Dan Lanning and Oregon football recruiting have forgotten the manifesto

In 1980 Rob Strasser of Nike circulated The Manifesto, the 10 essential principles that encapsulated the Nike philosophy and drove its ascension to the No. 1 brand in sports apparel and shoes.

This was before the Air Jordan. This was before "Just Do It" but long after Mr. Knight sold Tiger shoes out of the trunk of his car and Bill Bowerman created the waffle sole with his wife Barbara's waffle iron.

Oregon football was built on these 10 principles, and in the current recruiting cycle, they seem to have misplaced some of them.

Dan Lanning and the Ducks have gotten timid in the recruiting chase. They're getting beat for players. They're losing in the marketplace and falling behind.

They've been cautious about NIL and the new landscape, slow to adjust to the reality of what teams are paying and what top recruits expect.

Perhaps this has been part of strategy, but the strategy isn't working. They've been too careful. They're losing recruiting battles to Texas, Miami, BYU, USC, even Washington.

A No. 27 recruiting class won't win their first national championship. It won't keep them competitive in the Big Ten, where they are currently 11th in the conference, lagging behind Minnesota, Rutgers and Michigan State. That's absurd.

They've been too tentative and they're getting beat off the line. Maybe this reflects a vision and a long game, a better understanding about how the NIL Go Clearinghouse, the revenue-sharing cap and the resultant lawsuits will work out in the courts., but so far they're hanging back while the other runners lead by more than half a lap.

Right now, the Ducks look slow and mediocre. They need to go on offense. They need to start winning the battle.

All of the sudden, it seems like Lanning and the Ducks are trying to make it too pretty.