TopFrog
Lifelong Frog
FWST: Oregon's James wanted something different
By Jimmy Burch
jburch@star-telegram.com
Oregon football coach Chip Kelly will lean heavily on two Texans to carry the offensive load for the second-ranked Ducks in tonight's BCS National Championship Game against No. 1 Auburn in Glendale, Ariz.
Both players are sophomores, with running back LaMichael James (Texarkana Liberty-Eylau) and quarterback Darron Thomas (Aldine) entrenched as the primary playmakers for one of the nation's most explosive offenses. But James, the nation's leading rusher (1,682 yards, 21 TDs) and winner of the 2010 Doak Walker Award, is the player Kelly identified as "our heart and soul" heading into a contest that could give Oregon its first national championship in school history.
"We thought we had a special one when we recruited him," Kelly said during a recent interview. "You turn on his highlight tape and it was an amazing thing to watch. Some kids have one or two highlights. His just went on and on and on and on."
Yet those highlights were not enough to entice a scholarship offer from Texas or Oklahoma, two high-profile area schools that passed on James (5-foot-9, 185 pounds), an undersized scatback who played Class 3A football in high school. James said he found TCU to be his most tempting in-state option for college football before he signed with Oregon in February 2008. ...
By Jimmy Burch
jburch@star-telegram.com
Oregon football coach Chip Kelly will lean heavily on two Texans to carry the offensive load for the second-ranked Ducks in tonight's BCS National Championship Game against No. 1 Auburn in Glendale, Ariz.
Both players are sophomores, with running back LaMichael James (Texarkana Liberty-Eylau) and quarterback Darron Thomas (Aldine) entrenched as the primary playmakers for one of the nation's most explosive offenses. But James, the nation's leading rusher (1,682 yards, 21 TDs) and winner of the 2010 Doak Walker Award, is the player Kelly identified as "our heart and soul" heading into a contest that could give Oregon its first national championship in school history.
"We thought we had a special one when we recruited him," Kelly said during a recent interview. "You turn on his highlight tape and it was an amazing thing to watch. Some kids have one or two highlights. His just went on and on and on and on."
Yet those highlights were not enough to entice a scholarship offer from Texas or Oklahoma, two high-profile area schools that passed on James (5-foot-9, 185 pounds), an undersized scatback who played Class 3A football in high school. James said he found TCU to be his most tempting in-state option for college football before he signed with Oregon in February 2008. ...
