Pac 10 Preview: Oregon Ducks
August 20th, 2008 by Alex English
Whether you were a hardcore college fantasy player or a casual college football fan last year, you probably had three things come to mind when the Oregon Ducks were mentioned. The crazy uniforms, QB Dennis Dixon and RB Jonathan Stewart. This season only one of those three are back and love ‘em or hate ‘em (for the record I love ‘em), it’s the wild Nike uni’s. With those offensive juggernauts departed to the NFL, Mike Belloti has some big holes to fill and fantasy players are left to figure out if, when and who will become the playmakers in an offense that still has the potential to put up impressive and useful fantasy numbers. Those answers may be starting to shake out as the Ducks near a regular practice schedule for their Aug. 30th opener at home against Washington.
Dennis Dixon was a treat to watch running O-Coordinator Chip Kelly’s “speed spread” attack, but an open competition to determine Dixon’s successor is more of a preference of style than player.
Nate Costa (6-1, 220) has been listed atop the depth chart since Fall camp started and represents the duel threat option as a runner and passer that made Dixon so dangerous. Justin Roper (6-6, 205), who led the Ducks to their Sun Bowl stomping of USF, represents a more polished pocket passer without the Dixon-esque athleticism and running abilities. Most believe Belloti and his staff would like to see one emerge and many have speculated that they hoped it would be Costa to give the offense the balanced threat that made them so difficult to defend last year when Dixon was healthy. The only problem is Roper has been more effective and more impressive in scrimmage play this Fall, and there seems to be an increasing chance that there could be some sort of time split entering the season. That is bad news from a fantasy perspective because if one of these sophomores can emerge as the clear starter, he could be an interesting sleeper option this season as well as future years. I especially like Costa if he can secure the job because of his duel threat skills, but at this point he has to be treated with a “wait and see” approach. Keep an eye out in the first few weeks of the season to see if one emerges, and you may have a very intriguing later season bye week backup depending on the match-up.
The running back position also presents question marks along with the possibility of a breakout quality player. Sr. Jeremiah Johnson (5-10, 205) has been listed as the starter thus far after spelling Jonathan Stewart for 344 yards and five touchdowns in six games last year, but he is coming off an ACL injury. The higher ceiling and greater fantasy intrigue lies in JC transfer, Jr. LaGarrette Blount (6-2, 229). Blount was the talk of Spring in Eugene after rushing for over 1,000 yards in each of his two seasons in junior college. Blount has the size and durability to be an every down back and potentially post Stewart-type numbers if he can win the feature tailback role. Kelly has reportedly been creating and heavily using packages to get both of these backs on the field at the same time and often. Considering Johnson’s size and stature that would suggest a multi-use role for him to get touches from all over the formation with Blount shouldering the heavier load in the natural ground game. Monitor this situation as well and be ready to pluck an interesting sleeper if one emerges with big numbers in the first few weeks, especially if it is Blount.
The WRs will be led by 6-5, 240 lb Jaison Williams who pulled down 55 passes for 844 yards and eight TDs last year. He isn’t on many top WR lists, but if you like big WRs and need a solid wideout late in drafts a big season could be in store. A deep collection of wideouts will line up alongside Williams this year including four talented sophomores that should make a formidable WR corps in the next few years. The Ducks also boast a very interesting TE in Junior Ed Dickson. After a breakout year as a sophomore with 43 catches for 453 yards and three scores, Dickson will be one of the focal points of the offense this season and could emerge as a top 10-15 fantasy tight end.
The defense returns seven including all-everything rover Patrick Chung who pulled his name out of NFL draft eligibility at the last second. This unit should be the strength of the team, at least until the offense settles in with its new personnel. Whether or not they will be good enough for fantasy consideration is yet another “wait and see” scenario. The special teams returns Groza award semifinalist kicker Matt Evensen who has shown consistency (16 of 20 last year) but not a booming leg (long of 47).
There are plenty of places and positions of fantasy interest on this team. Williams at WR and Dickson at TE could be later round gems, while the RB and QB position battles could produce viable fantasy talent once the dust settles. For those of you who hate the uniforms so much you can’t stand to watch, you may be missing out on watching a collection of very interesting fantasy sleepers emerge in Eugene.
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