Chris Harper or Darron Thomas, Who Will Replace Dixon?

The first Oregon Ducks football practice this spring felt empty. The face of Oregon football for the last two and a half years, Dennis Dixon, was gone. No longer was he bulleting slant routes or putting the gentle touch on his long bombs. No longer was he juking out Duck defenders then outrunning them with the poise of a sprinter. He wasn't on the sidelines coaching younger players, and he wasn't yelling encouragement after somebody made a bad play. The practice felt empty, it was missing something. It was missing Dennis.

The Ducks defense, on the other hand, was full of life and vibrance. Time and time again, they stiffled the nation's best offense and made them look like a Pop Warner team. Then Chris Harper and Darron Thomas, two of the nation's top prep quarterbacks, started making plays.

It wasn't just Darron's 27 yard run that caught the coaches eye. It wasn't Chris's 53 yard pass. It wasn't Chris's high rushing average, and it wasn't Darron completly shrugging off an ankly injury and saying it was fine.

It was more their attitude. Neither Chris nor Darron came into the practices expecting to back anyone up; they both expect to be replacing Dixon. They may not have looked great at the beginning, but it's picking up for them as the practices ended. By August I fully expect them both to have grasped the intricacies of Chip Kelly's complex spread offense, and one of them to be starting against the Washington Huskies on August 30.

Now, having said that, it is just a matter of deciding which freshman phenom will start. Will it be Chris Harper, the 220 pounder who runs a 4.4 forty, or will it be Darron Thomas who runs a 4.5 and completed 70% of his passes in high school?

They are both very good athletes and quarterbacks, ranking 6th (Harper) and 11th (Thomas) of all prep quarterbacks. They both were the top quarterback in their states, Texas and Kansas, and they both came into Eugene with high expectations.

I'm not going to tell you who I think is the better player. I think they will both develope into superstars, either as a quarterback or wide reciever. With these to guys, neither choice can be wrong. Give me your pick of who you think should start.