Darrion Weems@@CE@@ was rolling.
Again and again, before and after practice, 200 yards each time. It was the summer of 2007, fall camp fully underway, and Weems — then a freshman — was getting a rude awakening to the rigors of college football.
He had arrived in Eugene out of shape and out of practice, a common mistake for a heralded four-star recruit. Some times @@(this is correct)@@ it was because he was late, others because of a mistake during drills, but each day Weems could count on one thing: 200 yards before and after practice.
“The roll,” as they call it, serves as a form of punishment for Oregon’s offensive linemen. Without having their hands and feet touch, they are made to lie@@I think this is correct@@ flat on the ground and roll back and forth until they can barely walk straight. It became common practice for Weems that August and proved to be especially grueling during double days when he estimates he rolled around 800 yards.
“First fall camp,” junior@@changed from senior: http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3378&SPID=233&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=1550510&Q_SEASON=2011@@ Carson York@@CE@@ says with a laugh, “Darrion may have rolled to Corvallis and back.”
“Maybe I got to Portland,” Weems says. “I’m not sure.”
Amid all of the pain and dizziness, one thing became abundantly clear to Weems: Steve Greatwood@@CE@@ did not play around.
Oregon’s offensive line coach since 2005@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=22673@@, and a member of the coaching staff for going on 30 years@@finishing 25th season, see previous@@, Greatwood has mellowed a bit since Weems’ early days. There’s less yelling, less hat throwing and, presumably, less rolling. It’s not that his expectations have lowered or that the passion burned out. Rather, Greatwood has tinkered and toyed with his approach until finally coming up with a perfect formula — a hybrid of sorts between intimidating hard-ass and patient instructor.
“I would say he’s refined his craft,” senior right guard Mark Asper@@CE@@ says. “He’s found his niche.”
The results have been palatable. Greatwood’s unit paves the way for an offense that ranks fourth in the nation in scoring (47.5 points per game)@@http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/1028@@ and rushing (309.25 yards per game@@http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/1025@@). The Ducks have led the conference in rushing going on six consecutive seasons@@spent forever looking, can’t find@@, and Greatwood has done it all during a time where he’s had just one All-American (Max Unger@@CE@@ in 2008).@@don’t understand how they can lead six seasons with one guy. me being silly?@@
“That’s a credit to him and what he does,” Asper says. “For coaching a group of guys that maybe aren’t as talented as everybody in the nation thinks we need to be in order to be putting up the numbers that we do, he does a pretty good job of getting us dialed into the game plan and getting us prepared every week.”
There is a method behind all of this. There always is. For Greatwood, it is found within a hierarchy of sorts, a teetering scale holding both the wisdom of older veterans and the raw talent of the younger players. To balance it all out, Greatwood relies on a tactic familiar to any great leader: delegation.
“I think we’ve really developed, over the last five or six years now, a great leadership aspect in our group that’s been passed down year after year from upperclassmen to lowerclassmen@@two words?@@,” Greatwood says. “It’s something that I think has just slowly become ingrained in this unit, that the older guys are responsible for the behavior of younger guys off the field and in the classroom and in everything they do.”
And so, with this in mind, Greatwood gathers his older players each year and lays down his expectations.
“This is your deal,” he tells them. “This is your show. You want to have a good, fun, successful year, you gotta take care of business, and you gotta get the younger guys to buy in and follow along.”
He challenges them, listing the accolades of yesteryear — Pac-10 rushing titles, school records in total yardage, Heisman campaigns for the diminutive backs who run behind them. With each passing year, the list grows longer, the ambitions higher.
When you reach the top of the mountain, find a taller one to climb.

~~~~
Steve Greatwood was not born with a football in his arms. The game wasn’t passed down the line from generation to generation, as it was for so many others. He was a swimmer, in fact, until his freshman year at Churchill High School@@CE@@. It was then that his friends started to get involved in football, and he followed suit.
“What the heck,” he thought. “Give it a try.”
It was a simple twist of fate, as Bob Dylan might say. It was one of those whimsical decisions that alters the course of a life. Greatwood excelled at Churchill and went on to play near home at the University of Oregon until he graduated in 1980@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=22673@@. He signed as a free agent with the San Francisco 49ers@@CE@@, but his time in the NFL didn’t last long.
“My lack of talent finally caught up with me,” Greatwood says.
A college coaching career wasn’t what he had in mind going forward. He had earned his degree in education at Oregon and planned to use it while teaching social studies and coaching a high school football team.
But the Oregon football team came calling and hired Greatwood as a part-time coach. At the tender age of 23, he accepted a full-time position. The rest is history.
“Coaching at this level wasn’t my career path, so to speak,” Greatwood says. “But it all just kind of worked out.”
For the first 15 years, Greatwood tutored the offensive line. After the 1995 Rose Bowl, he followed head coach Rich Brooks@@CE@@ to the St. Louis Rams to take charge of the offensive line and tight ends. Before long, he migrated east to the University of Maryland and to USC a year after that. By 2000, he was back in Eugene, coaching the defensive line until his latest move back to offense in 2005.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=22673@@
It has been an eventful career, but Greatwood seems to have found a home in the college ranks.
“I’m actually, in my opinion, much more comfortable coaching college-age kids,” Greatwood says. “You feel like you can add more to their lives, not just from a football sense but as a mentor and, in some cases, a father figure. I really enjoy watching a 17, 18-year-old kid mature in a 22-year-old by the time he leaves here, and that whole process is pretty special to me.”
~~~~
It’s cyclical, and that’s part of the beauty. Guys like Weems, Asper and York come in every year. They take their lumps, the bruises to their bodies and egos alike and are better men for it.
At the center of it all is Greatwood with a stern expression filling his weathered face. He’s ready to help, a little less volatile now, a little more patient. He just asks for one thing in return: You’d better be ready to roll.