Early returns on the freshman

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GrantDuck
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Early returns on the freshman

Post by GrantDuck »

-Mase Funa is probably the most impressive of the bunch so far. Staying at home on that reverse and making a tackle in space against a shifty guy, as a 260lb player, was crazy impressive against Auburn. Followed that up with some bone crushing pressure on the QB this week. This dude might end up as one of the best linebackers in Oregon history, if not the best, if he's healthy and has Avalos as his DC.

-Kayvon, love his passion and he's having an effect as a pass rusher. He's getting a ton of reps and I expect he'll end the year with really starting to wreak havoc. Really needs to work on his run defense as he's gotten knocked on his ass a couple times and also ran himself out of position. More of a technique thing than a strength thing(although strength will help him become elite down the road).

-MyKael, DJ James, Jamal Hill. All these 3 look like they'll contribute a ton in their careers. Graham and/or Lenoir might go pro early so that's a good thing.

-Young D-lineman will develop as will the young Lbers.

Also honorable mentions for RS-Freshman Bryan Addison(outside of his drop he's been really solid so far), Spencer Webb, and Tyler Shough. McKinley is going to get picked on in conference so I hope he can respond really well. (Although we've been using Holland as a nickel from time to time as well).

Only guy I'm a little underwhelmed with relative to expectations is Sean Dollars. He looked good against Nevada, but I expected he'd be getting some reps with the 1's and have passed Travis Dye on the depth chart by this point.

Trey Benson in the 2020 class...I feel like that guy is going to be a superstar, so Dollars will have to step up.
GrandpaDuck
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Re: Early returns on the freshman

Post by GrandpaDuck »

Kind of funny on Dollars depending on ones expectations. I watched him play a couple of his games on TV in high school and I expected him to end up a slot back. His showing against Nevada exceeded my expectations for him as a running back. He showed a toughness I hadn't seen in the high school games.

Addison made a bad drop costing 7, then a great play running down that fumble return saving 4 points. A solid second game puts him on a really good trajectory.

Funa is off to a great start.

Regarding all time great linebackers, do you ever wonder what Dye would have done and how many sacks and TFLs he would have had if Oregon had enough good inside linebackers to keep him on the edge like his freshman year? I thought his position change was probably necessary but wonder what a force from the outside he could have been with year to year improvement.
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dd10snoop28
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Re: Early returns on the freshman

Post by dd10snoop28 »

A lot of young talent on defense. Excited to watch the guys grow throughout the season on D. Wonder what we will look like at year's end.
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GoDucksTroll
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Re: Early returns on the freshman

Post by GoDucksTroll »

Funa is looking much better than I expected this early and he’s going to be a star.

KT is basically what we expected, I’m thinking he’ll have a breakout game soon.

Good crew of young DBs, they’ll make mistakes but we’ve restocked the group.

On Dollars - I never expected him to do anything this season other than play in less than four games.

I really wish Pittman hadn’t gotten hurt.
duckfan96
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Re: Early returns on the freshman

Post by duckfan96 »

One of the most important freshmen now may be the kicker.
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