Oregon Ducks

ESPN's Erik McKinney drops by to preview top West Coast prospects who will be at this weekend's Elite 11 and Oakland NFTC. McKinney also talks Pac-12 recruiting and why the conference has gotten off to a slow start in 2014 recruiting.

This week's look at Pac-12 recruiting touches on Oregon-bound Morgan Mahalak, Joe Mixon, Nathan Starks and more.

New Oregon coach Mark Helfrich talks about his first spring practice leading the Ducks, QB Marcus Mariota and the new college football playoff."

The 2013 NFL draft was odd for the Pac-12.

The Conference of Quarterbacks saw two of its own tumble precipitously, USC's Matt Barkley to the first pick of the fourth round, and Arizona's Matt Scott to undrafted. Meanwhile, four of its five first-round picks were defensive players. And the offensive guy was a lineman.

Oregon was the top-dog, with five picks, including two in the first round and one in the second. USC, which once held that position on a near-annual basis, ended up with an underwhelming four -- same as UCLA -- the first being receiver Robert Woods in the second round, 41st overall.

Arizona and Arizona State, 2012 bowl game winners, were both shut out, while woeful Colorado produced two draft picks.

The conference as a whole supplied 28 draft picks, a number that ranked third among FBS conferences.

The SEC led the way with an extraordinary 63 draft picks. In fact, this article here does a nice job of quantifying how stunning the SEC's dominance was in the draft, not unlike how it has dominated the BCS.

The seven-team SEC East actually had more draft picks than any other conference with 32. That, in fact, is the number of SEC draft picks in the first three rounds.

Yeah... well. Heck. I don't even know what to say about that.

The ACC was No. 2 with 31. After the Pac-12, the Big 12 offered up 22 with 10 teams as the Big Ten did with 12. The Big East had 18.

Scott, who signed a free agent deal with Jacksonville, wasn't the only player who likely was surprised to not hear his name called. Stanford outside linebacker Chase Thomas, two times a first-team All-Pac-12 performer, went undrafted and signed a free agent deal with New Orleans.

Other free agent signings of note:

• Washington State QB Jeff Tuel: Buffalo Bills
• UCLA TE Joseph Fauria: Detroit Lions
• California RB C.J. Anderson: Denver Broncos
• Utah CB Ryan Lacy: New Orleans Saints
• Arizona State LB Brandon McGee: Dallas Cowboys
• USC CB Nickell Robey: Buffalo Bills
• California DE Aaron Tipoti: Buffalo Bills
• USC S Jawanza Starling: Houston Texans
• Utah P Sean Sellwood: Atlanta Falcons
• Utah C Tevita Stevens: Washington Redskins
• Colorado LB Doug Rippy: Denver Broncos
• UCLA CB Aaron Hester: Denver Broncos
• Stanford CB Terrence Brown: Cincinnati Bengals
• Colorado S Ray Polk: Seattle Seahawks
• Oregon LB Michael Clay: Miami Dolphins
• Oregon DT Isaac Remington: Philadelphia Eagles

Here's how things unfolded for the conference in the draft, round-by-round:

First Round: 3. Dion Jordan, OLB, Oregon: Miami; 14. Star Lotulelei, NT, Utah: Carolina; 20. Kyle Long, OG, Oregon: Chicago; 22. Desmond Trufant, CB, Washington: Atlanta; 26. Datone Jones, DE, UCLA: Green Bay.

Second Round: 35. Zach Ertz, TE, Stanford: Philadelphia; 41. Robert Woods, WR, USC: Buffalo; 46. Kiko Alonso, LB, Oregon: Buffalo.

Third round: 71. T.J. McDonald, USC, S: St. Louis; 76. Keenan Allen, WR, California: San Diego; 79. Markus Wheaton, WR, Oregon State: Pittsburgh.

Fourth round: 98. Matt Barkley, QB, USC: Philadelphia; 107. Brian Schwenke, OL, California: Tennessee; 109. David Bakhtiari, OT, Colorado: Green Bay; 121. Khaled Holmes, OL, USC: Indianapolis; 125. Johnathan Franklin, RB, UCLA: Green Bay; 133. Levine Toilolo, TE, Stanford: Atlanta.

Fifth round: 140. Stepfan Taylor, RB, Stanford: Arizona; 145. Steve Williams, CB, California: San Diego; 155. Jeff Locke, P, UCLA: Minnesota.

Sixth round: 172. Nick Kasa, TE, Colorado: Oakland; 182. Kenjon Barner, RB, Oregon: Carolina. 192. John Boyett, S, Oregon: Indianapolis; 196. Jeff Baca, OL, UCLA: Minnesota.

Seventh round: 212. Joe Kruger, DL, Utah: Philadelphia. 218. Jordan Poyer, CB, Oregon State: Philadelphia. 236. Marquess Wilson, WR, Washington State: Chicago. 247. Marc Anthony, CB, California: Baltimore.

Oregon and the NCAA agree: The football program committed major violations in connection to the Willie Lyles case, The Oregonian and Portland, Ore., television station KATU reported Monday.

The disagreement, however, that prevented Oregon and the NCAA from reaching a summary judgment is this, from The Oregonian:

Oregon and the NCAA, however, reached an impasse late in 2012 while attempting to agree on the severity of one violation concerning the Ducks' $25,000 payment to Texas-based talent scout Willie Lyles. The Ducks believe the impermissible "oral reports" delivered from Lyles constitute a secondary violation; NCAA enforcement officials believe them to be another "major violation."

It makes sense that's at issue, although the Pac-12 blog is of the mind that this impasse was more about the NCAA's committee on infractions (COI), which demanded a hearing, than the NCAA's enforcement staff, which seemed to be in accord with Oregon.

The strength of Oregon's position is the way the NCAA reacted to other recent cases, as well as the gray area with NCAA rules on recruiting services.

The strength of the NCAA's position is that it can do what it wants, then justify it after the fact, such as when former Miami athletic director Paul Dee said about USC's Reggie Bush, "High-profile athletes require high-profile compliance," which he just spun together for reporters because it doesn't exist in the NCAA rulebook.

Still, there is good news for Oregon from these reports, and it might be more important than what led the story:

However, the documents also state NCAA enforcement staff said they had "no finding of lack of institutional control and no finding of unethical conduct," key points when it comes time for punishment to be considered, KATU reported. Oregon is expected to appear before the NCAA's committee on infractions sometime this year.

"Lack of institutional control" and "unethical conduct" are the killers when it comes to penalties. Those quash postseasons and handfuls of scholarships. Of course, these documents are dated, so it's possible, if unlikely, the COI could up the ante.

Further, Oregon's case is probably helped by the program's big news this year: The departure of coach Chip Kelly to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Violations connected to Lyles came on Kelly's watch. He's gone. That should soften the eventual blow to some extent.

To show you the university's thinking, it "proposed to self-impose a two-year probation for the football program and a reduction of one scholarship for each of the next three seasons."

It wanted to be whipped by a wet noodle three times.

Yet even if you doubled that -- four years of probation and two scholarships for each of the next three seasons -- you're not talking about a major hit to the program. Signing just 23 and maxing out at 83 scholarships for the next three years won't knock the Ducks out of the nation's top 10.

Chip Kelly isn't terribly big. He's not notably loud, either. Nor is he typically expansive. Who he is, however, is -- was! -- the presence most often cited as transforming Oregon's football program from good to great. So his absence from the Ducks' first spring practice Tuesday was impossible to ignore.

Yet it's a tribute to the culture Kelly sought to create that it appears his players did a pretty darn good job of doing just that. Mostly.

"At first, a lot of the guys were talking about it," quarterback Marcus Mariota said. "It's a little different. But by the end of practice, it was good. Kind of the same. Once we got rolling, it was the same old game of football."

New coach Mark Helfrich, who was promoted from offensive coordinator, admitted to reporters that his first practice sans Kelly was "weird, at points." But Oregon moves too fast to stop for navel-gazing. It's "next man in" when a player or coach leaves or goes down, and so it will be for the beginning of the Helfrich era.

Without a doubt, the transition from Kelly to Helfrich is the point A of the Ducks' 2013 story. There's no question about point B, either: Mariota.

Somewhat lost in the regional shuffle of the Kelly-to-the-NFL talk and the national hullabaloo over Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel's brilliant Heisman Trophy season was Mariota's extraordinary performance as the Ducks' redshirt freshman starter.

Mariota was in the cockpit for a team that finished ranked No. 2 in the nation after whipping Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl. He piloted an offense that ranked second in the nation in scoring (49.5 points per game) and was fifth in total offense (537.4 yards per game).

Individually, he ranked first in the Pac-12 and seventh in the nation in passing efficiency. In the Conference of Quarterbacks, he earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors after completing 68.5 percent of his throws for 2,677 yards with 32 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also rushed for 752 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 7.1 yards per carry.

He also got better as the year went along, despite the competition being decidedly tougher. As Rob Moseley of the Eugene Register-Guard pointed out, "[Mariota] had 11 touchdowns, four interceptions and a 152.74 rating in the first month of the season, and 21 touchdowns, two interceptions and a 171.10 rating after that."

That efficiency number would have ranked third in the nation. Further, keep in mind that Oregon's tendency to stomp opponents into submission by halftime meant Mariota was either on the bench or handing off during most fourth quarters.

While Mariota isn't the only reason many see the Ducks as national title contenders again in 2013, despite Kelly's departure, he is the biggest. The 6-foot-4, 211-pound Honolulu native is a seemingly unflappable player who combines A-list speed with notable passing accuracy.

There is little Mariota didn't do well in 2012, so the idea of him improving can foster many pleasant thoughts among Ducks fans. And there are areas in which he can improve. Mariota said his offseason focus has been footwork. New offensive coordinator Scott Frost, promoted from receivers coach, believes Mariota's established strengths can become even stronger.

"I think we can clean some things up and be even more efficient," Frost said. "There are some things we want to tweak to help him have more of an opportunity to impact the game. We wouldn't trade him for anybody. We think he can do some amazing things and win a lot of games. We're going to feature him as much as we can."

With the Ducks welcoming back their entire cast of receivers and being questionable at running back, it's almost certain Mariota will throw more next season. That will mean more opportunities for him to put up big numbers. If he hangs up impressive stats while the Ducks continue to roll up wins, Mariota will gain the esteem of Heisman Trophy voters.

Mariota, the Fiesta Bowl MVP, isn't a guy who seeks out the spotlight, but he also doesn't seem to be afraid of it.

"My parents raised me to handle whatever comes at you," he said. "I'm looking forward to it."

Then he added, "I'm really looking forward to spring practices."

That sounds very Chip Kelly. Or maybe we now should say that it sounds very Oregon.