In a world where players opt out of upcoming bowl games in order to prepare for the next stage of their football career, it’s quite refreshing to see players go the opposite way and end their college days on the field.
Oregon could have been stripped down to its bare bones with all of the possible opt outs and while the Ducks weren’t completely immune to this new trend, Oregon has plenty of players left to look as it did in the regular season.
Quarterback Bo Nix and tailback Bucky Irving will be playing in the Fiesta Bowl against Liberty as is defensive players such as Brandon Dorlus and Jeffrey Bassa.
“Yeah, it goes down to the connection part. Being able to want to end the season off right with these guys,” Bassa said on Saturday.
“The last game (Washington), we didn’t get the result we wanted. It came down to the wire. But everybody being brought in and being ready for that last game, just going out there, that last practice the day before the game, I know it’s going to be surreal.”
Bassa is still deciding on whether to declare for the NFL or return to Eugene for another season. But for those out of eligibility after Monday’s day, it’s a big deal they opted to stay and play one more time for the green and yellow.
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“So of these super seniors like Dorlus and Steve (Stephens IV) and Evan (Williams), it’s really going to be their last one in college. It goes down to just finishing with what we started,” Bassa said. “I think a lot of the guys have been dialed in and ready for it all year.”
It was brought up that Super Seniors on the defensive side of the ball might choose to go elsewhere from the portal due to the fact the Oregon defense is difficult to learn in a short amount of time.
Bassa tried to put those fears to rest for those looking to transfer into the Ducks and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi’s system.
“You got elite coaches around you. From the strength staff to the assistant staff and support staff” explained Bassa.
“These people come in ready to work every day for you and they want you to be the best version of yourself, so you got to sit there and ask yourself, do you really love it? Because you’re going to have all the things you need to succeed. To fail here, you have to literally go out of your way to fail. So I think just really just asking those guys that question, you got to ask yourself: Do you really love football?”
From the results, these Ducks obviously love football.
When asked about other Ducks deciding their future, whether to jump to the NFL or return back to Eugene, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said that will be decided likely in the next few weeks.
“Just try to share experience, real-life experience that I’ve had with players in the
past. I’ve had a lot of guys get drafted that I’ve gotten to coach”, said Lanning.
“Sometimes those guys made great decisions, sometimes they didn’t. You try to make sure they understand what accurate information looks like, point them in the direction of accurate information, and then you try to step back and let their family and the people that they care about, their loved ones, help them make a decision.
“I don’t think it’s ever easy making those decisions. Then sometimes you have to realize that’s what you want to do and then there’s what you should do.
There’s a lot of guys that want to go play in the NFL, but it doesn’t mean that I’m ready to go play in the NFL. Then there’s a lot of guys that would want to come back and play another year in college, because they enjoy that experience so much. Maybe the reality is they should move on. So we just try to share accurate information with our players, step back, give them that opportunity to
make the decision themselves and if there’s any way we can help them, we will help them.”