Let’s deal in a hypothetical

Let’s say that last February LaMichael James car breaks down, and frustrated over the month-to-month existence as a college football player on scholarship, he decides to declare for the NFL draft. The evaluation tells him he’ll go in the second or third round coming out after three years. He consults with Gary Campbell and Coach Kelly and decides to go for it.  In April, Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks trade up to get him at #30 at the end the first round. James had made quite an impression on Carroll in college, and the two-time NFL coach tells the press, “We think LaMichael can be a star at the next level. We’re fired up about him.”

James gets to work in the training room and when the lockout is settled, he drives his brand-new Mercedes Benz to Seattle’s practice headquarters in Kirkland. He’s fired up too, and runs for 85 yards and a touchdown in the Seahawks exhibition opener. Catches a pass out of the backfield and turns that into a 25-yard gain and a key first down in a scoring drive. The Benz is green, custom painted to shine like an Oregon helmet.

Meanwhile back in Eugene, Duck running backs are working fiercely in summer drills. There’s a starting job up for grabs, on a team where last season’s leading rusher went for over 1700 yards. Kenjon Barner tells Rob Moseley, “We just have to step up. We’re all happy for LaMichael, he’s my best friend. But the rest of us are trying to defend our conference title and get back to the national championship. We’re working on improving every day.”

One player who is definitely improving is 5-star running back and redshirt freshman Lache Seastrunk. Faced with the possibility of starting in a 6899-yard offense in his redshirt freshman year Seastrunk doubles his efforts to learn the playbook, be at his peak physically and show leadership in voluntary workouts. He works tirelessly on his receiving skills out of the backfield, adds ten pounds of lean muscle in Jim Radcliffe’s training and conditioning program, finishes every run and focuses on cutting quickly into the hole.  In the evenings he gets a passkey to the video room, and a helpful student assistant shows him how to load up cutups from last season. He studies James’ moves, and the intricacies of zone blocking and the zone read, absorbing how James used his quickness and vision to get the most out of the blocking in front of him. Seastrunk burns to be the starter, to be a great player. In the last month before camp begins he works even harder. Barner is in awe. He tells Moseley, “Lache, he’s like Denzel Washington, man. He’s a man on fire.”

Fall camp begins, and there isn’t any doubt. The first day pads go on the 205-pound Seastrunk busts up inside, breaks a tackle by Kiko Alonso and runs 35 yards up the middle, juking John Boyett with a quick shake and bake at the 40. The play is whistled off but everyone knew it was six.

After a week of camp the dazzling progress of the Texas speedster is the story of camp. Even though there’s no depth chart and Chip Kelly brushes off all suggestions, saying, “I’m pleased with the progress of all our tailbacks. LaMichael is gone and these guys have to step up. Lache’s getting his reps like all the rest of them. We don’t have to make a decision until September 3rd.” Everyone knows Lache Seastrunk is the next great star running back at Oregon, a guy who could smash every record in the media guide if he stays healthy.

Then on Friday, August 19th, disaster strikes. Lache gets a call from home. His beloved grandmother, the woman who raised him and he calls “Nana,” has fallen ill in Temple, Texas. It looks serious. The Oregon coaches consult with the Compliance Office, and they arrange transportation and a 3-day leave for him to be at her bedside.

Lache flies home. On Monday he returns to the Oregon campus, and before a crowd of reporters in the Casanova Center he announces, with tears in his eyes “I love my grandmother. I pray for her every day. But my place is here with my teammates.  Nana understands. She told me she wants me to pursue my dream.”

In the Seahawks second exhibition game, James breaks off a 62-yard run, and has 11 carries for 103 yards. In Dallas on September 3rd, with his Nana watching from a hospital bed in Jerry Jones’ box, Lache Seastrunk is the player of the game.

So tell me, was Lache Seastrunk’s decision yesterday about football, or his family? Duck fans wish the young man well, but don’t quack in my ear and tell me you just farted.