Oregon Ducks Recruits Are Chip Kelly's Vision to Revolutionize College Football

Chip Kelly’s Oregon Ducks are the future of college football.

They are more than a highly publicized uniform pageant featuring swoosh-embossed footwear. Their innovative spread offense is the most entertaining spectacle in sports with its up-tempo pace and quick-scoring drives. Speedy offensive stars LaMichael James, De'Anthony Thomas and newly signed Byron Marshall are worthy heirs to a campus that is the heart of Tracktown, USA.

But Kelly’s new recruits are part of a plan to revolutionize college football—with its defense.

Oregon is a nontraditional Pac-12 team, and would not typically be considered a lab for innovative defense. This will rankle SEC fans, whose birthright of defense is as southern as grits and cajun cuisine. SEC football factories famously manufacture NFL-caliber linemen. But Oregon’s defense will change the nation, even if the short-term consensus produces snickering and scoffing in Baton Rouge and Tuscaloosa. 

The Philosophy

Kelly’s offense was an immediate sensation behind a few prominent skill players in 2007, but his vision of defense has been more gradual. It has needed more talented bodies. For the past three recruiting classes, Kelly has been quietly stockpiling his team with tall, versatile athletes to play a special brand of defense.

Practices are legendary. The Ducks emphasize supreme conditioning, execution and a hurry-up pace for all players and positions. They preach playing 60 minutes, knowing their opponents will lose to fatigue. The 2010 team outscored their opponents 123-27 in the fourth quarter.

The Ducks rotate their defensive players early and often in each game. Many of the reserves platoon with significant time and at important moments; freshmen and sophomores can gain experience that will season them for the future. This incentive encourages all players to practice and compete harder, and to participate in winning.

Defensive success is designed by defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti. He readies his players for blitzing, pressuring and hitting opposing quarterbacks. Their victory at Stanford was keyed by defensive pressure on Andrew Luck, while the loss to USC was in large measure a failure to harass Matt Barkley.

More players participating on defense means the Ducks have more various skills and talents to employ. Aliotti's defense can create more matchup problems, schemes and surprises simply by having more personnel to throw at opposing offenses.

Oregon does want size—as long as it's lengthy and fast

Following Oregon’s loss to the Auburn Tigers in the 2011 BCS National Championship, many Ducks fans howled for Oregon to recruit bigger linemen. But the Ducks do not have recruiting grounds closer than California. Out west, there is a scarcity of large and talented bodies often found on SEC offensive and defensive lines.  

Instead, the Ducks are selecting tall, fast athletes for their defensive line. There is potential for these players to develop and add more pounds to a tall frame. An athlete like Dion Jordan at 6'6" plays defensive end with a lean but fast body, and with long arms to break up passes. He is a hybrid athlete, suited for multiple positions, speed and creative tasks.

The new 2012 recruits fit this mold, especially defensive linemen Deforest Buckner, Stetzon Bair, Alex Balducci, Terrence Daniel and Cody Carriger.

Arik Armstead, Oregon’s prize recruit, is 6'8" and will likely play DE. Most experts at Rivals and Scouts rate him higher as an offensive tackle, but Chip Kelly may prefer Armstead at defensive line to enhance his speed and athleticism in making plays, rather than losing some of this with added weight. In Oregon’s system, Armstead’s defensive role may prove more valuable and versatile.

In the secondary, Oregon is also stocking up with fast, playmaking athletes. Local Oregon product Oshay Dunmore is 6'2", possessing track speed and basketball athleticism. He is similar to Arizona’s Reggie Daniels, a hard-hitting defensive back who will perform for the aggressive mentality of Kelly and Aliotti. 

Like playing a video game

Oregon’s new recruits bring enthusiasm and high expectations in coming to play for a national powerhouse. Coach Kelly has already set a tone for “unfinished business,” and his players will respond. Even amongst the fans, this sentiment is as thick as Eugene’s fog. The goal is to win the Natty.

If Oregon wins the national championship, Kelly’s vision will display its trademark high-flying offense. It will also produce an equally-nasty blitzing defense, perhaps rivaling the Oregon offense with efficiency and entertainment.

It will be like the classic Nintendo video game, Tecmo Super Bowl, which featured big-play running and quick touchdown passes. On defense, the philosophy was to attack and sack on every play. This may be the future of college football, and nobody is closer than the Oregon Ducks.

The Ducks defense will not look or play like an SEC team perhaps ever. But that does not mean it cannot one day be the most fearsome defense in college football. And if it does happen, defensive philosophies all over the country will change—even in Baton Rouge and Tuscaloosa.