Oregon Football: 5 Offseason Goals for the Ducks

With the 2011 season now over, everyone will now start to look forward at the 2012 season. For some, signing day cannot come fast enough, but overall, kickoff is a long way away. 

For Oregon, a Rose Bowl win was outstanding, but in order for the Ducks to maintain this level of success, they are going to need to develop in some key areas for the 2012 season.

Here is a look at five things that the Ducks must do to have another outstanding season in 2012. 

More Touches for De'Anthony Thomas

With LaMichael James now heading for the pros, Kenjon Barner will receive the majority of the carries, but as the Rose Bowl showed us, De'Anthony Thomas is electric and needs to get more touches. 

During the 2011 season, Chip Kelly found ways to get Thomas involved in the return, pass and run game, and in the upcoming season, look for his role to grow even more. 

Develop Receiving Group

Much like this past year, Oregon will enter the 2012 season with some question marks in the receiving group. 

While proven talent and experience is not there, the Ducks will be looking for big things from Josh Huff, Eric Dungy, Devon Blackmon, Rahsaan Vaughn and Tacoi Sumler. 

The upside to this issue is that Chip Kelly is a master of putting players in outstanding positions and getting the most out of all of his talent. 

See Dividends from Young Secondary

With some offseason losses and the dismissal of Cliff Harris from the program, Oregon had to turn to some young players to take over in the secondary. 

While the experience and change came with some growing pains, the Ducks are hoping that it will pay dividends this year. Look for Troy Hill, Dior Mathis, Terrance Mitchell and Ifo Ekpre-Olomu to play a major part in 2012. 

Kicking Game

As the 2011 season went on, it became more and more obvious that the one thing missing from the Oregon offensive attack was the threat of a kicker. 

Alejandro Maldonado did a decent job this season, but on a regular basis he showed he lacked range beyond 40 yards and was inconsistent inside of it. Ultimately this cost Oregon a game against USC and possibly another shot at the national title. 

Take Advantage of Easy Start

Unlike this year when Oregon had to head to Dallas to take on LSU, Oregon can ease into its schedule as it takes on Arkansas State, Fresno State and Tennessee Tech to start the year.

Towards the end of this season, Oregon had molded into a different team than it was in the first week of the season. While the reward for a win over LSU would have been great, the loss was just as big.