Code Yellow: Don’t Panic!

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The University of Oregon entered the 2015 football season with a giant elephant in the locker room: How could the program possibly fill the void left by Marcus Mariota?

The 2014 Heisman Trophy winner was selected second overall in this year’s NFL draft, ending the amateur career of the most prolific quarterback in the school’s history. Mariota’s backup, Jeff Lockie, didn’t quite have the experience the Ducks were looking for, so the coaches began to scout an insurance plan. Enter Vernon Adams, an Eastern Washington University graduate transfer student with definite upside. In 2013, Adams thrust himself into the FCS record books by ranking third all-time in passing yards (4,994) and touchdowns (55) for a season – giving Oregon fans a glimmer of hope.

Fast forward to Week Five of the current season, and you’ll find a reeling program still searching for answers. For the Ducks, knocked out of the AP Top 25 weekly poll for the first time since 2009 and sitting at 2-2 after a blowout home loss to Utah, perhaps some expectations should’ve been tempered from the start.

Oregon fans have been spoiled by watching the 6-foot, 4-inch Mariota effortlessly hit receivers on a dime and, as it turns out, Eastern Washington is still putting up good numbers even without the 5-foot, 11-inch Adams in the mix. It is becoming more apparent that Adams is not a suitable replacement, even on an interim basis. After completing only 2 passes in 7 attempts for 26 yards against Utah, Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich benched him in favor of Lockie, who didn’t fare much better, throwing two interceptions and a single touchdown.

Keep in mind, it’s not just the offense’s fault: The Ducks’ porous defense allowed 62 points, the most given up at Autzen Stadium in school history.

Not everything has to be doom-and-gloom, however. Every school goes through a rebuilding phase at some point. Helfrich, a Coos Bay native, has been with Oregon since 2009 and took the Ducks to the national championship game in just his second season as head coach in 2014. The protégé of former head coach Chip Kelly, he played an integral part in the school’s recent success and knows how to win. After all, Helfrich was one of the first college recruiters to discover Mariota playing in Hawaii and made Oregon one of only two schools to offer him a scholarship.

Now Helfrich has his own protégé in current Offensive Coordinator Scott Frost, who had been the program’s wide receivers coach for five years. From the 2016 high school recruiting class Frost has a four-star, dual-threat quarterback committed to Oregon next year: Seth Green, out of Allen, Texas. Green fits more of the “Ducks profile,” standing at 6-foot, 4-inches, with a big arm. He also has the mobility to escape pressure and turn failed plays into positive yardage. He’ll be in camp with the team next year, most likely as a redshirt freshman, but he gives the fan base something to look forward to.

Time will tell if Helfrich has more of that Mariota magic up his sleeve, but it doesn’t appear it will take too long to find out.

Advocate Staff