Ask a casual college football fan to name a player on Oregon’s defense, and you’ll probably get a common answer: Cliff Harris.
Over the past two seasons, Harris has cemented his status as one of the country’s premier defensive backs and punt returners. He’s also become a fan favorite for his colorful quotes and swagger.
But although Harris may draw the headlines, Oregon’s secondary has depth and talent that range far beyond the Fresno, Calif., native.
The Ducks return all four starters (cornerback Anthony Gildon started the first six games of 2010 before Talmadge Jackson III returned from injury) from one of the conference’s top secondary units. Last season, Oregon allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 53.8 percent of their passes — by far the lowest percentage of all Pac-10 defenses.
Thus far, it appears Oregon’s secondary is in line for a repeat performance.
“I think our secondary is doing well and just trying to get better every day,” safety John Boyett said. “We have a lot of guys back.”
That experience could help Oregon in several areas. While individual players tend to improve with time spent on the field, the secondary unit as a whole may also reap benefits.
“The longer you play together, you just kind of know what the other guy is going to do,” Boyett said. “That way you can work off each other and be on the same page. If you have two guys that aren’t on the same page, one guy’s running one coverage and one guy’s running the other, it’s a touchdown.”
Leave it to longtime defensive backs coach John Neal to put a damper on the excitement. Though obviously cognizant of the potential of his position group, Neal cautioned that the unit is far from a polished product.
“(It’s a) work in progress,” Neal said. “We need at least eight guys we can consider starters and we need young guys to step up and give us that confidence and we need starters to play as efficient as they can be at this point without a lot of mistakes, and so on. I think we’re getting there, but it’s still a work in progress.”
But even Neal would admit the early returns look promising. Beyond the starting quartet of Harris, Boyett, Gildon, and Eddie Pleasant, the Ducks have a strong second unit.
Redshirt freshman cornerbacks Troy Hill and Terrance Mitchell have each impressed in spring ball and look to have the spots behind Harris and Gildon locked up. Neal had high praise for the duo.
“What’s great about them is they’re Division I-caliber athletes that know what they’re doing as freshman,” Neal said. “They remind me of Pat (Chung) and Jairus (Byrd) and Walter (Thurmond III) that could come in here and be extremely effective as redshirt freshman.”
Though the backup safety situation is slightly less clear, Avery Patterson and Brian Jackson look to be the leaders in the clubhouse behind Pleasant and Boyett.
“Avery Patterson and Brian Jackson have made extremely strong progress,” Neal said.
To gain sufficient manpower in the two-deep depth chart, however, Neal hopes that a few more capable secondary players emerge. Thus far, redshirt freshman Erick Dargan and redshirt junior Scott Grady appear most likely to fill that void.
“We have a solid eight in our depth chart, two-deep depth chart and we still need a couple of guys to get involved in that,” Neal said. “We need Scott Grady and Erick Dargan to step up.”
Four-star recruit Ifo Ekpre-Olomu is expected to join the defensive back corps next fall. However, it would be a surprise if he made an early impact.
“I don’t expect him to come out here and learn all this stuff,” Neal said. “If he does he’s one of those magic kids we’re talking about right now. And he may be.”
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