Chris Hampton's biggest challenge as Oregon's new defensive coordinator

Tosh Lupoi won't be hard to replace. As Oregon defensive coordinator he excelled at recruiting and relationships, but he was far from a master strategist, not a defensive mastermind or the type who could scheme an opponent out of their game plan.

For four years Oregon crushed bad teams but suffered some program-defining blowouts against opponents with equal or greater talent. Still, the Ducks compiled a .944 record in two years of Big Ten play. That's not nothing.

In his two years as the defensive coordinator at Tulane Hampton crafted a unit that won an AAC title and finished No. 15 in the country, No. 1 in their conference at stopping opponents on third down. He's a dynamic recruiter and a good teacher, interviewed previously for the DC job at Arkansas and a finalist to succeed Jon Sumrall at the Green Wave when Sumrall departed for Florida.

No one ever rises to low expectations

Hampton has the chops to do well at Oregon but he faces three immediate challenges. One, the expectations are stratospheric. To many, this is a "national championship or bust" year for the Ducks. In those way-too-early lists some have the program as the nation's top returning defense. That's optimistic.

Hampton returns eight of 11 starters on his unit but the three that have moved on represent a significant loss. Bryce Boettcher and Dillon Thieneman represent a lot of production, the two leading tacklers on the 2025 squad with a whopping 232 stops between them. On last year's team they were the tandem with the mop bucket, the ones who answered every time someone on the intercom called out, "clean up on aisle seven."

The third starter whose eligibility is exhausted is Jadon Canaday, an underrated veteran and cover guy who solidified the secondary with his play at Nickle and corner.

In all, the team is missing 261 tackles and five interceptions from last year's starting lineup. And the raw numbers don't tell the complete story-- Boettcher, Thieneman and Canaday set the pace in terms of leadership, preparation and work ethic. They were students of the game, the brains of the 2025 defense, the communicators.

Someone has the massive challenge of providing the recognition and savvy they provided. New leadership has to emerge.

The Ducks are counting on Minnesota transfer Koi Perich to replace Thieneman as a defensive leader, but that's going to require Perich to step up his consistency and tackling. Thieneman was a workhorse and a film junkie.

Another challenge for Hampton and his group is that losses to the portal ravaged Oregon's impressive depth defensively. Tionne Gray, Blake Purchase, Kamar Mothudi, Kingston Lopa, Ashton Porter, Jericho Johnson and Tobi Haastrup are gone, among others.

The Ducks picked up D'Antre Robinson, Bleu Dantzler and Jerome Simmons in the transfer portal, plus safety/Nickle Carl Williams IV to fill some of those roles, but overall the three-deep just isn't as impressive or talent-laden as it used to be. Few teams are.

In the freshman class there are some promising newcomers that Hampton may identify as immediate above-the-line players. It's easy to see Jett Washington, Devon Benjamin and Xavier Lherisse playing very early, and Ohio State transfer cornerback Aaron Scott will challenge for a starting spot at corner.

At 6-5, 205 dual-sport star Washington will be one to watch to see how quickly he develops and acclimates to college football. He could be the versatile hitter and playmaker who breaks through, playing at perhaps 6-5, 225 as a safety/linebacker hybrid, an impact player to replace some of that lost production.

Another hopeful element of the picture is continued development and growth from Dylan Williams, Brayden Platt, Gavin Nix, Trey McNutt, Na'eem Offord, Ify Obidegwu and Dorian Brew. These were all highly rated guys. Departures and defections have provided them with an opportunity

Hampton has proved himself to be a coach with a lot of drive and a good football mind. There's the raw material of a great defense this season, but it'll require cohesion and vision to create it. Getting more disruption and havoc from that talented, experienced defensive line of Uiagalelei, Alexander, Tuioti and Washington would be an enormous difference-maker.

Great defenses wreck offensive timing. Lupoi talked about six seconds of hell but didn't always succeed in creating it. Losing 56-22 and 41-21 in back-to-back season finales took the bloom off the defensive resume. Unless Hampton fails miserably, there will be little nostalgia for the Tosh Lupoi era.