Tag: LaMichael James

Notre Dame commit highlights remind me of former Oregon star

Do you see any of the former @duckswire great in him?

Since Oregon football has turned into a powerhouse over the last 20 or so years regularly making BCS or New Year’s Six games they’ve had a good amount of stars.

Akili Smith was a top-five pick and although his NFL career didn’t pan out, he was a stud in college.  The same can be said for former “NCAA Football” video game cover boy Joey Harrington.  And who can forget the Dennis Dixon and Jonathan Stewart led Ducks team that could have won it all in 2007 had it not been for Dixon’s injury?

During this run of Oregon stars that would go on to include Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, there wasn’t a Ducks player I enjoyed watching more than running back LaMichael James.  James had truly elite speed, packed quite the punch for checking in at 5’9”, 195-pounds, and was a human highlight reel who finished third in the Heisman voting as a sophomore in 2010.

Scanning Twitter on Friday night a few highlights of 2023 Notre Dame running back commitment [autotag]Dylan Edwards[/autotag] showed up on my feed.  Although he’s got a long way to go in terms of matching James’ thickness (Edwards is currently listed at 165, 30 pounds less than James during his hey-day), the highlights of Edwards look awfully familiar if you watched those Oregon teams with James.

Next:  See highlights of both

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Oregon announces the Hall of Fame Class of 2022

The University of Oregon announced a truly great Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

All hall of fame classes has greatness. That’s why they’re in the hall of fame.

But when the University of Oregon announced the Class of 2022, they weren’t messing around where it comes to greatness.

This particular class includes perhaps the greatest team in their sport, a coach that put his sport on the national map, a seven-time NCAA champ and 10-time All-American, a golfer that has achieved what no other Duck golfer had before, and the first women’s tennis player ever to be inducted into the UO Athletic Hall of Fame.

Every class is unique, but this group of Hall of Famers are legitimate Oregon legends and they’ll all be remembered as such.

The College Football Hall of Fame case for Oregon running back LaMichael James

LaMichael James was the most exciting running back in the NCAA under Chip Kelly, and he belongs in the College Football Hall of Fame.

The Oregon Ducks are historically well represented in the College Football Hall of Fame, with seven inductees across the school’s storied football history.

However, the team’s successes over the past two decades is hardly visible in the Hall at this point, with coach Mike Bellotti (inducted in 2014) as the only representative who wore the green and yellow this century.

That could change this year, as the 2023 Hall of Fame ballot was released on Monday, with 80 former players and nine former coaches on the list – including a pair of Oregon legends: running back LaMichael James and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata.

This article will make the case for why James, widely considered one of the greatest Ducks of all time, should be among those inducted into the Class of 2023.

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

LaMichael James’ Hall of Fame Case

Simply put, LaMichael James was one of the most exciting, electric, must-watch college football players of his generation during his three years in Eugene under offensive guru Chip Kelly.

The Hall of Fame is not only about statistical accomplishments (of which James has plenty) but it is also about showcasing the college game’s most exciting players – and there is little doubt James qualifies.

In three seasons from 2009 to 2011, James never rushed for less than 1,500 yards, never had less than 14 rushing touchdowns, and never let the fans go take a bathroom break while his team was on offense.

He was twice a top-10 finalist for the Heisman Trophy Award (an extreme rarity for a modern running back) even finishing third in 2010 – the same year he won the Doak Walker Award for the nation’s top running back.

The two-time All-American First Teamer has plenty of statistical accomplishments as well, finishing his three-year career with 5,082 rushing yards (21st all-time and fourth in Pac-12 history) as well as 53 rushing touchdowns (also fourth in Pac-12 history).

Oregon has been a player in the national college football scene for about two decades, but the Chip Kelly era remains the school’s pinnacle of must-watch TV – and James deserves to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame for his contributions.

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Six former Dolphins on 2023 College Football Hall of Fame ballot

They had varying levels of experience with Miami.

The College Football Hall of Fame announced the names on the 2023 ballot this week, and a number of former Miami Dolphins from FBS schools, with varying levels of experience, cracked the list.

The ballot included 80 players and nine coaches from FBS history.

The announcement of the 2023 College Football Hall of Fame class is expected to be made early next year, and the group will be inducted on December 5, 2023.

These are the six former Dolphins who have the chance to be immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia.

LaMichael James, Haloti Ngata on 2023 College Football Hall of Fame Ballot

Both Haloti Ngata and LaMichael James have been placed on the 2023 College Football Hall of Fame ballot.

A pair of the best Oregon Duck football players of all time are starting to get some of the recognition that they deserve.

The ballot for the 2023 College Football Hall of Fame was released on Monday, and a pair of Ducks — RB LaMichael James and DL Haloti Ngata — were listed among the greats.

James and Ngata are included among 80 players and nine coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision, and 96 players and 33 coaches from the divisional ranks.

Ngata is widely considered as one of the best Ducks of all time, and was Oregon’s first consensus All-American since 1962, earning the honor after his 2005 season. He was also a two-time All-Pac-10 selection and first player in Oregon history to be named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year (2005).

In the NFL, Ngata went on to win a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens and be named to five Pro Bowls.

James represents one of the most electric players to ever play in Eugene. As a two-time First Team All-American (unanimous in 2010) and 2010 Doak Walker Award winner, James took the college football world by storm under Chip Kelly as one of the best RBs in the nation. He finished 3rd in the 2010 Heisman voting (nation-leading 1,731 rushing yards) and helped lead the Ducks to two 12-win seasons, three league titles, and a 2011 BCS National Championship appearance.

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Oregon’s rich football history will be front-and-center for Ducks’ spring game

“This program was built on players like those guys,” Lanning said. “We want to do everything we can to reconnect those people with our program.”

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Embracing Oregon Ducks football history hasn’t really been a feature in the last two coaching regimes in Eugene. That’s not to say that coaches like Mario Cristobal or Willie Taggart showed any disregard for Oregon legends of the past, but rather that they didn’t make an openly concerted effort to celebrate the Oregon lore.

Dan Lanning is actively changing that.

On Tuesday night, it was announced that he has invited Duck legends Alex Molden and Walter Thurmond III to come back to campus and watch the Spring Game. On Wednesday, TE Ed Dickson was added to that list as well. Lanning is also having De’Anthony Thomas, Arik Armstead, LaMichael James, and Haloti Ngata on the field as honorary coaches during the game.

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According to the first-year head coach, it’s all about recognizing what came before and celebrating those who took the Ducks to new heights.

“I know this program was built on players like those guys,” Lanning said on Tuesday. “Legends, they’ve really put in blood, sweat, and tears for Duck football and we want to do everything we can to reconnect those people with our program.”

I asked Lanning if this was a new wrinkle in the spring game that he expects to continue years down the road, assuming that it will be a success.

“I don’t completely know that answer,” Lanning said. “Obviously, they’ve gone on to have great careers and we’re gonna have a lot of players in the future that go on to do the same thing. And we want them back around our program as much as possible.”

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The Oregon Spring Game on April 23 will be just one of many athletic events on campus throughout what is being called “Duck Day.” Track and Field will host the Oregon Relays throughout the day at Hayward Field with the first event set for 10 a.m., and fans can watch the soccer team’s 11 a.m. spring exhibition vs. Seattle U at Papé Field before walking over to Autzen Stadium.

Fans can then stroll on over to PK Park following football for the Oregon baseball team’s game against Washington State at 3 p.m., and then over to Jane Sanders Stadium to watch the Ducks’ softball program take on Washington at 5 p.m.

For his first official event as the Ducks’ head coach, Dan Lanning and the Oregon program are going all out. A host of the top recruits in the nation will be on the sideline for the game to soak in the Autzen Stadium atmosphere, and while there is an emphasis on getting the young guys to fall in love with the program, the old guard will be in attendance as well, watching on and hopefully appreciating a bit of what they helped to build in Eugene.

Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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Carlos Locklyn uses connection to Gary Campbell, Duck legends to inspire greatness

“It’s my job to get that room back to the standard.” Oregon RB coach uses connection with Ducks’ legends to elevate current roster.

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When former Western Kentucky coach Carlos Locklyn was hired to be in charge of the running backs with the Oregon Ducks, his first point of action was to get in touch with those who came before him. He wanted to talk to the people who made this a coveted position in his eyes; the people who set a standard decades ago, and created a legacy of dominant and successful rushers in Eugene.

The first person on the list was former RB coach Gary Campbell, who stands as the longest-tenured coach in Oregon history, coaching from 1983 to 2016.

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“For me, the standard when I first got here was to reach out to Coach Campbell,” Locklyn said on Tuesday. “And to reach out to every one of those backs, because that’s the standard. It’s my job to get that room back to that standard.”

When you think about the best rushers to come through Eugene, it’s nearly impossible to find someone who Campbell didn’t get his hands on. Saladin McCullough, Reuben Droughns, Jonathan Stewart, Jeremiah Johnson, LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner, Royce Freeman… the list goes on.

“I know there’s other running back coaches that came after Coach Campbell, but to me, from 1983 to 2016, that guy — he’s the standard,” Locklyn said. “And if there’s anybody I want to model myself after, it’s Coach Campbell. He would text me, I would text him, I would text some of the running backs that have been here to let them know that I respect what y’all have done here, and it’s on me to get that room back to the standard.”

It shouldn’t come as a shock that Locklyn took the effort to reach out and form a relationship with some of the stalwarts in Oregon’s history books. If we’ve learned anything about him in the months since his hiring, it’s that relationships are the most important factor between a coach and player. That was a driving factor for why Dan Lanning hired him in the first place.

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“Lock was a guy that always stood out to me as a coach. I’ve been a big fan of his for a long time and more than anything, I’ve noticed how players respond to him,” Lanning said on Tuesday. “You can see obviously that video, the connection that he has with his guys, and like we said from the beginning, we’re going to be about relationships and development. And Lock takes a lot of pride in having great relationships with his players.”

The video that Lanning referred to is one that we saw a couple of months ago when the new Oregon head coach rounded up a group of Locklyn’s former players — Darrell Henderson, Antonio Gibson, Tony Pollard, Kenneth Gainwell, Patrick Taylor — on a call to have them present as he was offered the new job at Oregon. It represented how much love there was from his former players.

“Anybody that knows me knows that those five guys from Memphis, they mean a lot to me,” Locklyn said. “So, that was special to have those guys on that call, and those guys wanted to be on that call. They know the journey I had to get into this profession.”

As he looks toward the future, Locklyn knows that he can learn a lot from the past. In Eugene, there is a great history of successful running backs that spans decades into the past. They’ve set the standard for what it means to be great players and great men, mentored by the legendary Gary Campbell.

“It’s on me to get that room back to the standard.”

Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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Pair of Oregon Ducks listed among ESPN’s 100 greatest RBs in college football history

Two legendary Oregon Ducks made the cut for ESPN’s top-100 running backs in college football history.

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We all know who the best running backs in Oregon Ducks football history are. Over the years, we’ve taken a hard look at the all-time career rushing list in Eugene and determined which players stand above the rest as far as a legacy left behind.

Heck, we even determined which rushing duos were the best in Oregon history earlier this year, looking at standout seasons from tandems in the Ducks’ backfield, looking at which 1-2 punch had the most power in Eugene.

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However, where do these Oregon legends stand when it comes to the history of college football as a whole? Recently, ESPN did some work to figure that out, ranking the best 100 running backs in the game. Fortunately for the Ducks, a pair of Oregon alums made the cut.

Those guys are Royce Freeman and LaMichael James.

Freeman, who is currently the No. 1 player on Oregon’s rushing list, was listed a little bit lower than we expected, coming in at No. 63 on the list. He finished his career in Eugene with 5,621 yards and 60 touchdowns in four seasons.

James, on the other hand, got some nice recognition from ESPN, coming in at No. 30 on the list. Here is what they had to say:

Chip Kelly’s Ducks went 34-6 from 2009-11, finishing in the top five twice and nearly winning the 2010 national title. James was the face of those teams, rushing for at least 1,500 yards each year and scoring 24 times during that blessed 2010 run. An underrated superstar.

In his career, LaMichael had 5,082 rushing yards and 53 touchdowns, finishing No. 2 on Oregon’s all-time rushing list. He was also playing alongside Kenjon Barner — No. 3 on the rushing list — making them the undisputed top RB tandem in Oregon history. 

Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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Four Oregon legends of the gridiron will return for the Spring Game

The Ducks are pulling out all of the stops for the spring game, announcing that 4 Oregon legends will be honorary coaches.

De’Anthony Thomas, LaMichael James, Arik Armstead, and Haloti Ngata have several things in common. They’re all Oregon Duck football legends that helped propel the program to achieve unprecedented success.

Now they all have one more thing in common …  being coordinators for the annual Spring Game on April 23.

The game will be split between the Green Team and the Yellow Team. Thomas will serve as the offensive coordinator and Ngata will be the defensive coordinator for the Yellow team. On the other sideline, James (OC) and Armstead (DC) will be honorary coaches for the Green Team.

“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome these four legends and so many other incredible alumni back to Autzen Stadium,” Oregon head cooach Dan Lanning said. “This program is built upon the foundation that all of our former Ducks have established, and we’re honored that they are returning to Eugene for this event. We need our fans to pack Autzen Stadium to welcome these guys back and create an awesome atmosphere for the Spring Game.”

The football game will begin at 1 p.m. with the Autzen Stadium parking lots set to open at 10:30 a.m. and gates opening at noon. As for the game itself, the first three quarters will simulate a real game between the Yellow and Green teams, with rosters set to be released at a later date. The honorary coaches will call plays for the teams during the fourth quarter, with other on-field activities planned to get fans involved in the action.

The football Spring Game will be one of many athletic events on campus throughout what is being called “Duck Day.” Track and field is scheduled to host the Oregon Relays throughout the day at Hayward Field with the first event set for 10 a.m., and fans can watch the soccer team’s 11 a.m. spring exhibition vs. Seattle U at Papé Field before walking over to Autzen.

But wait! There’s more.

Fans can go to PK Park following the football game for the Duck baseball team’s game against Washington State at 3 p.m., and then if one should find the fancy, go over to Jane Sanders Stadium to watch Oregon softball take on Washington at 5 p.m.

Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today. 

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Ranking the best rushing tandems in Oregon Ducks football history

The departure of CJ Verdell and Travis Dye got us thinking…where do they rank among the best rushing tandems in Oregon history? We decided to find out…

When it comes to the running back position, the Oregon Ducks have always seemed to find a lot of success. Over the past several decades, that’s a spot in the offense that has received a lot of attention, and rightfully so, as multiple all-conference and future NFL players came through Eugene.

That’s partly why it feels a little weird going into the 2022 season without a “known quantity” in the backfield. After the departure of CJ Verdell and Travis Dye, the Ducks don’t have an RB on the depth chart with more than 500 total yards (Byron Cardwell rushed for 417 in 2021.) Oregon will be placing a lot of faith in the current backs on the roster — Cardwell, Sean Dollars, Seven McGee, and Jordan James — to shoulder the load going forward and keep up the tradition of a strong running game in Eugene.

While it feels likely that we could see the blossoming of a new dominant duo in the coming months, the departure of Verdell and Dye got us thinking about the past. Who are the best rushing tandems that Oregon has ever seen? I’m not talking about the best running backs, but the best 1-2 punches. The best compliments to each other. The pairs who never gave the defense a chance to breathe, because as soon as one went off the field, a player of equal caliber came in to replace him.

Doing the research to answer this question wasn’t straightforward. We took into account career rushing yards, receiving yards, touchdowns, and ranks on Oregon’s all-time career rushing list. Then you have to factor in that a lot of these guys didn’t play their entire careers together, and may have only overlapped for a season or two. We added weight to their combined place on the all-time rushing list — if the No. 7 and No. 11 players were a duo, they might be ranked higher than the No. 2 and No. 23 player, for example. Lastly, we took into account a couple of players who made a huge impact in their short times at Oregon; the combined ranking may not look great, but anyone who watched them knows they belong pretty high on the list.

After taking all of that into consideration, the results were pretty fascinating. You have a pair of undisputed winners, a few quarterbacks that snuck onto the list, and a pair of players who anyone under the age of 40 may struggle to remember. In the end, it offered a fun look at the past several decades of Oregon history, and showed truly how important the running back position has been for the Ducks. Enjoy.