The impact of Chris Steele commitment; plus thoughts on key recruits like Van Fillinger and a new WR target?

Wednesday War Room: 5/15/2019

ESPN has an article out on a topic that we had quite a conversation about here and that refuses to go away. And that is if, and to what extent may collegiate athletes receive compensation for trading on their names, images and likenesses (read signatures, names on gear and face time on media).

While the NCAA still announces its objection to outright pay for these extra athletic activities, there is at least one overturned court ruling that is in sympathy. To many of us, this may be another example of the loss of innocence in collegiate athletics. However, the elephant in the room is the ton weight of dollars generated by college athletes, whose present "pay" is a free ride with meals in exchange for their "labor", a term which I use very loosely.

A conversation on this topic generally starts with the gratitude and thanks that athletes should be content with who receive free rides and a college degree. We've heard this argument before, but it seems that it hasn't been persuasive enough to convince the NCAA to stop there. Nor is it convincing with respect to the one and done BB athletes who
were never in it for a degree to begin with. Or the three and out FB guys.

It's complicated.

The devil, as always is in the details, but it seems fair that funds generated by schools profiting by selling products associated with popular players put a little away in an earmarked account until graduation, as a mere suggestion.

There is also another issue that relates to appearances by players in "unassociated" activity, such as "Dancing Withe the Stars" which permitted a Notre Dame athlete to participate.

In any event, the issue was dormant for a while until its importance was just recently taken up once again. The camel has again stuffed his nose under the tent, never mind the elephant in the room.

we have a world class sprinter

Maybe a mother's day thing for Oregon PSA's. Last year, didn't Herbert commit on MD?


https://www.oregonlive.com/recruiti...-year-commits-to-california-golden-bears.html

https://www.oregonlive.com/recruiti...ar-lb-commits-to-california-golden-bears.html

Boom!

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The Sacramento Grant standout plans to visit Oregon and Oregon State soon:

https://n.rivals.com/news/dl-omarr-norman-lott-surprised-by-major-sec-offer

From Oregon Communications:

Ducks To Open 2019 Season In Prime Time

EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon’s marquee season opener against SEC foe Auburn in the 2019 AdvoCare Classic at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will kick off ABC Saturday Night Football’s 14th season it was announced on Wednesday morning. The game will begin at 4:30 p.m. on August 31st.

It will be the second meeting between the two programs and the first since the 2010 national championship game. The Ducks have not opened a season away from Autzen Stadium since 2011 when they took on LSU at AT&T Stadium.

Highlighted by Heisman hopeful quarterback Justin Herbert, Oregon returns a combined 17 positional starters, which ranks tied for fourth nationally, from the 2018 club that produced a 9-4 season under first-year head coach Mario Cristobal that was capped with three consecutive wins, including a victory over Michigan State in the Redbox Bowl. The Ducks will also usher in a consensus top 10 recruiting class.

Both Oregon and Auburn were mainstays in 2019 preseason top 25 rankings distributed right after last season. Oregon found itself as high as No. 10 in the ESPN ranking. If the Ducks land in a preseason poll, it will mark the 10th time in 11 seasons that they have opened the season ranked.

The game will also be Oregon’s first against an SEC opponent since it defeated Tennessee, 59-14, at Autzen Stadium during the 2013 season.

UGA reports that one of their sprinters had a very close call with fatal injury by a Javelin left stuck in the ground.

While his injury was about as minimal as could be expected, he was inches from a fatal wound to his heart or aorta.

Should be taken as an FYI for T&F coaches.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/universit...ed-javelin-practice-reports/story?id=62932569

Justin Flowe gets an SEC comparison:

https://n.rivals.com/news/comparing-2020-linebackers-to-recent-college-stars

Joshua Eaton has almost 30 offers but is beginning to trim down the list of contenders. The big-time CB breaks down his fit at #SEC schools, in-state programs + out West, including his best visit to date + some official visits in mind https://rvls.co/2JP7SmL

This is almost beginning to look like the Ducks MBB season ending run. Sure, they have a long way to go, but when NurKic went down I thought it was over, especially vs Denver and their Serbian big man, Jokic.
Enter Enes Kanter, who even with a bad shoulder, is filling the needed big man role surprisingly well. Anyway, now is when fair weather Blazer fans like me come out of the wood work.
Interesting Kanter side story: imho, you have to respect a guy who stands up for his beliefs and rights, and expresses love for his home country, Turkey, and his new country alike, but won't suck up to Erdogan (apologies if there are any Erdogan fans out there, lol)

His tweet in response to some rude Denver fans and the SI author's contextual tweet.:

I wish I could go back to Turkey to see Family
But I chose to support Democracy, Freedom and Human rights,
I am grateful for most Americans supporting that right. @nuggets take control of your fans.
This is hurtful
Be grateful for the Democracy and Freedom we have here.

Royce Young

✔@royceyoung

Crowd is chanting "Kanter sucks!" and one yelled out, "Go back to Turkey, oh wait you can't!"



Full story....

[URL]http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26657954/kanter-draws-support-union-drawing-jeers

Anyway, glad Rip City got him, and the Western Confr. Finals appear to be a realistic goal, not just a fantasy.
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I post this every year because it is really cool.

Yesterday was Woman's Day at Autzen.

The ladies get chalk talk time, get to do drills and film study.

Some of the players volunteer and help out.

My gal and my cousin have gone three years in a row now and they think that this was the best.

I think that this is so important to the team, part of building the culture and including half of the population that makes decisions, earns and spends money, etc.

The O did a really nice job with this article...must be 50 pictures and the players look like they are having a blast.

Way to reach out to the community!

NEWS FLASH: Apparently Brady Breeze cut his flowing locks off and he left a couple of hundred ladies heartbroken!!

Rivals Krysten Peek did a nice job in this interview with the nation's No. 9-ranked overall hoops prospect. The only team he brought up unprompted was Oregon when asked about places he was going to visit.

"Oregon has been on me hard. I haven’t had a chance to go up there so we’re trying to figure stuff out with them."

Here is the rest of the interview.

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dude tested off the charts in Oakland this weekend

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Haynes King is a polarizing talent with an impressive offer sheet that rarely gets publicized. There are double-digit teams from the SEC, Big-12, ACC + Pac-12 after King. He breaks down the suitors, his best relationships + talks about a big new offer

➡️ https://rvls.co/2JKC3eN

Princely Umanmielen dropped his top five of #HookEm #GigEm #OU #LSU and #GoDucks. The four-star Manor (TX) defensive end breaks down his finalists, which staff is pushing hardest + which coach told him he'd draft him

➡️ https://rvls.co/2JDLMDB

Newton with his latest.

2019: 10+ reasons for optimism

The importance of Jay Butterfield commit; a new OL offer to consider and thoughts on RB recruiting and in-state losses.

DSA Inside Read: 5/13/2019

rocking the Duck gloves

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