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Oregon looks to replace Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota

The Ducks head into 2015 with optimism about new faces stepping up

mark-helfrich

Oregon football head coach Mark Helfrich speaks to the media during Oregon's Pac-12 Media Day session at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California on Friday, July 31st, 2015.  


Oregon is facing the challenge of replacing arguably the program's greatest player, Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota. 

The Ducks not only lost a tremendous leader, but are also tasked with replacing 4454 passing yards, 42 touchdowns, a 68.3 percent completion percentage and 770 rushing yards from last season.

So where do they turn? 

"The key to replacing a great player, a once-in-a-lifetime player, however you want to describe a guy like Marcus, is everybody has to do their job better," said Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich. "We don't need somebody to come in and try to be Superman when they're not. We need them to play their role well, utilize the strengths we have on our team, and go."

With Mariota gone, all eyes will be trained on sophomore running back Royce Freeman, who rushed for 1,365 yards on 252 attempts, an impressive 5.4 yards per carry. He also added 16 receptions for 158 yards and totaled 19 touchdowns in his freshman campaign. 

Freeman earned Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and was named to the All-Conference second team. Just as last year, many expect the Imperial, California standout and junior Thomas Tyner to share the load in the backfield. 

"Age shouldn't matter, we have horizontal leadership so for me to step up on the offensive side and be a leader, that's an important role that I want to focus on embracing," Freeman said. "I'm going to let my actions speak and express some vocality for my teammates."

In addition to Freeman and Tyner, Oregon returns redshirt sophomore receivers Devon Allen and Darren Carrington as well as redshirt junior receiver Dwayne Stanford from the explosive offense that powered the Ducks to a National Championship appearance last season. 

"I think we have many faces (of the team)," Freeman said. "We have a lot of weapons on offense returning, a lot of guys who have played before, so we don't have one distinct face. I think we'll all kind of help each other around and put as many points on the board as we can."

Royce Freeman talks at day two of the Pac-12 media days. from Justin Toscano on Vimeo.

Many believe Eastern Washington transfer Vernon Adams will start under center, even though Jeff Lockie has been waiting his turn and Helfrich vouched for the quarterback's solid performance in the spring. 

Helfrich said he understands there may be hostility among the two quarterbacks if Adams starts over Lockie. 

"We're going to compete every day at every single position," he said. "Our guys know that. We tell them in recruiting. If I'm recruiting Dennis, I'm saying, 'hey Dennis, next year I'm going to try and out-recruit you.' We want to look them in the eye and see how they react."

But even with the questions about replacing Mariota, there is still another elephant in the room — unfinished business. 

The Ducks made it to the National Championship in the inaugural College Football Playoff, but the result wasn't the one they wanted. 

"When you get to that point (and don't succeed) it's very disappointing, very emotional," Helfrich said. "But you've got to get up the next day and go to work and work on the next deal." 

For now, Oregon is putting the questions and concerns aside as it looks to embrace the challenge in returning to the same stage with new leadership hoping for a different result. 

"We have a long time until our first game and we have a lot of work to do, and we're ready to get into it," Freeman said. "We have a lot of guys anxious to get out there on the field and try to make plays, and that's always a good thing."


Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or on Twitter @justintoscano3

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