Recruiting impact: Taggart bolts, so what happens to that #5 class?
There's no good time to lose a coach, but one of the worst times is right before a bowl game, two weeks before an early signing period, and 363 days after you hired him.
Willie Taggart's decision to take his "dream opportunity" in Tallahassee will cost the Ducks dearly in recruiting in the short term. For one thing, one of the first things he did when getting hired at Oregon was raid the University of South Florida recruiting class for prospects like Billy Gibson, Darrian Felix, Darrian McNeal, Demetri Burch and Bruce Judson. He plucked Jordon Scott out of Florida on Christmas Day, Daewood Davis a little more than a month later.
His new Seminole staff will no doubt include Donte Pimpleton, David Kelly and Ray Woodie, who have followed him at all his coaching stops.
They'll have no qualms at ringing up Oregon's committed prospects to offer them a shot at wearing the Garnet and Gold, particularly the Florida kids, Malcolm Lamar, Warren Thompson and Isaiah Bolden among them.
Another factor is PAC-12 coaches taking aim at what they sense is vulnerability and wounded feelings. Chip Kelly is recruiting and making home visits in Northern California today, and one of his stops is going to be 4-star tight end Spencer Webb.
Kelly has always made good use of the tight ends in his offense. At Oregon Ed Dickson, David Paulson, Colt Lyerla and Pharaoh Brown became stars, and all four got a shot in the NFL. UCLA is a top-rated academic school in a desirable location, and The Chipster can be charming when he wants to be.
The hope is that core of Oregon's class will hang together out of loyalty to each other. Through social media and their visits, many of them have already become teammates and friends. DSA posted that sentiment on Twitter late last night, and got the following immediate responses:
Significant also is the leadership being displayed by 2018 quarterback commit Tyler Shough, who told A.J. Jacobson this morning, "I am planning on being a Duck regardless. I committed to the school."
Shough has already established himself as a leader in this class, and history has shown us, if you've got a quarterback and an offensive line, you can compete in the PAC-12.
Oregon's best chance to maintain continuity and preserve the core of the recruiting class is to retain as many of the non-Florida, non-Taggart homeboy coaches as possible moving forward.
If they hire within, perhaps naming Jim Leavitt or Mario Cristobal as head coach, assigning Cristobal, Arroyo to coordinator roles, increasing salaries to Charles Clark and Joe Salave'a, they can offer some assurance to the recruits that the coach who recruited them and built a relationship with them will be here through the bulk of their college careers. Keith Heyward looks like a candidate for defensive coordinator job at Oregon State, but he would be another "good keep."
Most vulnerable to bolt are the Ray Woodie recruits, among them Malcolm Lamar, Andrew Johnson, MJ Cunningham, Warren Thompson, Jonathan King, Mohammed Diallo, and Isaiah Bolden. But Bolden has reaffirmed his commitment to Oregon in numerous opportunities.