As another 4* Cristobal recruit(Butterfield) entered the Transfer Portal, the dots simply do not connect for me. My feeling is and there are probably football coaches who would disagree...if a recruit is a 4* or 5* talent he should be able to play significant minutes and sooner than later.

How could so many of these guys come to Oregon and basically do nothing to very little? Ashford, Butterfield, McGee...Dollars and Thompson are now just names on a roster...probably others I am forgetting about.

Robby Ashford was the 4th string QB last season at Oregon; transfers to Auburn and becomes a starter in the SEC!? Now he didn't tear up the SEC BUT he played and did reasonably well...considering he had no playing experience at Oregon.

Here were Ashford's stats last week in the Iron Bowl i.e. AGAINST ALABAMA!

Passing: 11 for 23 /  77 yards and 1 TD / QBR of 89.3

Rushing: 17 carries for 121 yards / 7.1 average / 2 TD's and his longest run was 31 yards.

But he cannot even get in a series at Oregon against any Pac-12 opponent(none better than Alabama)???

I bet and of course it is only speculation...IF Ashford had been the starting QB last year for Oregon and played the entire season...Bo Nix would not have transferred here and we would be looking at a 4-year starter. Heck Ashford had 2 head coaches this season at Auburn as that program was a mess.

I can only surmise...

1) Cristobal may be a great recruiter but he is very poor at developing talent.

2) He has major trust issues with players and coaches in terms of letting them try.

3) There is no backup QB position in his mind unless injuries force the issue i.e. Shough didn't get to play much behind Herbert; Brown didn't get to play behind Shough until the end of the season and nobody played behind Brown last season. Unfortunately that trend continues with Lanning.

4) Didn't it strike you as a little weird that Lanning gets here and ASAP brings in transfers(Nix, Irving and Whittington) who had played significant minutes in "real" games. Meanwhile Butterfield, to name one example, practices for 3-years; according to all reports throws a "beautiful pass;" earns a degree and cannot even get in a game for a series of downs either with Cristobal or Lanning.

I am not ready to judge Lanning yet ala Cristobal but something has to change with Oregon's approach to these offensive skill positions when it comes to high school recruits(not transfers)...either the criteria used in evaluating talent and / or the ability to coach up the talent recruited.

Last edited by DucksReign (11/30/2022 9:25 pm)