The 2021 college football season will have the largest rosters in recent memory with teams being able to carry over 85 players due to an NCAA exemption because of the pandemic. But with so many returning stars across college football, it’s the new members of a program that can make the biggest impact on a team year to year.
ESPN’s staff looked at the different newcomers for the teams in their “Way-Too-Early” Top 25 rankings and how those new members of the teams can shift the fortunes of a program.
Although Oregon signed their best recruiting class ever in 2021 and will be bringing a plethora of elite talent to campus in the class, ESPN doesn’t think the most intriguing newcomer for the Ducks is a player but a coach.
Oregon hired Cal’s Tim DeRuyter as defensive coordinator last month and ESPN believes that hire could be a big upgrade for the Ducks.
“Oregon is starting to turn into a factory for head coaches. A year after losing offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo to UNLV, defensive coordinator Andy Avalos jumped to become the head coach at Boise State, which led coach Mario Cristobal to hire Cal’s Tim DeRuyter to handle the defense. DeRuyter, a former Fresno State head coach, helped transform Cal into one of the toughest defenses in the Pac-12 and could end up proving to be an upgrade over his predecessor,” writes ESPN’s Kyla Bonagura.
Although the Ducks lost a defensive coordinator to a head coaching position, DeRuyter brings experience to mold Oregon’s defense, especially with the level of talent Cristobal has recruited in the past few cycles.
The 2021 season will likely be the final year for former five-star defensive Kayvon Thibodeaux, who will be eligible for the NFL Draft after the season. DeRuyter has already made it clear he plans to highlight Thibodeaux’s skillset in the Ducks defense, much like he did with Von Miller a decade ago at Texas A&M.
Mario Cristobal spent nearly a month making the hire and interviewing potential candidates but didn’t have to go out of conference to get a guy he believes will elevate the Ducks defense.
“What led us to Tim DeRuyter was an exceptional teacher, who really understands defensive football front to back, disruptive defenses, forcing turnovers, experience at every level of every level of the defense front to back,” said Cristobal. “I think when you have a guy who can teach it completely and who has that type of success and knows this conference extremely well, we felt by far he was the best guy for the job. He’s had us extremely fired up and excited about him joining us.
“In the short time that he’s been here, you can tell this isn’t only the right fit but he’s going to make us a whole lot better.”
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