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Since the arrival of Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator in 2007, Duck fans have seen not only a uniquely dominant offense, but they have seen the football program rise to unprecedented heights culminating in the 2012 Rose Bowl win. Along the way, a couple of special players from parts not normally represented on the Duck roster transformed Oregon football into a national brand.
Today we begin a look at how the Ducks rise to national prominence is related to the rise in recruiting nationwide.
It has always been a fairly well documented fact that the Oregon football team is comprised predominantly by California players. Recently, though, the Duck coaching staff has taken to the air more logging frequent flier miles to just about every corner of the nation looking for the best of the best to bring to Eugene.
Have the number of national level commitments and/or offers grown? Or is that merely a perception? Today, we begin a deeper look to see if perception is reality, or if our perceptions are skewed due to a few highly successful athletes from parts of the country Oregon does not usually have represented on their roster.
When looking back and comparing the rosters from 2007 and 2011 the first thing that stands out is the number of athletes listed on each roster. In 2007, there are only 91 names listed whereas there are 110 listed for the 2011 season. To make it a more “apples to apples” comparison, we did not include non scholarship players in the numbers. After taking out non-scholarship players, these are the numbers:
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