Oregon Football: 2008 Recruiting Recap

Q & A with Braden Gall, who is a content producer and recruiting editor for Athlon Sports. The website is athlonsports.com

Junior College transfer running back LaGarrette Blount looked outstanding in the spring game, rushing for 68 yards on five carries.  He reminds me a lot of former UW star Corey Dillon.  Both were junior college products that entered the Pac-10 as big, physical runners.  What is your evaluation on him as a player, and is that a fair comparison?

First—and this is more of a personal statement—spring games mean very little to me.  So what he did in the spring game is not that important to me.  The biggest thing to take from that performance was that he was even there to begin with.  That extra time working with teammates, coaches and just getting to know the campus early allows for him to focus on football come the fall.

I think the future is very bright for LaGarrette Blount.  The Corey Dillon comparison is very fair—bigger, more physical styles of play but both have deceptive speed.  Blount will open defensive coordinators' eyes with his speed.

Will he set single-season school records for rushing yards and touchdowns like Dillon did in '96?  Probably not.  Will he set an NCAA single -quarter record for rushing yards and all-purpose yards like Dillon did against San Jose State?  Probably not, but he will be a major factor in the offense.

What I love about him is how he fits with the rest of the team.  Jeremiah Johnson, someone I expect a lot from this fall, is so versatile and explosive.  He should be a huge factor in the passing game and on the edge.

That leaves the short yardage and inside yards to Blount.  They will compliment each other perfectly.  125-175 carries, 600-800 yards and 8-10 touchdowns are a legit possibility for Blount.

I want to talk about another junior college player entering Oregon, and that is five-star defensive tackle Justin Thompson out of El Camino Junior College.  El Camino has numerous players who signed letters of intent to play Division I college football, especially in the trenches.

How much will this help the transition, having played against great players, and what are realistic expectations for him in his first year in the Pac-10?

El Camino is one of the most dominant junior college programs in the nation, much less the West Coast.  Of course, there are a few schools in Kansas and Mississippi that would have something to say about that.  But I digress.

Thompson has all the tools to be very successful on the next level. Oklahoma, LSU, Nebraska, and Tennessee don't just offer any old defensive tackle.

The key, for me, is the situation he is walking into Eugene.  With Nick Reed and Will Tukuafu returning on the outside of the line and a very underrated secondary returning a lot of talent, he will not be asked to be a playmaker.

Reed will be the leader and will be double-teamed on a regular basis.  That should open up the middle of the line for Thompson to make plays.  At 6'5" and nearly 280 pounds, he should take up a lot of space in the middle and allow those LBs to flow through and make plays.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?