James, that’s all it had to be.) Once the Ducks had that complete offense, they were able to roll through the conference on their way to a Rose Bowl berth.
I’m not trying to say Paulson is due for a monstrous receiving game, but more that he is due to get more balls thrown his way in the course of the rest of the season.
Just as in 2009, the Ducks have had some struggles throwing the ball. Instead of the accuracy issues that plagued Masoli, who went 4 of 16 against Utah in a game Oregon somehow still won early in 2009, Oregon has struggled somewhat to get the ball down the field in 2011. Quarterback Darron Thomas averaged 4.4 yards per attempt against LSU and leading receiver Lavasier Tuinei averaged just more than seven yards per reception in two games before some effective stat-padding against FCS team Missouri State. (I’m discounting Oregon’s game against Missouri State entirely in terms of evaluating the offense because the gap in talent between the two teams is so vast.) Paulson’s increased production could be the cure to those ills, as he came into 2011 averaging 16.75 yards per reception for his career.
Dickson initially struggled when he was perceived as the Ducks’ most dangerous downfield threat, but the emergence of Jeff Maehl and the effectiveness of Oregon’s running game eventually lessened the attention on him enough for him to thrive in 2009 — Dickson ended the season with 42 catches for 551 yards and six touchdowns. With the eventual return of a healthy Josh Huff at wide receiver and the presences of Thomas, James and Tuinei, it’s just a matter of time before Paulson gets back on track in his senior season.