regon's QBs are Controversy Free
Oregon coach Mike Bellotti has seemingly gone out of his way proclaiming the Ducks don't have a quarterback controversy.
Bellotti insists there is no plan to alternate or rotate the position shared last year by Dennis Dixon and Brady Leaf.
It was Dixon who received all the starting nods when standout Kellen Clemens suffered a season-ending injury last year, and the junior has done nothing to alter Bellotti's mind-set that Dixon will remain his starter.
"At this point, he's a better passer, a better runner and decision maker," says the 12th-year coach.
Done deal, right? Wrong.
Moments after Bellotti allows that directive to sink in, he quietly slips in a "however" that all but assures Leaf will be seeing game action as well.
"Depending on how well our starter plays and our need, that could change," Bellotti adds. "I'm very comfortable either way."
The situation has all the makings for a dividing factor among the Ducks, save one problem: the relationship between Dixon and Leaf.
"Me and Brady have an excellent chemistry," says Dixon. "Nothing's gonna ever get between me and him. It's all on coach's call. Whoever gets to go out there, they better produce and make the team better, and whoever's sitting out needs to look at it as if you were in the game."
Leaf echoes that sentiment.
"A lot of people put too much personal stuff into football," says the 6-foot-5, 231-pounder. "There's no point in letting a feud for a starting position ruin a friendship that we could have 30 or 40 years after this."
"Me and Dennis get along fine," adds Leaf. "We go bowling together and hang out together. Him playing the third quarter and me playing the fourth quarter or him playing the whole first three quarters and I get in in the end of the game, it's not going to change what we think about each other. We respect each other on the field and off the field."
And when you think about it, it's the ultimate type of respect.
The kind where you challenge someone right to their face, then accept whatever result comes without animosity.
It hearkens back to the days in the driveway where fresh-faced kids battled it out one-on-one in basketball, then would go inside for some lemonade and come back later for another friendly battle.
"I'll tell Dennis straight to his face, 'Dennis, you can sit on the bench for all four quarters for all I care,' and he's going to say the same thing to me," says Leaf. "But when he throws a touchdown, I'll be the first guy to give him a high-five and vice versa. If I throw a touchdown, he's right there by my side."
A strong case could be made for either quarterback to be the starter.
Dixon finished the season completing 69 of 104 passes for 777 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions. Providing a valuable dual threat in the Ducks' new spread offense, he also rushed for 143 yards and a TD on 49 carries.
Leaf came off the bench in each of the final four games started by Dixon and was in the game during the deciding moments of two of the final four contests as well as the Arizona game, when Clemens was knocked out of action. Leaf finished with 467 yards on 48-for-82 passing, with three TDs and three interceptions.
In relief of Clemens, including the Arizona contest, the then-sophomores combined to lead Oregon to a 4-1 record — the lone defeat coming in a 17-14 loss to Oklahoma at the Holiday Bowl.
But while some programs might have seen one of their quarterbacks transfer to assure playing time, that wasn't the case with the Ducks.
"Some guys would say that's not a very good situation to be in," says Leaf. "You've got two guys the same age, both competing, both performing well. But to be honest, it's almost made me a better quarterback because I've had to push myself that much harder day in and day out knowing there's a guy not on my coattails but right next to me, maybe even a little ahead of me."
Making the situation that much more confusing is how vastly different each quarterback plays the position.
Leaf is the prototypical pocket passer; he's got the size and arm strength to wing the ball all over the field.
Dixon's more agile at 6-4 and a "bulked up" 200 pounds, but balks at any notion that he's primarily a running quarterback. His 66.3 percent accuracy last year bettered Clemens' single-season school record of 64 percent.
"Last year, everyone had a question as to how good I passed," says Dixon. "By far I think I proved to the world that I am capable of passing as well as running, too. Now having that threat is a horrible thing for the defense to look at."
Which is precisely why Dixon has the upper hand at this point. The more options and territory a defense has to cover, the more effective Oregon's new attack can be under offensive coordinator Gary Crowton.
"We're coming up with new ways to do things," says Dixon. "Last year we just threw it in there and tested it out and, for the most part, it worked in our favor. Coming into this year all we have to do is define it and touch it up."
To sharpen his edge, Dixon sat down with Bellotti in the offseason to learn what he needed to work on heading into this season.
"He told me to become a better leader, more like Kellen," says the laid-back signal-caller. "That's going to be hard to fill Kellen's shoes because he was an excellent quarterback."
"The other thing was accuracy," Dixon adds. "That's something every quarterback has to constantly work at."
And while it would seem the areas Leaf must improve on are speed and agility, concentrating solely on them wouldn't do much good.
"I'm not going to lie, I worked on my 40 time a little," says Leaf, "but I'm not going to catch Dennis in my lifetime, I know that for sure. I may be able to beat him up though I'm a little bigger than him."
To prepare for fall camp, Leaf summoned receivers Dante Rosario, Garren Strong and Jaison Williams to the Moshofsky Center on Sundays for a little pass and catch. He would throw about 100 balls, with each receiver running two or three routes about a dozen times to get that necessary repetition for getting his timing down.
Bellotti says both will see action with the first- and second-team offense in camp, and he likely won't name an official starter until the season opener.
Until then, Leaf and Dixon promise to bring the best out of each other through competition.
"It's going to be a battle," says Dixon. "I'm going to fall camp as the starter but then again I can't settle down. I can't be conservative."
"I don't know how much I'm going to play, Dennis doesn't know how much he's going to play," adds Leaf. "I'm sure we're both going to play again. Dennis will probably start as coach Bellotti said, but I'm going to try to change that through fall camp."
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