No athlete wants to become a starter in the wake of turmoil, but Darron Thomas is not going to have a choice. As everyone now knows Jeremiah Masoli is gone for next season and that leaves the business of football to the redshirt sophomore-to-be Thomas. There will not be any panic and hardly any concern within the program and amongst close followers since Thomas has a limited but impressive highlight reel including the late comeback effort he led against Boise State in 2008 and a 35 yard completion to Jeff Maehl on an option pass in the Civil War game that same season. He also rushed for a score against Washington State.
There is no doubt Thomas has the tools. At 6-3, 205 pounds he looks the part and with 4.5 range speed in the 40 yard dash; he has the size and stature combined with speed and God-given athletic ability that the rest of us stare at in awe. He showed accuracy that no one outside of the coaching staff could have seen coming in 2008 against Boise State and while that is a limited sampling Duck fans have to see it as a hope. The speed and athleticism of course make him dangerous in the open field and the ability in Kelly’s spread to keep the ball and get into the second and third levels of the defense quickly can lead to huge gains. There isn’t a great chance he will be putting any DBs on SportsCenter by lowering his head and learning when to go down or go out of bounds is going to be important for Thomas all year due to the volume of carries.
His decision-making under pressure is going to be tested but it will be up to Kelly and his staff to adapt to a new set of challenges to gameplan around Thomas’ weaknesses early and hope like hell he grows up quick. A more traditional running game would allow a coach to hide an inexperienced quarterback but not the spread. Opening at Autzen will be a nice introduction, but 100,000+ Tennessee fans in the second game of next season will reveal perhaps more than Duck fans would like if Thomas’ is unable to handle an atmosphere unlike any he has played in.
How Thomas is able to run the read-option against Pac-10 defenses throughout an entire season has yet to be seen but Masoli made a quick transition from JC football after Justin Roper went down in the 2008 season opener and he came back from his concussion against Boise State and Dennis Dixon made a similar transition from maligned by fans and mostly erratic before Kelly arrived to “spread-option maestro” to quote ESPN.com’s Ted Miller. Slowing down the game and getting into a rhythm sound cliche but for Thomas they will be vital to his success.
There is of course also the Nate Costa Factor. Costa is in his final year and despite only starting one game is known throughout the program for his attention to the playbook and knowledge of the offense and why not? As a fifth-year guy, Costa has been in Eugene longer than his coach. But this is, of course, Kelly’s offense and he and QB Coach Mark Helfrich are going to at least have options with a seemingly capable, if somewhat fragile, senior and a phenom in waiting in Thomas.
Anyone who knows John Canzano knows he isn’t the most popular with Duck fans, but he recently got one thing right: it’s time to put this mess in the past and to support the guys on the team who were not involved in the sordid activities of a few. Nothing that has happened recently will hurt the Ducks anymore than it already has and when the 2010 season kicks off the players on the field are the first with a chance to remake their own team and University’s image with their play and behavior. No one will have a hotter spotlight than Thomas.
