Duck Stuff: Morning Mud

Morning Mud

• Ted Miller gives the Pac-12 an overall season grade for 2011 and Oregon helped keep the grades respectable, especially on offense.

Oregon again was the conference's top offense in total offense, scoring and rushing.

• George Schroeder calls OC Mark Helfrich a coach on the rise.

Helfrich is overshadowed as offensive coordinator in a system that’s widely and correctly seen as Kelly’s creation. Kelly calls the plays, sure. But when the coaches say it’s a collaboration, it is. The offense is constantly evolving, and Helfrich’s input has been a significant part of Oregon’s success.


All of which is to say: Helfrich has the tools. He’ll be a very good head coach someday.

• ESPN's KC Joiner predicts Kenjon Barner will be a breakout running back in 2012.

• Ken Goe reports Darron Thomas got the phone call he was waiting for, an invite to the NFL combine.

• Dale Newton will be running special recruiting coverage for 96 straight hours, a sort of and one stop shop for Oregon recruiting news.

• Aaron Fentress has another mini-preview, this time it's Oregon commit 6'5" WR Dwayne Stanford.

As a tall receiver, Stanford said he paid a lot of attention to 6-5 UO wide receiver Lavasier Tuinei. 


“I can bring something similar to L.T.,” he said. “I want to bring something like that maybe with a little bit more speed. Really the best of both worlds, big receiver with the speed of a little guy.”

GO DUCKS!