National Signing Day 2010: Evaluating Oregon's Class

In a news conference wednesday, ESPN's Ted Miller asked Oregon coach Chip Kelley what the two biggest needs were going in to signing day? Chip Kelly quickly responded with, "speed and speed". That about sums it up, Coach.

The Oregon Ducks had a big day Wednesday, and despite losing out on some big prospects early, Oregon got the speed Chip was looking for. 

These past few weeks started rough when DT Dominique Easly signed with Florida over the Ducks. Other defensive lineman would sign elsewhere, too. Portland High School DL Owa Odighizuwa signed with UCLA, Gabe King to Cal, Bjorn Werner to Florida State, and LB Chris McCain followed fellow teamate King to Cal.

The Ducks rebounded though, and in the end they had the No. 13 ranked recruiting class in the nation according to Scouts.com and Rivals.com.

The class is headlined by RB Lache Seastrunk, one of the fastest players in the nation and, despite his small stature, Lache should be deadly in Oregon's spread option offense. They will also have another great running back who could be a factor soon, Dontae Williams out of Texas.

Kelley and his staff did a great job in getting superior talent, while also filling holes in the roster that will be left in the years to come.

Starting with the biggest concern for the 2010-2011 season, the defensive line. Oregon was able to pick up three outstanding players in 2010. DT Ricky Heimuli is a big run stopper and should be able to contribute right away. Junoir college transfer DL Isaac Remington, who is already enrolled at Oregon, should also be able to compete from the get-go. Oregon also added DE Tony Washington. Hroniss Grasu is another guy who could be played on the D-line, but he could end up on the offensive side of the ball.

Another key position to fill was defensive back. The Ducks were able to land a possible eight players to fill the roles of Willie glasper, TJ Ward, and Walter Thurmond lll.

Highly touted DB Dior Mathis was a huge get. He could be a big contributer early. Other defensive backs to sign along with Mathis were James Scales, Derrick Malone, Terrance Mitchell, Troy Hill, and Erick Dargan. Another player who could see playing time in the defensive backfield is ATH Eric Dungy. Josh Huff is good enough of an athlete to play defensive back or wideout for the Ducks, also.

Coming in at linebacker will be Issac Dixon. Safety Derrick Malone could possibly play linebacker if he adds some weight.

At tight end, the new faces will be Curtis White, who could play DL, and junoir college transfer Brandon Williams. Williams also enrolled early to Oregon.

The Ducks are pretty set at offensive line, but will lose some key players at that position after next year. Oregon got letters of intent from OG Nick Rowland and another junoir college transfer who is already in Eugene, OT Ryan Clanton.

Oregon landed a very athletic quaterback out of California in Bryan Bennett. Bryan has the skill set to push for playing time in the near future. He was very much under the radar throughout the year.

At wideout, the Ducks were able to sign two good players. Oregon secured signatures from ATH Josh Huff, who could be used at wide reciever as mentioned above. Huff was originally supposed to sign with TCU. The Ducks also were able to lure Porland,OR ATH Keanon Lowe from the Huskies.

Kelley was able to fill some special team needs as well. Oregon's kicker Morgant Flint is graduating this year. K Alejandro Maldonado, another original Husky commit, will compete for place kicking duties. The ducks signed a long snapper as well in OL Drew Howell.

Oregon was able to pluck talent from all over the nation. Of the 23 Oregon commits, 10 are from California, three from Texas, two from Arizona, Florida and Oregon, as well as one from Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, and Uah.

10 are defensive players. Nine are offensive, and two are special teamers.

Although it hurt losing the players mentioned above, all in all I believe Chip Kelley and the rest of the Oregon Ducks staff did a great job. They filled needs, got great talent, and most of all got the players they felt fit their team and their style.

Chip Kelley said it all when he stated, "If the first thing they want to talk to me about is my depth chart, I don't want them on my team. Because if you're afraid right now, what are you gonna do when we play Tennessee in front of 100,000 people?"

Needless to say, I think that Chip got the right players.