Derrick Harmon entered the transfer portal back in December, looking to test the free agency waters and see if there was another program in the nation that fit him better than the Michigan State Spartans.
Ultimately, he returned to East Lansing for the spring season, being coaxed back by Jonathan Smith, who had just got to town after leaving the Oregon State Beavers high and dry.
The spring season went well, but ultimately, Harmon knew that he needed a change of scenery to reach his ultimate goals. So he hopped into the portal once again. This time, it wasn’t very difficult to find the right landing spot.
When Dan Lanning, Tosh Lupoi, and Tony Tuioti ask twice, you listen.
“I feel like you really don’t have at any university, three coaches that have something to do with the defensive line in their past,” said Harmon at Oregon’s media day. “You don’t get too many of those around too many universities. And if you got three coaches, your head coach, your DC, and your position coach all putting their hands on you, you don’t get that anywhere.”
That notion of getting molded by a trio of great defensive coaches may have been the sales pitch to get him through the door, but now that Harmon is in Eugene, it’s not hard to see why the Ducks have obtained the level of prominence that’s come over the past decade.
“It’s different here. It’s different,” Harmon said. “They say it a lot, but it’s different here. It’s nothing that I’ve experienced before.”
That’s not an uncommon refrain from someone experiencing Nike University for the first time, but it’s a great selling point for other people considering making that move up to the Pacific Northwest to play football. The coaches here have roots from other places in the country, and stem from some legendary coaching trees, but what they’re building is uniquely Oregon.
“The weight room and conditioning is the same because they’re all coming from the Alabama and Coach Saban era,” Harmon said. “But it’s different here and you can tell the difference from another program.”
What makes it different, Derrick?
“It’s just the tempo here,” he said. “You’ve got guys putting in extra work here. Guys are not just leaving the facility after they get done with the mandatory. Guys are trying to get the unrequired here.”
The unrequired is likely what it’s going to take in order for the Oregon Ducks to reach the unobtained. They’ve been close to winning a national championship before, falling to Auburn in 2011, and again to Ohio State in 2015, but the elusive trophy has steadily evaded their grasp.
Does that mean that it will finally come in 2024? Of course, nothing is guaranteed. But the Ducks seem to be as well set up for a championship run as they ever have been in Eugene, and it’s the players who are leading the way.
“Everybody is trying to win here,” Harmon said. “Everybody’s got the winning mindset.”
In the end, that might be what makes the difference.
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