Darron Thomas' Leadership Questioned as Oregon Prepares to Face LSU

Chip Kelly and the Oregon Ducks have wrapped up fall camp and are ready to begin practices for game week against LSU for their September 3 matchup in the Cowboys Classic. There is one issue that is not resolved in the mind of many Ducks fans.

If you follow the Oregon Ducks football program or college football, you have certainly at least heard about the June 12 traffic incident involving All-American cornerback Cliff Harris and quarterback Darron Thomas.

Harris was pulled over for driving 118 mph on Interstate 5, and then suspended indefinitely from the football team. Just this week, dashboard camera footage linked Thomas as a passenger in the car that evening.

This marks Thomas’ third “backseat driving violation” in three years; all involving teammates. In 2008, he was a passenger in a car driven by Eddie Pleasant that was involved in a speed-racing crash. Then, in June of 2010, Thomas was in the car with Jeremiah Masoli when the former QB was infamously cited for driving with a suspended license and the possession of marijuana.

Have the majority of NCAA student athletes tried marijuana? Probably. Do 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds do stupid things when driving cars? Of course. Is there room to slap a player on the wrist and move on? Definitely.

That isn’t the issue. The issue is Darron Thomas—the leader of the No. 3-ranked Oregon Ducks—consistently finding himself in the wrong car at the wrong time.

“Darron Thomas is a leader of this football team,” head coach Chip Kelly said this week when questioned about his quarterback’s leadership qualities. “I have absolutely no question about him.”

Kelly might not have any questions, but I do.

Isn’t leadership more than barking calls in the huddle and popping back up with a smile after taking a hard hit from a linebacker? Isn’t being a leader more than just being number one on the depth chart? Doesn’t “captain” on a football team reflect any character traits off the field?

Either Darron Thomas did not speak up in all three of these traffic incidents, or he did and his teammates didn’t listen to him. In either case, those are not traits of a leader. Leaders stand for something and rally others to stand with them.

If Darron Thomas truly wants to earn respect from his teammates, he must call them out in the future. He must take a stand at the risk of being a wet blanket or party pooper.

As a football player, you can’t turn leadership on and off. Players do not walk on the field and flip the leadership switch and suddenly have their teammates rallying behind them.

Leaders care more about what their teammates will think about them in the long run than what they will think in the moment.

True leaders are willing to stand alone, and usually that trait attracts many people to stand beside them.