Oregon football head coach Mike Bellotti and running backs coach Gary Campbell have seen some pretty good runners in their days with the Ducks.
From Ricky Whittle to Reuben Droughns, Maurice Morris to Onterrio Smith, the duo has been blessed with talented running backs. But now that Smith has graduated to the NFL — albeit one year early — there is a void in the backfield that needs to be filled.
Chris Vincent is looking fill that void quickly, and without question.
If the name doesn’t ring a bell, that’s no surprise. The 21-year-old redshirt freshman came to Eugene in September after a failed stint with Louisiana State.
After three weeks of workouts with the Ducks, Vincent is beginning to make a name for himself.
“He’s played very well,” Campbell said. “He’s going to be a big, physical guy. He’s got real good quickness, and he’s elusive in the open field. He’s on his way to being a well-rounded player, and he’s just got to pick right up where he left off now in the fall and start to really polish up those talents.”
The road to get to this point, however, has been a strange one for the Philadelphia native. After starring at Neshaminy High School and graduating in 1999, Vincent needed some work on his grade point average and SAT score. So, he enrolled at Valley Forge Military Academy — located in Wayne, Penn. — as a fifth-year senior.
The prep academy was, as expected, a far more structured program than any football player could receive on the field. Vincent had to wear uniforms, shine his shoes and his belt on an everyday basis, and even had to participate in marching parades.
“I didn’t want to go there, but it helped me in the long run,” he said. “It helped me get to where I am now. I learned a lot of things about responsibility and time management.”
“Those things all have helped him,” Bellotti said.
After his time there, Vincent was at a crossroads. If he chose to attend a school on the West Coast, it would be with Oregon. But being from the East Coast, Vincent selected LSU.
That turned into a less-than-stellar move.
When the Tigers switched Vincent to running back after telling him during the recruiting process he would play safety — his desired position — that was a sign he no longer wanted to stay in the South. So, in September 2002, Vincent came to Oregon.
The catch? He’s still playing running back.
“LSU had a different style of offense,” Vincent said. “It was more passing. Here, they run the ball. Obviously, you’ve seen the success of Maurice Morris and Onterrio Smith, especially as a two-back duo.”
With three others at the position — Ryan Shaw, Terrence Whitehead and Kenny Washington — Vincent is in a battle for the starting spot. It’s a spot that has been unclaimed so far, especially in the eyes of Bellotti and Campbell.
“I think he’s got as a good a chance to start as anybody,” Bellotti said. “He’s certainly a powerful runner. He reminds me of Reuben Droughns in terms of his ability to break tackles and drag people. He’s a very strong individual. With continued practice, he’s in the hunt.”
Campbell couldn’t name any single running back that reminds him of Vincent and couldn’t quite say if he would develop into the likes of Smith and Droughns.
But Campbell does know he has talent now, and if he does continue his physical and mental ascent, he will be a productive part of the Oregon offense for the next four years.
“I think he’s going to be very good,” Campbell said. “I think he’ll be mentioned amongst the best if he continues to improve.”
To be the best, you’ve got to work as hard as the best. While Vincent undoubtedly has learned what it takes to improve, he’s got another source of inspiration to keep him going.
His cousin is NFL cornerback Troy Vincent, a veteran of 11 seasons with Miami and Philadelphia. He was named, after this season, the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year.
“Every time when we hang with each other, I see the success he has, him being in the NFL and what he can do for his family,” Chris Vincent said. “It just motivates me that he came from a neighborhood in Trenton, N.J., pretty much the ghetto, and now you see what he has. I hope I can do the same for my family.”
When Troy Vincent, 31, plays three-straight hours of basketball as a training tool, Chris Vincent is right there. When the elder Vincent does his offseason sprints, the younger version is right behind him.
“It’s pretty crazy to see all of the things he does,” Chris Vincent said. “He still goes out there and performs every Sunday.”
If Chris Vincent could choose one word to describe his own play on the field, he would suggest he’s a “slasher.”
“But I’m able to put a move on somebody,” Vincent said.
Off the field, he is just a humble running back looking to get a piece of the playing pie come fall.
“I just want to go out there and perform, give it all I’ve got, and basically this summer work hard, and it’s really the thing where you work out hard over the summer and see it pay off during the fall,” he said.
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