Signing Day Caps Two Weeks Of Nonstop Work For Cristobal
12/20/17 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley
Just 12 days after being promoted to head coach, Mario Cristobal introduced the first 13 members of Oregon's 2018 recruiting class.
When Mario Cristobal donned a sport coat for a press conference Wednesday in the third-floor media room of the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex, he was just 12 days removed – 12 days and one floor – from having been introduced as Oregon's next head football coach, in the building's fourth-floor Sanders Hall on Dec. 8.
Not quite two weeks had passed. But what a two weeks it had been, as Cristobal sought to retain the core of his assistant coaching staff, prepare the Ducks for a bowl game and get ready for a December signing period instituted for the very first time this recruiting cycle.
All of those tasks culminated in a five-day span beginning with Saturday's disappointment in Las Vegas, but rebounding with news Monday of contract extensions for three key assistants, and then the introduction Wednesday of 13 players who signed letters of intent with Oregon.
How had Cristobal juggled all those tasks since being promoted 12 days earlier? "When I take a nap one of these days," he said Wednesday with a grin, "I'll think about when I wake up."
Cristobal stressed that Oregon's work assembling this recruiting class is only half done. There are still positions to address by the traditional February signing date, namely receiver and tight end. But including players who've made verbal commitments at those spots and others, Oregon's 2018 signing class rated No. 11 nationally by Rivals as of Wednesday evening, and No. 13 by 247Sports.
Those verbal commitments can be put to paper over the remainder of this week, and then again in February. By then, this class could double in size.
"This is kind of the half-way point; lots of work to be done," Cristobal said. "But a pretty good start."
The 13 players who signed Wednesday include quarterback Tyler Shough, whom Cristobal said shares traits with current UO starter Justin Herbert. There are two explosive backs to share the backfield with Shough, in "lifelong Duck fan" Jamal Elliott out of North Carolina, and Travis Dye, younger brother of Oregon's two-time defensive MVP.
There are also three offensive linemen – Dawson Jaramillo, Steven Jones and Christopher Randazzo – who weigh in at a collective 965 pounds, illustrating Oregon's renewed commitment to power in the trenches under Cristobal. The two linebackers, MJ Cunningham and Adrian Jackson, bring the explosiveness of skill-position players to the defensive front seven, a trait Cristobal learned to value watching Ray Lewis at his alma mater, Miami (Fla.) And there are two safeties, Jevon Holland and Steve Stephens, whose effusive personalities helped bind together this class to the extent that, Cristobal said, "they're like Oregon employees at this point."
And last, but certainly not least, the most recent additions to the class – another UO legacy, defensive lineman Andrew Faoliu; a junior college transfer who provides 6-foot-3 size at corner, Haki Woods; and a JC defensive lineman, Sione Vea Kava, who shares Tongan roots with all-time UO great Haloti Ngata.
Many in the group made visits to Eugene a week before the Las Vegas Bowl, the weekend Cristobal was announced as head coach. The staff had long planned for a massive weekend of visits on Dec. 15-16; the bowl game required that plan to be altered. A smaller group was able to make the trip a week earlier, but the fact so many of those players signed Wednesday made Cristobal optimistic for the results once more players reschedule their visits, prior to the February signing period.
"It's going to be really, really good," Cristobal said. "It's going to be more than we expected."
Cristobal said the staff was able to weather the late change of plans due to the groundwork it had already laid with recruits. Despite a coaching change, despite some families having their visit dates altered on short notice, 13 players were ready to sign on the dotted line with the Ducks on Wednesday.
The day after being introduced as head coach, Cristobal was conducting his first practice with the UO football team, and hosting recruits and their families. Within three days of his promotion, Cristobal took the Ducks to Las Vegas to begin practicing for their bowl game. Still, one eye was trained on Wednesday's signing day – on the Thursday of bowl week, two days before the Ducks were to face Boise State, Cristobal and some assistants snuck out of town to visit recruits.
"You're the last flight in, you're the first flight out," Cristobal said of those late efforts. "You're ripping through cities and towns, making sure you can represent your program."
Given the coaching change, and the likely departure of at least a couple assistant coaches, Cristobal and his returning staff faced some tough questions. Their response: honesty.
"You don't have many opportunities to make an impression," Cristobal said. "So when you do, even if you don't have the best news in the world, be honest and look them in the eye."
The coaching change had an impact on the class, no doubt. But Cristobal was able to calm the waters Monday, with the announcement that associate head coach and defensive line assistant Joe Salave'a, defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt and offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo all signed new contracts at least through 2020.
Cristobal is optimistic other assistants will remain as well, which he termed "a great feeling, and I think it's great for the players. These guys are going home (for the holidays), and they want to come back to the faces and structure that they know."
When returning players are back on campus in January, they should recognize most of the faces in the coaches' offices. They could see some new faces in the locker room, though; Cristobal said five or six of Wednesday's signees could enroll early, counting against Oregon's 2017 signing limit and allowing a bigger group in February. That would help the team field a roster in 2018 closer to the NCAA scholarship limit of 85, Cristobal said, after the Ducks were at anywhere from 77 to 75 at times this past fall.
After the chaos of his first two weeks on the job, Cristobal intends to carve out much needed time with his wife and two sons, over the remainder of December. "The ones who get cheated are our family members," he acknowledged. "But they get it. … Hopefully Santa does a good job."
Wednesday was like Christmas for a football coach, as Cristobal got to unwrap his new presents and show them off to Oregon fans. Thanks to a relentless pace set since his promotion, Cristobal was able to enjoy a successful signing day. And he showed no signs of slowing down.
"You know us; we're enthused beyond words," he said. "We wish we could start up again. But there's a break to be had. So we'll wait."
Then, after the first of the year, players will be back on campus, and recruits will be allowed to make visits again. Cristobal and his staff can continue sowing the seeds for the 2018 season, and the recruiting class that will be finalized come February – one that already ranks among the best in UO history, with the potential to look even better very soon.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Cristobal teased, "if there are drastic changes in the way teams stack up after the February signing day."
