Athlon Sports: Oregon Enters Spring Practice Ranked Eighth, Behind Michigan State and USC
Athlon Sports recently released their list of Pre-Spring Practice Top 25 teams and Oregon fans will not be happy. Coming in behind Ohio State in the National Championship and losing a Heisman Trophy Winning Quarterback apparently knocked the Ducks back a peg.
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Oregon is ranked eighth on the list entering Spring Ball with several teams with National Prominince ahead of them. Michigan State, who lost to the Ducks at Autzen last season will have a chance at redemption this year in East Lansing come in at number seven. The Spartans are ranked ahead of Oregon in the Pre-Spring Top 25. There is one team that will certainly get the attention of Oregon fans.
The USC Trojans are back on the scene ranked ahead of Oregon at sixth and will also return to Autzen for a showdown this Fall. Cody Kessler returned to school and will likely also be the Heisman talk of the Pac-12 this season. However, don’t discount the Ducks and their Offense.
There are plenty of reasons to believe including key returners on Offense in Running Backs Royce Freeman, Thomas Tyner and Hybrid Rusher/Receiver Byron Marshall. The Oregon Ducks will also have a new leader in Transfer Quarterback Vernon Adams who comes in from Eastern Washington. There is plenty of time for Mark Helfrich’s team to climb back into the Top Five of this list.
The top team on the list is no surprise with Ohio State taking number one entering Spring Practice. Other notables include Auburn at five, Florida State at ten, and UCLA at seventeen. Oregon Spring Practice begins on April 1st and the Annual Spring Game is set for Saturday, May 2nd.