Often in the past, the Oregon defense has been seen as the weakness for the Ducks. Behind the high-scoring offense, the Oregon defense doesn’t have to worry about giving 34 points to Arkansas State when they put up 57 points themselves last season. People were amazed though when Arizona came to town with their high-scoring offense and put up a goose egg on the scoreboard with Oregon ending the game with 49 points. The defense proved it wasn’t second fiddle no longer and should be considered hand-in-hand with the offense. Even though they lost four starters including three at the linebacker position, the defense will look strong this season and might overshadow the offense in more than one game in terms of excellence. Without further to do, here are Lane Today’s projections for the Oregon starting 11 on defense.
(*= new starter)
DL: Taylor Hart
DL: Wade Keliikipi
DL: Arik Armstead*
OLB: Boseko Lokombo
ILB: Joe Walker*
ILB: Tyson Coleman*/Derrick Malone*
OLB: Tony Washington*
CB: Terrance Mitchell
CB: Ifo Ekpre-Olomu
FS: Avery Patterson
SS: Brian Jackson
The defensive line stays pretty much in tact for Oregon. The Ducks lost veteran DT Isaac Remington to graduation but returning starter Wade Keliikipi will move over to the center of the defensive line quite easily with Oregon essentially playing a 3-4 defense. Taylor Hart will return to his usual spot last season with Arik Armstead taking the place of Keliikipi after an impressive freshman season.
Linebackers are where it gets tricky in deciding who will be starting. Boseko Lokombo is the lone returning starter so he’ll have to be the leader of the crew at the OLB position. After that, it looks like Tony Washington will start opposite of Lokombo while Joe Walker will secure one of the ILB positions with the other being a toss-up between veterans Tyson Coleman and Derrick Malone.
Oregon’s secondary is where the Ducks will shine. Not only are they returning all four starters, they are returning the same secondary that led the nation in interceptions last season. Ifo Ekpre-Olomu will look to build on last year’s breakout season and is consider to be one of the best cornerbacks in the country.