Oregon Ducks Need to Start Darron Thomas

The Oregon Ducks are in the middle of a quarterback battle between Nate Costa and Darron Thomas. Both candidates have pros and both have cons to winning the starting job, neither candidate has seemed to gain an edge in the competition, but Chip Kelly has made it clear he is against using a two-quarterback system.

“I really want to have one quarterback. I don’t believe in playing two quarterbacks. I believe if you’ve got a two-quarterback system that means you don’t really have a quarterback.”

Not only is Thomas the better option for the Ducks in 2010, but he will be around in 2011 and 2012, whereas Costa will be gone after the 2010 season.

People argue Costa has more experience, but he has only been in Kelly’s system for a year longer than Thomas and only has one career start. In Costa’s lone start, the offense only managed seven points and Costa was less than impressive.

Starting Costa this year would only hamper the development of Thomas as well as waste a year of eligibility.

Thomas has only one quarter of game experience, but it was very impressive as he threw for 210 yards and three touchdowns (it should be noted Boise St. was in a prevent defense for most of the quarter).

Costa may be the safe choice for Oregon, but when has Oregon gone with the safe choice? This program is all about flash and highlight reel plays. They have a state of the art locker room and flashy jerseys. They have Phil Knight. They have a spread offense full of trick plays and deception.

Thomas will provide the Ducks with the type of quarterback they are used to in Dennis Dixon and Jeremiah Masoli. Thomas may be rough around the edges, but Kelly can develop him the same way he developed has developed quarterbacks in the past.

With LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner, Lache Seastrunk, and Remene Alston Jr. all in the backfield there are plenty of weapons to help the Oregon offense and make the job easier for Thomas.

Being a redshirt sophomore, Thomas has three years left of eligibility. This means Duck fans excited about Thomas, who believe he can be a good starter now, should be very excited about the Thomas of 2012 who should be entering his third year as the starting quarterback for the University of Oregon Ducks.

Kelly showed he is not afraid to take risks on the field when he went for and converted two fourth down attempts in the final minutes of the Civil War despite already having the lead.

Kelly needs to use this risk taking mentality and name Thomas the starter.