Jan. 3, 2013; Glendale, AZ, USA: Kansas State Wildcats running back De

There are plenty of Preseason Watch lists that are now starting to appear, one site that I follow quite frequently is Athlon Sports. Their analysis is solid and they seem to know what they are talking about. It was a matter of time as to where the Ducks would end up on their ‘Preseason Top 25′ list.

I’ve been watching the last few weeks and was quite surprised when Stanford came up at Number 7. The Cardinal has the opportunity to play Oregon down on the Farm this year and should be the most circled matchup of 2013, even more than USC(who the Ducks don’t see this season, unless it’s in the Pac 12 Title game). November 2nd will be big.

Oregon returns quite a few starters on Offense and has new Head Coach Mark Helfrich. Athlon Sports takes a look at some of the key players and notes Sophomore QB Marcus Mariota, Running Back De’Anthony Thomas and Cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu.

Nationally, Athlon has the Ducks at #3 and also sees them winning the Pac 12 North.

It’s a ‘Potentially Historic Transition Year’ for the program.

Apr, 27, 2013; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) before the spring game at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN Analyst Todd McShay has released his list, or ‘Top 32′  potential Breakout players of 2013 and to no surprise there are several Oregon Ducks on the list.

Here are the highlights from the article:

In total, there are 11 players. Here’s how he ranks the Pac-12 players in his top 32:

• No. 4 USC wide receiver Marqise Lee
• No. 5 UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr
• No. 17 Oregon cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu
• N0. 26 Stanford guard David Yankey
• No. 29 Arizona running back Ka’Deem Carey
• No. 32 Oregon running back De’Anthony Thomas.

McShay also does a breakdown of Quarterbacks looking at the 10 Best Quarterback Prospects and there is a familiar name at #4 with Marcus Mariota.

On Mariota he says,

Kelly was right: I did like Mariota from his first snap to his last in 2012, a season in which the Ducks won 12 of 13 games and were one bad half away from setting up the title game most of the country wanted to see. Wrapped up in those 12 victories was the country’s sixth-most efficient passer, who threw 32 touchdowns from just about every angle, platform and movement imaginable while completing slightly less than 70 percent of his overall throws. He added another 752 yards on the ground, running for more than seven yards a carry and five TDs.

ESPN’s Travis Haney also took a look at the best ‘Post Spring’ Players to Watch and Arik Armstead of Oregon made his list.

Haney said,

The offense gets the bulk of the publicity in Eugene, but No. 3 overall pick Dion Jordan joins Haloti Ngata as Oregon D-linemen who have been early first-rounders. Is Armstead working toward that territory?

Jordan included, Armstead was surrounded by talent a year ago, but he will need to make more of an imprint as a sophomore. He appears ready, having stayed in shape — maybe even tightened up a bit — by playing for the Sweet 16 hoops team. He stepped right off the hardwood and onto the spring football field.

The full article is on the ESPN Pac 12 Blog

Oregon Ducks This Week:

The QB backups started out slightly rusty, especially Jake Rodrigues, but he finally was able to pull it together to have a nice afternoon. As far as separation for who the ‘backup’ will be on this team come fall, I did not see much separation to help in the decision.

It was a day to recognize the Armed Forces, both those at home and those about to deploy. There was a flag folding ceremony at halftime that was awe inspiring. It was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop in Autzen Stadium.

On the Wide Receiver side of the ball Braylon Addison had seven catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. Running back Byron Marshall ran for 60 yards on six carries for the game. The second half had a lot of new faces and names of players that will hope to contribute this Fall.

For the Spring Game, the Offense ran 117 plays for 887  yards.

A solid Offensive show for the Ducks, as well as the solid turnout for the game. The crowd helped bring over 73,000 pounds of food for local Eugene group Food For Lane County.

If you want to dig into the Spring Game Further, Bleacher Report has a more extensive breakdown. You can also read my play below.

Oregon Ducks This Week:

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