This will be our new Tuesday column. I want to make this a freebie as it will mostly contain thoughts on the team and recruiting that we want others to see how we look at things here on DSA.
The first topic this week came to me as I was looking at the practice schedule for Fall Camp this year - in which only 8 of the 28 practices will have media availability - and those will only be for 15 minutes of warmups. Additionally there will be 10 of those days where media are not even allowed to talk to coaches. So the question occurred to me - is closing foobtall practice good or bad for fan engagement?
CLOSING FOOTBALL PRACTICES: GOOD OR BAD FOR FAN ENGAGEMENT?
When I first contemplated this concept, I felt that fans were losing their ‘touch’ with the program. What makes college football special is that connection fans have to the players and the university and the change sometimes seemed to be on the edge of paranoia.
In 2015, former Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti echoed that sentiment in an interview saying that “it’s complete paranoia. I just never worried about that stuff,’’ Aliotti said. “I felt like as long as my guys were prepared, everything else should take care of itself.”
At that time – social media was prevalent, but it had not quite become as ubiquitous as it is now – and it was before Artificial Intelligence had become a lot closer to reality. The number of people who could (and likely would) take snapshots and video clips then share those video clips has proliferated. Everyone has social media. The advent of AI would allow aggregation of those individual shots and clips. It could allow teams to harvest hundreds of individual clips and snapshots into significant data points that could be analyzed for formations, personnel, rotations, play calls, and any number of different analytical points that could provide an advantage.
In 2015, that might have seemed paranoid – a decade later it is far closer to the nature of the beast that is college football. With coaches seemingly getting to a hot seat much more quickly in 2024, any advantage has tremendous value.
But closing practices does not have to stop community/player engagement. In our interview with Dan Lanning yesterday, he mentioned that ‘our guys realize that when you sign up to be a football player at Oregon, you sign up for more than just being a football player, more than just being a student, but also signing a guy that can make an impact not only on your family, but also on people around you in the community.’
He spoke of the players working to build 234 beds for the ‘Sleep in Heavenly Peace Project’ making beds for kids who have none. That is community engagement and I know that the fans love those stories – more so than they would like a couple of snippets from practice.
Maybe I am wrong, but I have come on board with closing practices – and that comes partially from - - - science.
In "Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment," authors Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass Sunstein explore how random variability—referred to as "noise"—affects decision-making and outcomes. This concept can be applied to the context of college football, particularly in the decision by coaches to close practices. By limiting outside access, coaches can protect players from external distractions and opinions that may introduce "noise" into their performance and development. The authors argue that noise can lead to inconsistent judgments and decisions, and by controlling the environment, coaches can create a more focused and consistent atmosphere. This helps players concentrate on their training and performance, free from the unpredictable influence of outside opinions, media scrutiny, and distractions, thereby fostering a more cohesive and effective team dynamic.
2026 class more Important than the 2025 class?
It is an interesting question. Oregon has suffered a bad streak over the last few weeks. If the Ducks lose Isaiah Mozee as is widely expected, it would be predictable given his dad was hired by Nebraska. If that were to be the only sting in this week, it probably would be more like a little mosquito bite. Instead the Ducks also lost four-start defensive lineman Josiah Sharma and four-star tight end Da’Saahn Brame. Add that up and a class that just last week was a top five class is now sitting at No. 12 in the nation.
I wouldn’t fret too much just yet because he Ducks seem to be in the driver’s seat once again for a commitment from Trey McNutt. Sort of. Texas A&M sources also feel confident that they have done enough – and that even if he commits to Oregon now, the family move could still swing him down the road.
What’s that have to do with the question? I think human nature is to look ahead when disappointment hits any form of our life. Right now, the current class has to be the most important in the mind of coaches. Looking too far ahead is a recipe for disaster – especially in the transfer portal era. We don’t know who all will be on the Oregon roster next year, but we do know that there will be some graduations/early departures for the NFL – and there will be transfers. To consider the current class less important than some future class is a luxury that I just do not think coaches have.
But I do think that the 2026 class has a much better chance at having an even higher blue chip ratio and one in which the Ducks could challenge for the best class in the nation again. If the Ducks have the kind of season on the field that others expect, you are going to start seeing a sort of overflowing energy of excitement by 2026 prospects for what that future looks like.
So, in some ways, yes, 2026 has a different level of excitement. I just don’t want to call it more important right now.
