RECRUITING PERSPECTIVE by ST

Those who are fanatical about sports have their own issues. To call someone out on a specific obsession might seem hypocritcal, but what the heck. Those who follow recruiting like it's going to matter immediately require a unique style of therapy. Ted Miller of some Seattle publication is reporting the U of Washington has set up a webcam focused on the fax machine to see incoming letters of intent. I don't think it's necessary to add anything further to that. As far as the Ducks, and we'll delve deeper when the show begins, I ran some numbers. Eye on the 4-star recruits because the lone 5-star guy, Lache Seastrunk is a newbie who hasn't had a chance to play. Oregon had a quartet of 4-stars last year with Cliff Harris playing & Bryson Littlejohn making a minimal contribution. In 2008 they brought in 8 4-stars. Blount was a home run playing a huge role in the Holiday Bowl season. Chris Harper had a few moments with Darron Thomas getting on the field during the desperate 4th quarter against Boise State. Nothing that 1st season from the other 5. In 2007, there were 12 4-star guys. Drew Davis & Malachai Lewis had 3 catches each with Terrence Scott grabbing a pair. Will Tukuafu, a juco, did well as did Kenny Rowe, a true freshman. Another high school frosh, Anthony Gildon played about half the games on special teams. That's it. Oddly, in 2006, there was just one 4-star guy, a juco. Fenuki Toupou. Redshirted before having 2 brilliant season. So from 2006 through 2009 the Ducks landed 25 four-star recruits. Two, Cliff Harris and Kenny Rowe became what you could call regulars right out of high school. So get excited about recruiting because it's the life blood of college sports but bottle it because what you're seeing today won't matter all that much until 2011.