Oregon Football: End-of-Season Report Card for the Ducks

With the Ducks' season over, we can finally stop looking forward and take a moment to reflect on Oregon's season.

The team as a whole got off to a slow start, but as the season continued to wage on, each unit improved dramatically.

From the quarterback to the secondary, the Ducks performed well on their way to a Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin—Chip Kelly's first bowl win as Oregon's head coach.

Quarterback

The picture says it all. Darron Thomas was on top this season.

Despite losing his top two receivers from last year and three members of his offensive line, Thomas performed quite fantastically this season.

He threw several balls too high this year, leading to interceptions that hurt him, but he still got the job done this year after throwing for 33 touchdowns this season.

Grade: A-; Thomas threw plenty of touchdowns and was a team leader, but his diminished presence on the ground game is enough to drop him to an A-.

Running Backs

Do I really have to say anything about the Ducks' rushing attack?

Three running backs with more than 500 yards each and two with nearly 1,000 yards each is an impressive feat.

LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner and De'Anthony Thomas were fantastic this season. They set the tempo for the Ducks and won them some big games. With the exception of the LSU game, if one did badly, then another easily filled in for them.

Grade: A+; do you really need an explanation?

Receivers

Oregon's receivers played admirably this year.

Despite losing both of last year's starters, the unit got the job done and had 33 passing touchdowns from Darron Thomas.

While Huff struggled, the emergence of De'Anthony Thomas and the play of Lavasier Tuinei and David Paulson equaled it out.

Grade: B; some horrible drops and the fact that they are in a run-based offense hurt the receivers, but overall, the unit got the job done.

Offensive Line

Quite possibly the Ducks' worst unit, the offensive line still did well.

In the LSU game, the offensive line was easily manhandled in the trenches, and they continued to show glimpses of that throughout the rest of the season.

Yes, the unit was young, but throughout the season they let defenders break through and get in Thomas' face.

Grade: B-; the unit did pave the way for 7,319-yards, but they were easily beaten by larger opponents and struggled throughout the season.

Defensive Line

With only one returning starter, Terrell Turner, many expected the Ducks' defensive line to struggle.

Boy, did they prove the critics wrong.

The unit was surprisingly good on their way to 44 sacks. That was good for fourth in the nation—that should speak for itself.

Grade: A-; Jordan, Turner and Hart excelled, and went above and beyond expectations set by others.

Linebackers

Another unit that was depleted with the graduation of Casey Matthews, Spencer Paysinger and Bryson Littlejohn, the linebackers performed well this season.

Josh Kaddu dealt with injuries, but Michael Clay stepped up as the leader.

Kiko Alonso easily redeemed himself from being suspended earlier in the season during the Rose Bowl, with an interception en route to being named Defensive Player of the Game.

Grade: B; the linebackers didn't do anything flashy, but they got the job done.

Secondary

Many thought the secondary would be Oregon's strong point on defense with both safeties and Cliff Harris returning.

Harris hardly played this season, and with the exception of the interception versus ASU, he did more harm than good when he actually did.

By midseason he was kicked off the team and hasn't been heard from since.

Boyett and Eddie Pleasant played great while the Ducks used a rotation of young, first-year corners to help them force turnovers against three of the top quarterbacks in the Pac-12: Andrew Luck, Keith Price and Brock Osweiller.

Grade: B+; stepped up when called upon and made adjustments to a new setting.

Special Teams

Take away the fumbles in the LSU game and the missed field goal versus USC, and Oregon had a great special teams unit.

The Ducks had a top 10 return game behind Barner, Thomas and James on both punts and kickoffs.

Punter Jackson Rice was a finalist for the Ray Guy Award as one of the nation's best punters, and the field goal team made it the majority of the few times they were needed.

Grade: B+; the unit did fantastic overall and made a few mistakes, but those few mistakes were colossal and led to Oregon's only two losses.