There are a number of players on the Oregon Ducks roster that have been put in a semi-awkward position — not by anyone’s doing, but rather by a confluence of circumstances.
The Ducks are a young team, with loads of underclassmen looking to step into new roles. As is customary, the team went into the transfer portal and worked hard to bring in veteran players looking for a place to put a cap on their careers and hopefully improve their draft stock before heading to the NFL.
[lawrence-related id=27136]
This has led to a lot of veteran players being put into leadership roles, despite being the “new guys” on the team.
Sam ‘Taki’ Taimani is one of those players.
After playing for four seasons at the University of Washington — where he racked up 68 total tackles and 3.5 TFL as a Husky — Taimani transferred to Oregon. Whilst working his own way into the locker room and establishing himself as a productive player, Taimani has been able to grow in a leadership role over the past several months.
“For me, it was just kind of understanding the culture here,” Taimani said on Tuesday after practice. “That was the biggest thing for me is just understanding how they run things, and like kind of buying into that and then kind of leading.”
[lawrence-related id=27043]
Despite the relatively young age on Oregon’s defensive line, it’s not like Taki was coming into a defensive room that is lacking experience or production. Becoming a leader in that room is like walking a fine line, always wary of overstepping.
“You can’t really lead unless you kind of give first so I kind of just like, gave things quietly without, you know, telling people,” Taimani said. “And then people noticed that and then, you know, people would come to me for advice and I just started being more vocal and kind of just helped them to bring me into that leadership role. But kind of still sitting back, letting them know I don’t want to overstep any of these vets. You know, they did their time here. So I just got here and I just want to do with what they brought and what they want me to do.”
[lawrence-related id=27016]
Taimani may think that he is sitting back, but it’s become apparent that his leadership is easily seen by fellow teammates and the coaching staff. After practice on Tuesday, I asked head coach Dan Lanning about how Taimani had ingratiated himself in the Ducks’ locker room. This was his answer:
“I’ve always felt like you know, your best teams are what I would call player-led teams, you know, and I won’t don’t go into details about what it’s about,” Lanning said. “But I walk into a team meeting the other day and Sam, you know, ‘Taki,’ he’s in the front of the room. Brian Addison is in the front of the room and they’re talking to the team about the things that we got to do better. The coaches aren’t in the room. So I think that speaks to the character of the players on our team when they’re having those conversations without us in there. And you know, he’s done a really good job and you know what, I think he wants to raise his standard of play. So I think the thing that we want to recognize is sometimes you’re afraid to be a leader and you’re afraid to say things because you’re like, ‘Well, I still make mistakes.’ And the reality is that I make mistakes, the coaches make mistakes, the players make mistakes. What we’ve got to do his own them, but still be willing to call people out and get better and talk he’s done a good job of that.”
He may have come to Eugene with the rep of a Husky, but Taimani has quickly shed that coat and let his teammates know that he’s a Duck now, leading by example.
From the sound of it, he’s leading well.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f27mq9z7hjgk6vc6 player_id=none image=https://duckswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=27132]