Rose Bowl 2012: Why LaMichael James Will Be Playing His Final Game with Oregon

Since running back LaMichael James came to the University of Oregon in 2009, the football team has every Pac-12 championship and made a trip to the national championship last season.

He could have declared for the NFL draft last season, but he opted to return for his junior season after finishing third in the voting for the Heisman trophy. This year, Ducks fans probably won’t be so lucky.

The biggest thing to consider in this is how much talent is sitting behind James on the depth chart. Kenjon Barner, De’Anthony Thomas and Tra Carson have all shown that they can be great running backs, and 4-star recruit Byron Marshall is coming to Eugene next year.

Consider that James missed two games and still has 1646 rushing yards on the season, which is fourth nationally. If you just look at yards per game, as well as a 7.4 yard per carry average, there really is nothing left for him to prove in college. With the extra game the Pac-12 Championship gave Oregon, he could have eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark on the season if he had stayed healthy, and NFL scouts know that.

The biggest knock on him is his size, but he is not going to grow or get any stronger than he would if he went to the NFL now. But the stock of these smaller scatbacks has dramatically increased with the play of guys like Darren Sproles. He isn’t going to get much more bang for his buck by waiting another year.

Considering how short the shelf life is on running backs nowadays, he would be making a terrible financial decision by sticking around.

Winning a national championship means a lot to some people, but the Ducks haven’t gotten it done the past two years when they had a very real chance of doing just that.

It’s time to let one of the other guys on the roster get a time to shine and for LaMichael James to support his team from an NFL field and not Autzen Stadium.