Yeah I’ve been gone for a minute, I’m sure you all missed me. I wish I had some cool story about ‘finding my inner me’ on some backpacking trip through Europe while having copious amounts of unsafe sex and ingesting any and every drug I was handed, but I don’t. Alas, my computer is a bitch and I crashed into a wall called ‘apathy’ along the way.

What’s weird is that in the two weeks or so I laid low in the blogosphere, like a ton of shit happened. Like, a ton, man. So with all that said, I’m three beers, a cig and a Quaalude deep tonight, so it’s possible I ramble on for longer than this song, so you got that going for you. I guess?

Let me just start off by saying that after the Rose Bowl, I had a “clean month.” No booze, no Nick-o-Teen, barely any sex, went for a couple of jogs, ate carrots and apples, lifted heavy items repetitively. It sucked. I literally feel no healthier today than when I went to bed on January 2 hammered and glowing from the Ducks win in Pasadena. Now I know all that stuff is bad for you, but I’m really starting to doubt it’s actually that bad.  Probably another left-wing conspiracy from that Muslim Obama and his American-hating justices that Newt was talking about. Has to be. Planned Parenthood probably plays a part in this as well, maybe.

So that whole “Chip Kelly to the Bucs” deal was wild. Started off as a tweet from Portland, and BOOM, just caught fire. Of course the easy thing to do was just play it off as a rumor, but come on now. We all know Chipper is better than us. We are dating out of our league here with the Visored one. Hey, I have no problems with that at all, Chipper is bigger than probably 5-6 jobs in America. And I’m not just talking about college football jobs either… I mean Chip is so big, that in the middle of an economic downturn, UW started throwing cash around like D Miles in a strip club and poaching coaches from the Pac-12 brethren like no one’s business. USC got so hard off of pulliing the biggest upset in program history and chinking the kings crown a tad, that they started an actual Heisman campaign for the bumbling Matt Barkley (come on Trojies, you don’t trust him in a big spot either) and have visions of a national title run dancing in their heads. OSU…well…they uh…worked really hard the right way to do whatever they do between rock-paper-scissors competitions. Point being, it was huge news. When he was gone, the entire west coast breathed a sigh of relief, which made his ‘return’ all the more enjoyable. Lots of people woke up that Monday feeling way worse than they did when they went to bed on Sunday…

What started next was weird, it was like class warfare within the Oregon fanbase. All of a sudden if you believed the ‘rumors’ (come on ya’ll, that report not only had legs, but they were already bronzed and sweaty from the Tampa heat and humidity) you were a bad fan. If you thought Chipper was a dick, you were a bad fan. Now I’ve never been divorced, but that’s almost what it felt like. While you were at Wholefoods buying grapes and oats, he moved out with his tennis instructor. And when you get dumped for a prettier lady, I aint gonna get mad if you curse the bum on the way out the door.

But, fortunately for us, the king did in fact return. Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Oh hey, Arik Armstead committed to Oregon.

Yessir, you know you did the exact same thing when the news broke before a world hanging on to his every word.

Signing day came and went, and contrary to some occasional C-Walking, I don’t really get too into it. Oregon signed a good class, blah blah blah. But, it just seems like stalking teenage boys, errr I mean, following recruiting closely will eventually drive a person crazy.

So…how about that hoops team? And no, not the sorry Blazers, those plucky Ducks. Altman has his antagonists sitting thiiiis close to the top spot in the league (though, I’m not sure that’s something to brag about this year) with a HUGE game tonight in Boulder against the Buffs. After the Ducks beat UCLA to get to 6-2 in the league, some tourney talk started to come around. My take was get me to 8-3 in league, then we’ll talk. After vomiting all over themselves against the beavs, the Ducks got it together in the second half and put away the shitty Utes in Salt Lake City. So…beat CU, get to 8-3, talk tourney. But, of course those dick-heads in Colorado had to get a blizzard to blow though and delay the charter flight by about 12 hours. Homecourt advantage is one thing, but getting the nimbus clouds to conspire against your opponent is flat out bush league. There I said it. If Oregon loses, it’s the weathers fault, and the tourney committee will most likely agree.

Back to Altman for one second, you digging him yet? Now, Ernie left a steaming pile of feces in his wake, but I’m still iffy on Dana. What are the Ducks good at? What is his style? In a perfect world, would they score 90 a game, or be a team that slows it down and plays lock-down defense? I honestly have no clue, do you? For his sake, it better be the former, because the latter aint selling here in Eugene. Even if he’s a consistent tourney team. Face it, Nike, Chipper and the Blur Offense have made us even more spoiled than we were a couple of years ago. Oregon is a “sex and cocaine” fan base, and there is nothing wrong with that. We want to be entertained, talked about and get our Pit Bull on at every sporting event. As frustrating as Big Ern was, when his teams were rolling, they were as fun to watch as any. Altman’s teams set offense back 50 years every other game. Maybe winning cures all of that, but I doubt it. MKA isn’t even a year and a half old, and yet no one is going to fill that place up. It’s flat out empty most nights. I’ve only been to three games this year, so I’m as big of an offender as any, but I feel no ‘need’ to go. It’s boring and bad basketball, sorry. And if you look at the roster and who is returning next year, is it getting any better?

But whatever, Go Ducks, don’t want to be a fake fan or anything.

As I finish another beer after ‘dry January’, I’ll leave with some Josh Hamilton stuff. We all know the story, but where do you fall on it? Is it newsworthy? Any of our business? That was a rather heated debate on twitter the other night, to be sure. I fall in the camp of it most certainly being newsworthy. He was out in a bar, no one was poking around his ‘man cave’, so I have no issues with papers/ESPN running with it. His demons with addictions are probably something every single person reading this has dealt with in some way or another. The disease is no longer this ‘hush, hush’ deal that it used to be. Who knows, maybe an embarrassing episode leaking to the media may have extended Mickey Mantle’s life?  I’ve yet to talk to one person that wasn’t pulling for Hamilton 110% to get a grasp on his issues, and his lapse was a sobering reminder to all that there are no ‘off days’ when it comes to fighting off the ugly monster that is substance abuse. His presser Friday afternoon was great, my respect for Ian Kinsler and the Rangers organization that stands behind him at every turn is through the roof.

As an aside, remember when thisguy was like a ‘thing?’

This is our running thread of Oregon’s signees as signing day commences.

We get most of our information from Twitter as Oregon doesn’t announce their letters of intent until Chip Kelly has a press conference whenever he damn-well feels like. Pretty run of the mill for Chip.

The media love him.

The question marks remaining are wide receiver Bralon Addison, a current Texas A&M commit, athlete Bryan Harper, wide receiver Thomas Johnson, a Texas decommit, wide receiver Chance Allen, a current Oklahoma State commit, and whomever else Oregon went after under the radar.

The experts are predicting Johnson goes to Texas A&M, while Oregon has the slight edge for the other three.

Stay tuned to this thread to see if Oregon receives faxes from those guys along with everyone else currently committed.

As the day goes on we will move the commits up to the signee area. Those are the kids who we confirmed (one way or another) sent in their faxes.

Update: Addison and Allen both signed with Oregon.

Update: Only remaining targets (that we know of) for Oregon are Harper and WR Julian Brooks, who is visiting this Friday.

Update: Harper signed with Arizona. Still just Brooks and possibly some more walk-ons to go along with former Sheldon two-star linebacker Dawson Housley.

Oregon’s 2012 Signees

National Rankings:

• ESPN: 18
• Rivals: 15
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): 15
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): 14

Position Breakdown:

• QB: 2
• RB: 1
• WR: 3
• TE: 2
• OL: 1
• DL: 6
• LB: 1
• DB: 4
• P: 1

Offense:

Jake Rodrigues, QB, 6’2″ 210 lbs. Whitney High School (Calif.) *Already Enrolled

• ESPN: Four-star; 80 OVR; No. 12-ranked QB.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 5-ranked pro-style QB; No. 165 on Rivals 250.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 17-ranked QB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 89 OVR; No. 16-ranked pro-style QB.
• Elite 11 Quarterback.
• Video Highlights: Here.
• More Here.

Byron Marshall, RB, 5’10″ 195 lbs. Valley Christian High School (Calif.)

• ESPN: Four-star; 80 OVR; No. 10-ranked RB; No. 127 on ESPNU 150.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 8-ranked RB; No. 114 in Rivals 250.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 18-ranked RB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 95 OVR; No. 8-ranked RB; No. 102 on Top 247.
• U.S. Army All-American.

Photo by Brad Kupper

Dwayne Stanford, WR, 6’5″ 195 lbs. Taft High School (OH)

• ESPN: Four-star; 80 OVR; No. 35-ranked WR.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 23-ranked WR; No. 164 in Rivals 250.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 51-ranked WR.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 88 OVR; No. 66-ranked WR.
• U.S. Army All-American.

Photo by Liz Dufour

Kyle Long, OT, 6’7″ 290 lbs. Saddleback College (VA)

• ESPN: Doesn’t rank junior college players
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.7 rating; No. 30-ranked JC player.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 94 OVR; No. 13-ranked JC player.

Chance Allen, WR, 6’3″ 191 lbs. Elkins High School (TX)

• ESPN: Three-star; 75 OVR; No. 141-ranked WR.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating; No. 94-ranked WR.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 115-ranked WR.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 84 OVR; No. 120-ranked WR.

Jeff Lockie, QB, 6’2″ 185 lbs. Monte Vista High School (Calif.)

• ESPN: Two-star; 74 OVR; No. 105-ranked QB.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 49-ranked QB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 84 OVR; No. 19-ranked DUAL QB.

Pharaoh Brown, TE, 6’7″ 230 lbs. Brush High School (OH)

• ESPN: Four-star; 79 OVR; No. 14-ranked TE.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 3-ranked TE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 12-ranked TE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 92 OVR; No. 17-ranked WDE.
• Sports Illustrated Honorable Mention All-American.
• Offense-Defense Bowl All American West Team Offensive MVP.

Evan Baylis, TE, 6’5″ 220 lbs. Grandview High School (Co.)

• ESPN: Four-star; 79 OVR; No. 11-ranked TE.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 9-ranked TE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 9-ranked TE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 92 OVR; No. 9-ranked TE.

Bralon Addison, WR, 5’10″ 182 lbs. Hightower High School (TX)

• ESPN: Four-star; 80 OVR; No. 18-ranked WR; No. 129 on ESPNU 150.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 18-ranked WR.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 14-ranked WR.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 95 OVR; No. 11-ranked WR; No. 91 on Top 247.
• U.S. Army All American “Elite Status”

Defense:

Stetzon Bair, DT, 6’9″ 260 lbs. Iowa Western Community College (IA)

• ESPN: Doesn’t rank junior college players
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 83 OVR; No. 90-ranked JC player.

Oshay Dunmore, S, 6’2″ 195 lbs. Newport High School (Ore.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 78 OVR; No. 65-ranked ATH.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.7 rating; No. 36-ranked ATH.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 60-ranked S.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 92 OVR; No. 18-ranked ATH.

Eric Amoako, S, 5’11″ 190 lbs. Martin High School (Tex.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 78 OVR; No. 31-ranked S.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating; No. 57-ranked S.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 25-ranked S.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 85 OVR; No. 52-ranked S.

Photo from Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Stephen Amoako, CB, 5’10″ 175 lbs. Martin High School (Tex.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 77 OVR; No. 39-ranked CB.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating; No. 62-ranked CB.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 82-ranked CB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 88 OVR; No. 35-ranked CB.
• Feature video on both brothers: here.

DeForest Buckner, DE, 6’7″ 230 lbs. Punahou High School (HI)

• ESPN: Three-star; 78 OVR; No. 57-ranked DE.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 17-ranked SDE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 17-ranked DE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 89 OVR; No. 25-ranked WDE.

Cody Carriger, DE, 6’6″ 230 lbs. Butte High School (MT.)

• ESPN: Not rated; 45 OVR.
• Rivals: Two-star; 5.4 rating; No. 3-ranked player in Montana.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 90-ranked DE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 87 OVR; No. 38-ranked WDE.
• ESPN camp results: 4.85 40-yard dash, 4.79 20-yard shuttle, 33.6 vertical jump.

Photo by Walter Hinick/Montana Standard

Alex Balducci, DE, 6’4″ 262 lbs. Central Catholic High School (Ore.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 79 OVR; No. 45-ranked DE.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.9 rating; No. 8-ranked DE; No. 97 in Rivals 250.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 33-ranked DE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 89 OVR; No. 22-ranked SDE.
• U.S. Army All American.

Brett Bafaro, LB, 6’2″ 220 lbs. Liberty High School (Ore.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 79 OVR; No. 43-ranked ILB.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 23-ranked OLB.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 62-ranked OLB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 85 OVR; No. 25-ranked ILB.

Terrence “TJ” Daniel, DE, 6’7″ 240 lbs. Bishop O’Dowd High School (Calif.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 77 OVR; No. 102-ranked DE.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating; No. 45-ranked DE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 114-ranked DE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 85 OVR; No. 64-ranked ATH.

Reggie Daniels, S, 6’0″ 170 lbs. Hamilton High School (AZ)

• ESPN: Four-star; 79 OVR; No. 16-ranked S.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.7 rating; No. 23-ranked S.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 16-ranked S.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 93 OVR; No. 14-ranked S; No. 231 on Top 247.
• Sports Illustrated Honorable Mention All-American.

Arik Armstead, DL, 6’8″ 285 lbs. Pleasant Grove High School (Calif)

• ESPN: Four-star; 83 OVR; No. 3-ranked OT; No. 24 in ESPNU 150.
• Rivals: Four-star; 6.0 rating; No. 6-ranked DE; No. 61 in Rivals 100.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Five-star; No. 1-ranked OT.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Five-star; 100 OVR; No. 1-ranked ATH; No. 4 on Top 247.
• U.S. Army All American.

Special Teams:

Dylan Ausherman, P, 6’3″ 180 lbs. College of the Seqouias (Calif)

• ESPN: Doesn’t rank JC players
• Rivals: Two-star; 5.4 rating.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Two-star.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Two-star; 70 OVR.
• Best Punter at the Chris Sailer at the Sailer Kicking Camp.
• No. 2 Punter in the nation, according to Sailer.

With signing day just a few days away, one of the few question marks remaining for Oregon’s 2012 recruiting class turned into an emphatic exclamation point Sunday afternoon.

As I’m sure you’ve already heard, Pleasant Grove High School lineman Arik Armstead committed to play football and basketball in Eugene.

Armstead puts a cap on (so to speak) what was already a solid class, especially at the defensive line position, which is where it’s expected he’ll begin when he arrives in Eugene. I say that because several outlets rate him as one of the top offensive tackle prospects in the nation, while others rate him similarly at defensive line.

Either way he’ll challenge to play immediately. His best chance at that is probably at defense end in the void left by Terrell Turner, but with his size it’s safe to assume he could play defensive tackle too.

Arik Armstead with his parents at his announcement today. Photo from Dan Greenspan's Twitter

I can’t remember who the last guy to play basketball and football at Oregon is, but … oh yeah, it’s Jordan Kent.

“Hey, did you know that Jordan Kent was a letter winner in three sports when he attended the University of Oregon?” said every play-by-play guy on every broadcast Jordan Kent ever played on.

Armstead is also a two-star power forward on ESPN.com, which should tell you he has pretty good feet. That athleticism would serve him well on offense, but Oregon recruited the offensive line extremely well last year and defensive line is a more likely place Armstead could play next year.

He already graduated high school and said he plans to enroll at the UO in March for Spring practices.

The only reason, it seems, that Armstead is going to Oregon is because Tosh Lupoi got hired by Washington after the Cal board of directors denied Jeff Tedford’s application to get him a raise. He was a very solid Cal commit up until that point. Obviously Washington isn’t enough of a draw for Lupoi to keep his grasp on Armstead, despite Washington sending seven coaches out in their last in-home visit last week.

It was reported that Chip Kelly and Jim Mora Jr. were the only coaches who didn’t use negative recruiting, and that Kelly was honest and up front about things, including his own shaky future in Eugene.

Some players appreciate that kind of thing. Armstead’s father, Gus, said Arik is clearly one of those.

The only question remaining is whether Armstead’s buddy Shaq Thompson flips from Cal to Oregon as well. Both of them discussed going to the same school for a long time, but the change at Cal probably changed that. The thing to watch for is that Thompson is a lot more connected to Lupoi than Armstead, so the experts expect Thompson to follow Lupoi to Seattle, despite him still being a solid commit to Cal.

Obviously — getting back to Armstead — a commitment is a lot different than a signed letter of intent, so we’ll see if he actually sends it Oregon’s way.

Stay tuned, I guess. All will be answered Wednesday.

By the way, the plan, as we did last year, is to have our SIGNING DAY SPECTACULAAAAAAAAAAR, where we’ll update the LsOI as they’re reported on Twitter. Remember, Oregon doesn’t announce their signees until a mid-day press conference, so the best anyone can do is pay attention to Matt Prehm, Justin Hopkins, Greg Biggins, and Chris Courtney and whoever else reports that stuff for Oregon on Twitter. Or you can follow our thread on Wednesday because we’ll do it for you.

Arik Armstead, OT/DE/DT, 6’8″ 285 lbs. Pleasant Grove High School (Calif)

• ESPN: Four-star; 83 OVR; No. 3-ranked OT; No. 24 in ESPNU 150.
• Rivals: Four-star; 6.0 rating; No. 6-ranked DE; No. 61 in Rivals 100.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Five-star; No. 1-ranked OT.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Five-star; 100 OVR; No. 1-ranked ATH; No. 4 on Top 247.
• U.S. Army All American.

Oregon’s 2012 Commits So Far:

National Rankings:

• ESPN: 21
• Rivals: 15
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): 12
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): 15

Position Breakdown:

• QB: 2
• RB: 1
• WR: 1
• TE: 2
• OL: 1
• DL: 7
• LB: 1
• DB: 4

Defense: 

Reggie Daniels, S, 6’0″ 170 lbs. Hamilton High School (AZ)

• ESPN: Four-star; 79 OVR; No. 16-ranked S.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.7 rating; No. 23-ranked S.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 16-ranked S.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 93 OVR; No. 14-ranked S; No. 231 on Top 247.
• Sports Illustrated Honorable Mention All-American.

DeForest Buckner, DE, 6’7″ 230 lbs. Punahou High School (HI)

• ESPN: Three-star; 78 OVR; No. 57-ranked DE.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 17-ranked SDE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 17-ranked DE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 89 OVR; No. 25-ranked WDE.

Alex Balducci, DE, 6’4″ 262 lbs. Central Catholic High School (Ore.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 79 OVR; No. 45-ranked DE.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.9 rating; No. 8-ranked DE; No. 97 in Rivals 250.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 33-ranked DE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 89 OVR; No. 22-ranked SDE.
• U.S. Army All American.

Cody Carriger, DE, 6’6″ 230 lbs. Butte High School (MT.)

• ESPN: Not rated; 45 OVR.
• Rivals: Two-star; 5.4 rating; No. 3-ranked player in Montana.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 90-ranked DE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 87 OVR; No. 38-ranked WDE.
• ESPN camp results: 4.85 40-yard dash, 4.79 20-yard shuttle, 33.6 vertical jump.

Photo by Walter Hinick/Montana Standard

Oshay Dunmore, S, 6’2″ 195 lbs. Newport High School (Ore.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 78 OVR; No. 65-ranked ATH.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.7 rating; No. 36-ranked ATH.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 60-ranked S.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 92 OVR; No. 18-ranked ATH.

Eric Amoako, S, 5’11″ 190 lbs. Martin High School (Tex.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 78 OVR; No. 31-ranked S.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating; No. 57-ranked S.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 25-ranked S.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 85 OVR; No. 52-ranked S.

Photo from Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Stephen Amoako, CB, 5’10″ 175 lbs. Martin High School (Tex.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 77 OVR; No. 39-ranked CB.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating; No. 62-ranked CB.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 82-ranked CB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 88 OVR; No. 35-ranked CB.

Feature video on both brothers: here.

Stetzon Bair, DT, 6’9″ 260 lbs. Iowa Western Community College (IA)

• ESPN: Doesn’t rank junior college players
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 83 OVR; No. 90-ranked JC player.

Brett Bafaro, LB, 6’2″ 220 lbs. Liberty High School (Ore.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 79 OVR; No. 43-ranked ILB.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 23-ranked OLB.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 62-ranked OLB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 85 OVR; No. 25-ranked ILB.

Terrence “TJ” Daniel, DE, 6’7″ 240 lbs. Bishop O’Dowd High School (Calif.)

• ESPN: Three-star; 77 OVR; No. 102-ranked DE.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating; No. 45-ranked DE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 114-ranked DE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 85 OVR; No. 64-ranked ATH.

Bryce Cottrell, DE, 6’3″ 230 lbs. Plano West Senior High School (Tex.)

• ESPN: Two-star; 74 OVR; No. 115-ranked OLB.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating; No. 42-ranked SDE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 50-ranked DE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 88 OVR; No. 49-ranked OLB.

Offense:

Evan Baylis, TE, 6’5″ 220 lbs. Grandview High School (Co.)

• ESPN: Four-star; 79 OVR; No. 11-ranked TE.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 9-ranked TE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 9-ranked TE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 92 OVR; No. 9-ranked TE.

Pharaoh Brown, TE, 6’7″ 230 lbs. Brush High School (OH)

• ESPN: Four-star; 79 OVR; No. 14-ranked TE.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 3-ranked TE.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 12-ranked TE.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 92 OVR; No. 17-ranked WDE.
• Sports Illustrated Honorable Mention All-American.
• Offense-Defense Bowl All American West Team Offensive MVP.

Jeff Lockie, QB, 6’2″ 185 lbs. Monte Vista High School (Calif.)

• ESPN: Two-star; 74 OVR; No. 105-ranked QB.
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.6 rating.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 49-ranked QB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 84 OVR; No. 19-ranked DUAL QB.

Kyle Long, OT, 6’7″ 290 lbs. Saddleback College (VA)

• ESPN: Doesn’t rank junior college players
• Rivals: Three-star; 5.7 rating; No. 30-ranked JC player.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 94 OVR; No. 13-ranked JC player.

Dwayne Stanford, WR, 6’5″ 195 lbs. Taft High School (OH)

• ESPN: Four-star; 80 OVR; No. 35-ranked WR.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 23-ranked WR; No. 164 in Rivals 250.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Three-star; No. 51-ranked WR.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 88 OVR; No. 66-ranked WR.
• U.S. Army All-American.

Photo by Liz Dufour

Byron Marshall, RB, 5’10″ 195 lbs. Valley Christian High School (Calif.)

• ESPN: Four-star; 80 OVR; No. 10-ranked RB; No. 127 on ESPNU 150.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 8-ranked RB; No. 114 in Rivals 250.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 18-ranked RB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Four-star; 95 OVR; No. 8-ranked RB; No. 102 on Top 247.
• U.S. Army All-American.

Photo by Brad Kupper

Jake Rodrigues, QB, 6’2″ 210 lbs. Whitney High School (Calif.) *Already Enrolled

• ESPN: Four-star; 80 OVR; No. 12-ranked QB.
• Rivals: Four-star; 5.8 rating; No. 5-ranked pro-style QB; No. 165 on Rivals 250.
• eDuck (Scout: Fox Sports): Four-star; No. 17-ranked QB.
• DuckTerritory (247 Sports): Three-star; 89 OVR; No. 16-ranked pro-style QB.
• Elite 11 Quarterback.
• Video Highlights: Here.
• More Here.

A little Anton to get you through the Friday, as we wait patiently for the “journalists” to bring us some more news -false it may be but,  juuuuuicy!!!!

And…

Coming off a sweep in the desert last week and a win last night against SC, the Ducks find themselves sitting in second place in the Pac-12 at 5-2. However, if they plan on playing in a post season tourny with the letters CIT, CBI or NIT then they will most likely have to win the conference outright. Most years the conference would have 4-5 teams in the big dance, but this year the Pac-12 might be the worst in the country and the chance of them getting even two teams in minimal.

The Ducks success has been somewhat of a pleasant surprise considering how the year started. Before the season even began 3 players had transferred, and then a month in their top recruit from last years decides to bounce. Not to worry though because while players transfer out of the program players also transfer in. D. Joseph, T. Woods, C. Emory, and O. Ashaolu are all transfers who are playing significant minutes for the Ducks. Add in T. Nared who came in as a transfer last year and you have 3 starters (Joesph and Ashaolu) who had nothing to do with the program 2 years and are now the face of it. Not sure if that’s good or bad, but they are winning. What Altman has been able to do with this group is pretty impressive. Usually when multiple players leave a program it is a reflection of the coach, not in Altman’s case though. The guys who left were scrubs that either didn’t want to work, play d, or thought they were way better than they actually were.

The Ducks play the pathetic Bruins Saturday where they should pick another W, and then next Sunday they will play host to the Bark Rats where another W should be in order as well.

The only thing worse than the Pac is Singler’s mop atop his dome. It’s been brutal all year, bust he took it a step further last night by channeling his inner Sasha Vujacic by wearing a hair band.

So Darron Thomas has decided to turn pro, good for him. I say thatwith 100% sincerity. There were some that never fully embraced DT, for whatever reason, and called for the white Cali-Kid to take the lanky Texans spot. And can you blame them?? I mean that one pass in the Colorado game was siiiiick, bruh. Easily outweighs 23-3, two Pac titles, National Title appearance and Rose Bowl win. Because DT should have ran more! /looks in Ski’s direction…

We can all debate whether it was the right choice, or if Darron ever had an NFL future until the cows come home, but that isn’t what this blog is really about. It doesn’t interest me one bit.

Again, for his sake, I hope his decision works out. But, honestly, I really don’t care. Does that make sense? Does that make me a shit-bag?

Honestly, I think it just makes me honest.

The dirty little secret in college athletics is that the players are essentially just un-paid workers. They are the prized bovine at the cattle sale. We use them, they use us – circle of life type stuff – rinse
and repeat. Most of us use them for (not so) cheap an,d mindless entertainment. Some use them as some sort of affirmation of life (looking at you, SEC). I
n general, they don’t care about us, and we really don’t care about them. Throw, catch, score and tackle, and it’s all good. Do you really care about their fiscal means 5-10 years down the road? I don’t, sorry. I never saw a fundraiser for Jamal Curry, who pumped my has at the Goodpasture Chevron two years ago, did you? So spare me all the speeches about how I need to care. I don’t know him, he doesn’t know me. Aside from just being human, and not rooting for pain or failure on non-scumbags, matters not to me.

Seeing a lot of “twitter preachers” imploring us to.support Darron 100%, and that’s fine. But, questioning the decision doesn’t make you a “bad fan.” Pretending they can do no wrong because they played at Oregon, is what’s wrong. It’s akin to hiding a parents alcoholism because, well, you’re family. Sometimes honesty hurts, but sometimes it’s necessary.

Sorry, this is big boy football, next man up. You may.disagree.with that, but it’s how the machine works.

Good luck to DT, but I hope Bennett throws and runs.for.a million yards.

ps-sent this from my phone while roaming.costco, ignore all the.punctuation and grammatical errors….

The 5-star linemen that everyone wants, has apparently (?) enrolled at Cal.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but just enrolling isn’t actually ‘binding’ in the eyes of the NCAA, right? One has to actually start taking classes before the commitment becomes official?

Mr. Armstead is currently enjoying his trip out to Auburn, and haters gon’ hate (namely, USC fans).

All I have to say is that Tedford is an absolute magician in the recruiting field. I don’t get it, at all. With all of his recent wizardry, one has to wonder how he the partnership of himself and Willie Lyles didn’t create the worlds next superpower?

Oh well, they are still rolling with bumbling Jefferey, so no real reason to sweat about their on-field performance.

Cal Football: First on signing day, fourth in the North.

And this gem…

Fast forward to the 1:12 mark

Ha, it’s about time the sports gods were on the Ducks side for once. If the back judge was actually paying attention to the ball game, Wisconsin would have got to regroup for one final play. And if history is any indication, they would have scored a TD and eventually gone on to win the game… It would have gone down with the “Blount Punt”, “Michael ‘Fucking’ Dyer” and  “MaLOLdonado” as blunders sticking with the Ducks like a Thanksgiving meal to your rib cage.

If you remember the previous play, Boyett went ‘Chuck Cecil’ on Nick Toon and got up weebling and wobbling like Dennis Erickson leaving a bar, so I guarantee you Boyett has no idea why, or even that he was wanting that time out.

If nothing else, this just confirms that Bert Bielema committed a gaffe by spiking the ball and not running the play. Even a guy with a concussion knew there is no way to spike the ball with two seconds and get another play…

I would love to know what Boyett was saying to that official. “Dude, I was calling a time out, what gives?!?! Oh, the game is over? He really called for the spike? Listen, I can’t see straight, he really did that? Oh, thanks, for not calling that time out, I was just signaling a play to Money Makin’ Mitch anyway.”

This has the early lead for my favorite fan meltdown video of 2012, and it’s going to take a lot to knock it off the top.

Lets be honest, we’ve all had this same meltdown at some point in the living room or in a stadium parking lot. It’s part of sports, it’s healthy, it’s fantastic.

I had this exact same meltdown walking out of the Rose Bowl in 2010. Slapping my friend on the back of the head calling Chip Kelly a bitch, and chucking my hat only to pick it back up (hey, Nike gear aint cheap). Cursing the Oregon fans, cursing the city of Eugene. Yelling at Ernie Kent for being the coach of 8 win teams and still being employed. Asking Tajuan Porter why he still hasn’t learned how to pass the ball instead of shooting 42 foot three pointers. I didn’t even know the name of one Oregon baseball player, but I was all hot and bothered over how they hit into infinite double plays. Swearing if I saw a player at the Rodeo or Taylor’s, I would swing on them (obviously I wouldn’t, getting punched sucks) and act all tough. Yelling about Kitty Piercy and Kitzhaber, I was on fire. I even broke into my rage about Joe Giansante being a blowhard and probably spinning about what a great year it still was and we needed to smile or something.Pretty sure I even declared myself a Reebok guy from that point on…

About the only thing I was missing was a crack at Samuel L. Jackson, I’m not that crazy.

PS-This video proves that hype-men make everything better. That guy was just baiting this dude like a mug. Just poking that angry bear with a stick.