The class of 2003 was in the midst of its final year of high school just one year ago.
Across the country — but predominantly on the west coast — young men who had signed letters of intent with the Oregon football program were nearing the end of their senior season of prep football.
Six of those players have since stepped foot onto the field in an Oregon uniform, four starting a game in their true freshman season, while two have seen time on the field without a starting role.
“It’s been crazy,” tight end Dan Kause said. “You go from playing in high school, with 800 people max at your games, and now you’re the person you grew up watching on TV on Saturday. I always watched college football on Saturday, that was my day, and now I’m that guy.”
Punter Paul Martinez has started all eleven Oregon games, while Dante Rosario has started two games and Kause and Kyle Weatherspoon have each started one game.
Rosario has 14 carries for 48 yards and eight catches for 80 yards. He’s scored one touchdown — a one-yard run against Stanford — this season.
Kause has three receptions for 31 yards while Weatherspoon has three carries for 17 yards and seven catches for 109 yards.
One of the non-starters, receiver Jordan Carey, had a high-profile play earlier this season. He grabbed a loose ball in the endzone during the Michigan game to score a touchdown.
“I ran the same offense since fourth grade,” Carey said. “So coming here and you have a playbook that’s six inches thick and all kinds of different routes and adjustments and how to read the defense, it’s been a big learning process for me, and I’m still learning.”
Martinez took on the starting punter role at the beginning of the season and is the only punter who has seen time this season. He’s averaging 37.5 yards per punt with a long of 66 yards.
For the starting job, Martinez beat out two freshmen that spent last season redshirting.
“There’s a lot of pressure to do good because you are a true freshman,” Martinez said. “You’ve got to meet up to the level of play.”
The level of play these freshman inherited is high — a program in the top half of one of the big six football conferences in Division I football.
“It’s almost kind of surreal at times — you step back and look at it,” Kause said. “The good thing about it is it’s still the same game you played in high school. It’s still a hundred-yard field. And you’ve got other guys doing it, so you’ve got someone to relate to.”
Defensive end Victor Filipe has also played this season. Although he has not started, he has had to make the same adjustments as his teammates.
“It’s a big adjustment on the field, and it’s as big, if not bigger, off the field,” Kause said. “A lot more is demanded of you in college than it is in high school. Being a freshman, you haven’t really learned the ropes yet either. When you’re trying to figure it all out, your head’s just spinning. You get it done, but combining both. …
“I find the hardest part is separating both. You have to have time for school and time for football and mixing them, it gets hard. Learning where to separate it is probably the biggest adjustment.”
Suddenly going from a class of 25 students to a lecture hall with 200 or more other people can be overwhelming for new students. The lack of daily class and assignments and the freedom to set your own schedule can be a hindrance as much as
a blessing.
The players admitted it’s hard to focus without as much direction as they had from teachers in high school, but it’s helpful to have staggered time to get into the groove for both football and classes.
“We start football way early,” Martinez said. “As a true freshman coming in, it’s nice because you get the football and then you get into school and you kind of just flow into it. But if school started at the same time football did, it would be a little harder.”

Four players — Carey, Filipe, Johnny DuRocher and Dustin Holmes — made the jumps together last spring. DuRocher and Holmes are redshirting this season.
The four graduated early from high school to spend spring term in Eugene — going through spring football drills while taking classes and living in H.P. Barnhart Hall.
“You really get a feel for classes and practices and just the whole college process,” Carey said. “Not having to come in at fall camp and go through that tough month that’s really hard for freshman. All you see for a month is football players, no other students, you don’t have classes and that probably helped me the most — just getting used to everything.”
The freshmen said they have made the adaptation and now feel comfortable with their new home, teammates and school. Most of the way through fall term, most of them say things are moving along smoothly.
But there are still adjustments to make — for each opponent and each new course.
“Everything’s faster — not just on the football field, but in the classroom,” Rosario said. “You’re not coddled like you are in high school, you’re expected just to pick everything up on your own. It’s been a real big jump, but day-by-day, game-by-game, practice-by-practice, it’s a little bit better.”
Next season, the seven freshman who have played will be joined in the games by a dozen players who lived in Barnhart with them this year but spent the season as a redshirt. While they haven’t played in the games together, it’s a benefit to have so many teammates so close.
“We’re all having a lot of fun,” Martinez said.
And that’s what the game of football is about — fun.