The Oregon Ducks Future QB
With the unexpected departure of former Oregon Duck quarterback Darron Thomas to the NFL Draft, freshman Jake Rodrigues has a chance to make an impact early on. Rodrigues is one of two quarterbacks from the Ducks 2012 recruiting class. The other quarterback is 3 star recruit (Rivals.com and Scout.com) Jeff Lockie from Danville, California.
Rodrigues, from Whitney High School in Rocklin, California, enters Oregon as one of the highest recruited quarterbacks in the country. Both scouting services (Rivals and Scout) had him rated as a 4 star recruit. Rivals had him listed as the fifth ranked Pro Style Quarterback and the 165th ranked recruit overall. Additionally, Rodrigues reminds the people at Rivals.com of future USC and New York Jet signal caller, Mark Sanchez.
Scout had him as their 17th best quarterback and 247sports.com had him as the 16th best quarterback prospect and the 41st overall prospect coming out of the state of California. His offer sheet reads like a list of Who’s Who amongst top NCAA Universities. He chose the Oregon Ducks over schools like Arizona State, Colorado, Colorado State, Florida, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska and Washington to name a few.
He had an impressive high school career accumulating 84 combined touchdowns throwing and running his junior and senior years. Rodrigues, who is 6’3” and 210 lbs, is known to have a strong arm (right-handed) and is a powerful runner who operated from the spread offense in high school much like the Ducks offense is designed. He currently is walking in a boot due to a lower leg injury he suffered in a playoff game at the end of his senior season. He is not expected to miss any action once Spring Practice begins in April.
Once practice begins he will be battling with Sophomore Bryan Bennett and red shirt freshman Marcus Mariota for playing time. It will be hard for Rodrigues to beat out Bennett and Mariota for the starting position as both men have experience with the Ducks system, but at the very least he can wrap up the 3rd string spot. It is no small feat to be the 3rd quarterback on the roster as he will be able to travel with the team and could potentially see live reps during the course of the season.
Regardless what happens this season at the quarterback spot, the future is bright with a talent like Rodrigues on the roster.
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