Sitting in front of the media in a black sleeveless shirt Saturday night, Colt Lyerla smiled like a free man. And, in a way, he was.
All year long, the Ducks’ 6-foot-5 sophomore tight end has been locked away from the media, either in self-exile or as punishment for missing the beginning of fall camp to “take care of some things,” as head coach Chip Kelly put it. Each request to speak to Lyerla returned a polite reminder: “Colt is still not available for media interviews.”
But in the middle of the first quarter of then-No. 3 Oregon’s throttling of then-No. 22 Arizona, on second and two, the cell door swung open and through a hole up the middle bruised Lyerla for an 11-yard gain. The new wrinkle in Kelly’s playbook surfaced throughout the game — a set package with back-up quarterback Bryan Bennett under center and the “tight end” Lyerla as the single back. By the time the 49-0 rout was over, the game’s biggest offensive surprise had a team-high 116 all-purpose yards, including 63 yards and a touchdown on seven carries as tailback.
Arizona’s goose egg gave the defense much-deserved credit, but the author of Oregon’s second pick-six of the game, Troy Hill, found himself talking to only a handful of people at the postgame podium. The rest were crowding the man nicknamed “Bane,” after his physical similarities to the Batman villain. But Lyerla looked far from sinister as he laughed with journalists and reflected on his new responsibilities, implemented “earlier this week” in practice.
“I didn’t really know if they would run (the new package). I had no idea,” he said. “I’m just happy they did really. … I got a little bit of extra adrenaline back there.”
The backfield isn’t unfamiliar territory for Lyerla. In high school, up the road in Hillsboro, Ore., the five-star recruit scored 25 touchdowns his senior season, the majority at running back , and led the Spartans to the class 5A state title in 2009 on his way to state MVP honors. He later broke underclassmen combine records in the vertical leap and the broad jump. A YouTube video that circulated around during his recruitment showed him leap onto a Plyo-Box 62 inches off the ground from a standstill. Teams across the country clamored for him — to play linebacker, his other starring role in high school. Oregon coaches from both sides of the ball  — defensive line coach Jerry Azzinaro and tight end coach Tom Osbourne — jointly recruited Lyerla. On signing day, Kelly called him “arguably the best athlete in the country.”
“Actually, Oregon was one of the few (schools) that wanted to give me a shot at offense,” Lyerla said. “And that was a big reason I wanted to come here.”
When asked if he’d hit up Kelly or running backs coach Gary Campbell for a shot at being a ball carrier before now, he shook his head and smiled.
“I was probably lobbying in the back of my head, but I don’t have the guts to make any suggestions like that. I just lucked out.”
It was a charmed first outing; even Lyerla’s key mistake — missing a zone read and trying to pry the ball from Bennett — ended with the two plowing into the endzone together. Twitter called the awkward score a Siamese touchdown.
“My inexperience at tailback, I didn’t really let the ball go,” Lyerla said. “It was two men, one ball into the endzone. It was four legs running into the end zone.”
That’s a familiar place for him. In his first year in the offense, five of No. 15’s seven receptions went for touchdowns, and Lyerla has added two more this year on eight catches. But despite Lyerla’s immediate success — and potential — on the field, Kelly has been blunt about his role in the offense. Following Oregon’s win over Tennessee Tech, a question about fellow tight end Pharaoh Brown taking the first snaps over the “starter” Lyerla was cut short before it was even asked.
“Colt hasn’t been our starter,” Kelly said. “There’s a lot of guys who are going to play tight end for us, and we need those guys to develop. That whole position has been a work in progress.”
Looking back, Kelly’s words look less curt and more prophetic. And it makes one wonder what other personnel tricks the fourth-year coach has hidden in his visor.
Whether Lyerla’s reprieve from media probation was permanent is yet unclear. It’s also anyone’s guess where his coaches will get him the most playing time on the field.
“Chip’s a smart guy,” Lyerla said. “Whatever he wants to do, I gotta trust in him. So whatever he puts on my shoulders is what I’ll be doing.”
He shrugged those massive shoulders as he said it. They’re the broad, easy shoulders of a man coming into his own, just another threat in the Ducks’ prolific offense free to play his own game.