It’s tough playing cornerback at Oregon. The blistering pace and productivity of the Oregon offense demands that opponents throw early and often to catch up. The Ducks play a blitzing and aggressive style of defense with a strong commitment to stopping the run, so cornerbacks are often on an island, guarding taller and faster receivers one on one. And the PAC-12 is loaded with marquee pass catchers, including Marquise Lee of USC and Marquess Wilson of Washington State. In all, five or six of the best in the country play in the conference, a list that has to include SC’s Robert Woods and Cal’s Keenan Allen.
Last year redshirt freshmen Terrance Mitchell and Troy Hill and true freshman Ifo Ekpre-Olomu were thrown into the deep end of the shark tank due to the off-field problems of Cliff Harris. The Ducks won 12 games, their third straight conference championship and a Rose Bowl, but the three suffered a few bite marks in the neoprene. Opponents averaged 247 yards per game passing last year but only 25 tds (by comparison, the run-first Ducks had 39). A few times, the three youngsters were burned for some highlight film days:
9-10 Nevada Rishard Lewis – 9 catches 100 yards
9-24 Arizona Nick Foles – 398 yards 3 tds. David Douglas – 7 catches 120 yards, Juron Criner – 9 catches 96 yards. Wildcats had pass plays of 44, 31, 34 and 40 yards.
10-6 Cal Keenan Allen – 9 catches 170 yards, 1 td
10-15 ASU Gerrell Robinson – 6 catches 120 yards. Brock Osweiler – 291 yards and 2 tds
10-29 WSU Marshall Lobbestael – 28-48 337 yds. Marquess Wilson – 11 catches 126 yards, Jeff Karstetter – 7-114, 1 td (34 yds)
11-5 UW Kasen Williams – 6 catches 79 yards, including a 53-yard td
11-12 Stanford Griff Whalen – 9 catches 107 yards, 2 tds. Andrew Luck – 256 yards and 3 tds.
11-19 USC Matt Barkley – 323 yards, 4 tds. Marquise Lee – 8 catches 187 yards, 1 td (59 yards). Robert Woods – (playing on one leg) 7 catches 53 yards, 2 tds
11-26 OSU Sean Mannion – 299 yds, 3 tds
12-2 UCLA Nelson Rosario – 6 catches 98 yds, 2 tds
1-2 Wisconsin (Rose Bowl) Russell Wilson – 19-25 296 yards, 2 tds. Jared Abbrederis – 4 catches 119 yds 29.8 ypc 1 td, Nick Toon – 9 catches 104 yds 1 td
The three made steady improvement, and the Ducks won nearly all of those games. And this year the secondary should benefit from depth, an improved pass rush, and a stout front seven underneath them. But the list is also worrisome, one, because the Ducks will face many of these players again this year, including a key showdown with Barkley, Woods and Lee in November, and two because the PAC-12 offensive profile gets an infusion of new talent this season with the introduction of new coaches Mike Leach at WSU, Rich Rodriguez at Arizona, and Jim Mora with the Bruins (UCLA is not on the Oregon schedule unless they make an unlikely return to the conference championship game).
Some of the receivers who beat Oregon’s secondary for big games last season were not household names. Several, however, made pro training camps this summer.
No doubt Mitchell, Hill and Olomu have been drilling on their footwork and hip turn all off season, and secondary coach John Neal has reviewed film with them of every catch, big play and touchdown they surrendered in 2011.
The three are all confident, aggressive, and talented. How much better will they be with a full year of experience? Veteran cover guys like Avery Patterson and Brian Jackson should help too, but a big portion of Oregon’s success in reaching its potential as a defense lies with these three and their ability to challenge receivers one-on-one. It may be the toughest assignment in football, one where the cameras catch your every mistake, and play it over three or four times.
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