Here is Jackson in March. He had been a Duck for half a year at this point. I spoke with him last night so more coming out on him soon.

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I just watched it. They both had a lot of fun doing it. There are some great shots of the new facility. Task force teams from UO went all around Western Europe to see the best track stadiums in order to get ideas to incorporate into the new Hayward. Robert pointed out that although our facility will host big non collegiate meets, the stadium had been designed with the needs of the University and the Duck track team paramount. Robert was involved in lots of decisions regarding the facility... of particular note, Robert suggested making one of the concourses adaptable to being a training track for the team. It cost lots of extra money to make this change, but it was done. He did say that there are many surprise additions to the stadium that will be announced upon the grand opening.

Robert bemoaned that his team was not able to compete in the indoor championships. He felt that they were really peaking and he obviously felt that another NCAA team title was likely ..... I agree.

Allow me a little NorCal alumni crow here, but they did talk about their regard for the N Calif
alumni and the great times that they’ve had at Ducks in Tahoe( although I’ve never been)

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Here is the third interview with future Duck from LA Rivals in March. He committed to Oregon two weeks after I spoke with him here. Nobody has seen this before because I did a story based on the interview rather than release the video. So here you go, future Duck QB Ty Thompson.

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Doesn't sound too promising for Royce. NFL RB...the roughest job on the planet?

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/20...-for-irrelevancy-with-the-denver-broncos.html

We talk about Suamataia's new ranking and more:

Kingsley Suamataia - Login to view embedded media
And Ware-Hudson here:

Kyron Ware-Hudson - Login to view embedded media

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What we really need.

The article goes through the entire class. In the article there is a quote of Robert Johnson saying “ and there is more to come” I don’t think that he would say that if they just had some minor additions coming.

Get ready! This year’s class could be one of the best in Oregon history .... and that is saying a lot! The statement from Robert Johnson that “there will be more” leaves me
even more excited and wondering what else could be coming our way!

I am going to reprise the three video interview I did with Oregon commits in March down at the LA camp since not everybody got to see this. It is cool to way to get to know your incoming Ducks.

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So, I thought it might be fun to do a series of posts. We have seen plenty of ‘best ever’ lists, but I thought it would be fun to do a ‘Favorite Duck’ player past and present list by position. So, a favorite current player and a favorite player from the past. Just talk about why a player is your favorite.

What I think is fun about this is that it doesn’t even have to be any one any of us have ever heard of; just the player you like most and why.

I thought today I would start with favorite Duck wide receiver; past and present.

PAST: Don Coleman

I will start with my favorite receiver from the past. It was always Don Coleman. No, he was not the best receiver in Oregon history, but he was the fastest. In fact, with a 10.11 time, he was the fastest 100-meter runner in school history for almost 40 years (#2 football player is Samie Parker at 10.18).

Why do I like him so much? Well, it should be noted that I did not move to the Eugene area until 1978 and consequently was not able not go to a game at Autzen until the 1979 season. That was the year that Reggie Ogburn led the team in rushing, and the team did not throw much, but the first TD I ever saw at Autzen live was Coleman’s only receiving touchdown as a Duck.

But it is also related to the fact that Coleman and fellow Oregon sprinter Jerome Williams also helped out with sprints at Track City Track Club in the summer of 1979 (Coleman was only there for the spring and did not stay through summer). He was funny, gracious and a great teacher.

PRESENT: Johnny Johnson

This one was easy for me. He took a lot of heat as a sophomore for drops – and rightfully so. But he did not hang his head; he did not blame anyone. He just went to work and got better. While some credit is due to the work of WR coach Jovon Boughknight, but the bulk of the credit has to go to Johnson for his work in the off-season.

As a freshman, he showed tremendous promise with 21 catches and 299 yards; he made some highlight reel catches, but his sophomore season saw drops accumulate and catches slip to just 17 for 215 yards (though he did score 4 touchdowns as a sophomore compared to only 1 as a freshman).

Not much was expected of him heading into 2019 – in fact, many people had him pegged as not playing much. Instead he just led the team in receptions (57), receiving yards (836) and tied for the lead in receiving touchdowns (7). Oh, and for good measure, he also recorded the longest reception (73 yards) of the season for Oregon.

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No in-person classes for San Jose State, Fresno State, and San Diego State

Since sports are in shutdown mode I'm going to start a little game up for DSA members and we'll see if you like it. I'll post pictures from places I've visited and you tell me where it is.

Picture No. 1

It is a shame I keep having to lock threads regarding the pandemic response as it relates to sports. It is a worthy topic but the same people keep breaking longstanding DSA rules. Normally things have self-policed fine...but not on this topic. So here goes.

1. No politics.

Do not devolve a topic into politics. People come here for sports.

2. No name calling.

I even have seen some double whammies lately on the board, political name calling. Nothing is more unnecessary or immature.

3. I hate having to net nanny this stuff.

We haven't had to babysit for so long because everybody has followed the rules, something I think is great about this site. But I am going to be policeman for awhile because I am tired of it.

4. No matter how right you think you are, you still don't get to break the rules.

I actually fired an admin about 10 years ago because he was so righteous about a subject that he repeatedly broke those rules because of it. So let us all please behave.

5. Be constructive, find good things to talk about.

There are always good topics to bring up, even if they are off topic from sports. Especially now because of the sports shutdown, making OT posts are great. I tried doing a Where's This thing with photos from my travels. I will continue to do so. PapaDuck has done a great job bringing up some key historical milestones which I have enjoyed.

Be one of the good guys (and gals).

Not arguing the merits of the corona virus response, just adjusting to the reality of it.

If games have to take place without fans or with limits on attendance, it seems Oregon is in a unique position to preserve some of their home field advantage and game atmosphere.

The Ducks have a cutting edge media and video department, as witnessed in the high energy videos they produce and slick edits for recruits.

They were constructing a new Jumbotron, slated to be one of the largest in the country. Haven't been to Autzen since the Civil War--how is that progressing?

Could they use their technological skill to create in-game content on that screen, and put together large scale virtual attendance? Mass Zoom meetings, groups of 20 or so fans beamed in and connected from various locations?

I don't know how it would all work; I'm not that tech savvy. But the Ducks have some talented people who are extremely tech savvy. It seems like they could put together content and applications to enhance the virtual experience and get people connected to the game and the game day experience.

It's not as good as a DSA tailgate, but hey, few things are.

One of the things that makes college football great is the color and passion around the game. It would be tremendous to preserve some of that in spite of the restrictions.

"Talking to Fauci was enlightening, if only to reinforce what most people in America who care to be informed about this coronavirus are thinking right now: We don’t know the future. Anthony Fauci doesn’t know the future either. Our fate, and certainly the NFL’s fate in 2020, depends on so many things we can’t know now."

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