Although all of us will be focused on the spring game, I thought that I’d give a brief prelude to what’s happening today in Southern Ca. with our track program.... and since the program is now in So. Cal it is also of recruiting significance

The sprinters are ready to go. At this point our distance coaches are performing miracles. Oregon needs to get some folks into NCAA scoring position in another category of T&F besides the distance events.

We have some talented people in Ariana Washington, Lauren Rain Williams, Alaysha Johnson, Demarcus Simpson, Cravonn Gillespie, and Joseph Anderson. If some of these athletes can return to their previous form, this team will be a force to deal with in the NCAA team championship.

More good post game stuff.

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Great stuff from this hilarious duo.

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Because I can't wait to tell all of you the results of the Mt. Sac men's 100m

Cravon Gillespie 10.18
Demarcus Simpson 10.23
and
Ariana Washington 11.17

The team is rolling BIG TIME!

There is no doubt Funa is one of the best prospects in the state of California. He had an outstanding junior season and can play that edge rusher role very well. Very physical and aggressive and makes a ton of tackles.

He played on a loaded Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei team and still stood out. As a senior, I expect him to complete dominate, could be in the five-star discussion depending on how he performs. Also a standout rugby player.

Here is are three of the Mater Dei crew in their carpool.

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Very impressive stuff.

• Moves very well for 6-foot-4, 240-pounds. You can see his athleticism very easily
• Does a great job of keeping blockers at arms' length and then shedding them when he decides to go one way or the other.
• Very good speed for his size
• Keeps his eyes up the field, even when engaged with blockers.
• He shows great balance in space. When a ball carrier is coming at him, he does a great job of breaking down and not getting juked out. Very sticky tackler.
• Plays with great emotion but does not overdo it. Seems like the perfect on-field demeanor
• Plays a little bit high but that is something almost all of them do. Salave'a will fix that.

I think Funa will likely end up at DE for Oregon but he is more of a 4-3 standup type of DE. So maybe like a hybrid DE/OLB. He would be an amazingly quick DE with good strength, or an amazingly strong LB with good quickness.

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Dozens of the nation's top recruits have converged on Eugene for the annual spring game. We will keep a running thread going to chronicle the going's on.

From everything we are hearing I would expect some commitments coming in the next few days. The Mater Dei guys like Sean Dollars and Mase Funa are prime candidates, although there will be many guys tempted.

It's going to be a big weekend.

Mase Funa

Here is the story

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Welcome Cameron Williams!

Big PRs today! Don’t Count this team out. They just keep improving

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West is from England, Hull from Australia, and Burdon from New Zealand and Australia
Prakel and Stanvosek are from Ohio. We might have some future Olympians in this group.

We're not really doing a big tailgate but we are getting together before the game in the parking lot to hang out. This one will be especially interesting because we will be joining Justin Hopkins and the guys from Scoopduck just to kind of chill out and get to know each other.

We don't have an exact spot but we plan on meeting up right across from the BMX track, right up against the sidewalk.

Please stop by and say hi if you get a chance. I will be there from about noon to 1 pm. Hope to see you there!

You never know but here are my top four guys to watch this weekend.

Quack Watch List

I was on the sidelines for these shots yesterday. Focus was RB and DL but got a few others.

Mattrell McGraw

Interesting............

The Rivals100 RB continues to show high interest in the Ducks.

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There is a lot of track to come this spring. I won't elaborate on what happened today or will happen this weekend other than to say that I feel very encouraged right now. So many athletes are showing steady improvement. That doesn't mean that they will score at Nationals, but it does say something about the basic attitude, energy, and coaching of the program. No where am I noticing this more than with some of the throwers. Several of the younger ones just keep improving. The distance runners are also a reason for optimism. We need to get and keep the sprinters healthy, but I am impressed with the improvement of a couple of sprinters that really weren't expected to be a factor. At this point, we will just have to see how many can crack into scoring potential. No mater who scores, I find it fun and exciting to watch them getting better and better. The coaches are obviously doing a great job.