The Oregon Ducks’ future has begun. It wasn’t a secret that coach Mark Helfrich was going to go through some Marcus Mariota withdrawals. Oregon came into this year having to deal with the Heisman hangover, meaning their former quarterback who earned the Heisman trophy parted ways and headed to the
NFL draft. Oregon fans were left with a huge question: Who was going to play quarterback? Most importantly, would he be at least remotely as efficient as Mariota?
The answer was Vernon Adams Jr. A graduate transfer from Eastern Washington who dominated his league. Adams had one year of eligibility left, so the Ducks found a temporary answer. Key word, temporary. Adams struggled with injury at the beginning of this season, but ended with a flourish. The Alamo Bowl remains for Oregon, but they are faced with another issue at quarterback next year.
Oregon reeled in 3 star quarterback, Seth Green. Green seemed like he would be the guy until the departure of offensive coordinator Scott Frost. Frost left Oregon to become a head coach at UCF, which shifted Green’s preference. Green is now committed to Minnesota. This leaves the depth chart at quarterback for next season as follows: Jeff Lockie, Taylor Allie, Travis Jonsen. Lockie came in for relief of Adams a few times this season, and was not productive, with a QBR of 44.8.
Oregon has been in contact with Montana State star Dakota Prukop throughout the second half of the season. Prukop took a recent visit to Oregon and Alabama. He went to Hawaii to make his final decision. With the help of his family and friends he chose Oregon over Alabama. Prukop stated “Oregon and coach [Mark] Helfrich made me a challenge to come and take the Ducks to the next level and do something that’s never been done before there,” Prukop added this in reference to Oregon having no national title, “… That was something that was kind of enticing to me because I’ve kind of somewhat been through the process before of kind of making a program take the next step. That started in high school, and it’s kind of translated through. I kind of take the trailblazer route, and that’s something that kind of turned my decision and made me absolute on the route that I wanted to take.”
Prukop got a late call from Lane Kiffin, the offensive coordinator for Alabama. He took a flight out to Alabama after his visit to Oregon. He met with coach Nick Saban and Saban tried his pitch. He told the quarterback they would be willing to switch the Tide’s offensive scheme from power run to whatever fits Prukop best, since he is a dual-threat player. Prukop’s 2015 stats are certainly not as coveted as Vernon Adams were at Eastern Washington, but they are attention grabbing. In 2015, he threw for 3,025 yards and 28 touchdowns. He also added 797 yards on the ground with 11 rushing scores. Dakota just concluded his redshirt junior season for the 5-6 Bobcats, and will be eligible to play for Oregon next season.