Jay, here.

A couple of weeks ago, a thread (”DuckD’s In-Depth Pre-Spring Depth Chart”) from one of the eDuck message boards came across my desk here at Duck Sports News and caught my attention.

So, I decided to shoot an email to DuckD to see I could share his analysis with other Duck fans through Duck Sports News. Upon completing his preview, he was more than happy to email his entire entry (Thank you, DuckD).

Instead of publishing the entire entry here, I’ve decided to break it up into more bite-size parts over the course of several days. Here’s a look at the schedule:

Offense
Friday, March 21st: Quarterback
Saturday, March 22nd: Running Back
Sunday, March 23rd: Wide Receiver
Monday, March 24th: Tight End, Half Back
Tuesday, March 25th: Offensive Line

Defense
Wednesday, March 26th: Defensive End
Thursday, March 27th: Defensive Tackle
Friday, March 28th: Linebacker
Saturday, March 29th: Cornerback
Sunday, March 30th: Safety

Here’s DuckD’s preview of Linebackers:

DuckD’s Spring Preview: LINEBACKERS

Probable Starter: Jerome Boyd sr., John Bacon sr., Kevin Garrett jr.
Depth: Casey Matthews so., Spencer Paysinger so., Terrance Pritchett fr., Brandon Hanna fr., Terrell Turner fr., Eddie Pleasant fr.
Incoming: Dewitt Stuckey fr., Kiko Alonso fr., Josh Kaddu fr.

Analysis: Jerome Boyd made great strides over the past year and really came around as a solid starter last year, finishing as the teams 4th leading tackler (79) and 2nd in tackles for loss (11, including 3 sacks). I expect Jerome to take another step up this year and really become a consistent play maker this fall. Many have said that he reminds them of Wesley Mallard, and I whole-heartedly agree. He has tremendous speed (I believe he broke Mallard’s team record 40 time for LBs with a 4.33), and I think he will be better at getting to the QB as a senior (assuming we blitz him ). I could definitely see Jerome pushing for All-Conference honors.

John Bacon had a solid season as a first year starter, and seemed to be starting to make more of an impact, until he went down with a knee injury. As long as he can come back from his surgery, I think he will retain his starting spot as a senior. Bacon has good size for a Mike backer, decent speed, and is a very intelligent player. He had a great interception and runback against WSU and seems decent in coverage. Bacon should make more strides in his final season at Oregon and solidify the middle of our defense.

Kevin Garrett is more in the mold of A.J. Tuitele and Kwame Agyeman size-wise, but he seems thicker built than the 2 departed seniors IMO. KG benefited greatly from the injuries that befell the linebacking corps last year, becoming a main backup after Tuitele went down, and then a part-time starter when Bacon and then Matthews went down forcing Agyeman to the middle. You could really see the light start to come on down the stretch run for Kevin and I think he will step into the vacated Will spot and do very well. He laid some pretty good hits last year and I expect we’ll see more of that as he becomes even more confident in his abilities.
Casey Matthews posted 18 tackles with 4 for loss and 1 sack as a true freshman. When did we ever get production like that from a true freshman linebacker? There is the possibility that Casey might be slid over to Will in order to get him on the field more, but I think that he will stay at Mike and do a lot of rotating with Bacon, allowing them both to play a lot and stay fresh. Matthews is definitely our future at Mike backer. He has a great future ahead of him.

Spencer Paysinger has good size and speed and has been a solid contributor on special teams, but has yet to really make his mark at linebacker. He will need to start showing more consistency and flashes of his potential if he wants to hold off the impressive young talent we’ve accumulated over the past couple of years’ recruiting classes.

Terrance Pritchett was very close to being pulled out of his redshirt year as a freshman, but I’m glad that the coaches were able to resist the temptation. He has tremendous energy and potential, and looks to have the makings of a real leader in the coming years. Terrance was awarded Oregon’s defensive scout team award at the team awards banquet after earning seven weekly scout team honors during his redshirt campaign, including five straight to end the regular season. He will need to get bigger and stronger, but he seems to have the frame to put on the weight. I am very excited to see him in action and I think Kevin Garrett is going to have a fight on his hands for the Will position in the coming years.

Brandon Hanna had injury issues during his redshirt year so I didn’t see him in practices, but he has good size and earned 5 defensive scout team player of the week awards. He will play either Mike or Will (hopefully he’ll get tried at both to improve overall depth) and will be another of the youngsters to keep an eye on.
Terrell Turner is another of the young guys that I am interested in seeing. He is huge (for us anyway) for a linebacker at 6′3″ 245 as a true freshman, and there have been “rumors” that he may get moved to DE. I hope he stays at LB as he could be a real punisher at Mike.

Eddie Pleasant is another of the youngsters that came very close to playing as a true freshman, although he almost played on offense as well as defense. Eddie is a tough player that will push to be Boyd’s main backup this fall.

Dewitt Stuckey probably has the most potential to see playing time out of this years group of true freshman due to his good size, and great aggressiveness, athleticism, and instincts. He tallied an incredible 134 solo tackles and 204 total tackles as well as 8.5 sacks and three forced fumbles in his senior year.

Kiko Alonso will likely redshirt to get stronger and work on his speed while he learns the Oregon defense. He is a thumper who will likely make his presence felt after his redshirt year.

Josh Kaddu looks to be a good athlete with nice size (6′3″ 210) and is projected as a SAM. He runs hurdles in track (usually speaks well to athleticism) and racked up 99 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and 4 INTs. He is something of a “sleeper”, but looks to have some of those “diamond-in-the-rough” type of attributes.

I am so excited to watch this group of linebackers play! I think our special teams will very likely be littered with LBs which should greatly improve our overall special teams play. We should be very good at the starting positions and while we’ll be young, we have a lot of talent making up our depth! I don’t think Boyd will leave the field much, but the Mike and Will spots will likely be rotating quite a bit and should allow for more growth from the young guys as well as keeping everyone fresh and ready to attack! And the best part: only 2 are seniors!

Tomorrow: CORNERBACK