Going National: MIdwest

Interactive Map by iMapBuilder Since the arrival of Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator in 2007, Duck fans have seen not only a uniquely dominant offense, but they have seen the football program rise to unprecedented heights culminating in the 2012 Rose Bowl win. Along the way, a couple of special players from parts not normally represented on the Duck roster transformed Oregon football into a national brand. On Tuesday, Duck Sports Authority began this series on national recruiting by looking at the Eastern Region of the country. Today, we continue this feature by looking at the Midwest Region. This region includes just 8 states, most of which are very lightly recruited by the Duck football staff. When comparing to the Eastern Region, though the Ducks have extended fewer offers in this region, they have had considerably more success snagging 8 commitments over the past three recruiting years (2010-2012). In our first piece, we were able to show graphically, that the Ducks roster now has 25% fewer players from the dominant West Coast Region. Those players are coming from somewhere. Today we get a first glimpse at one area the Ducks have really improved upon over the last several years. When looking back and comparing the rosters from 2007 and 2011 the first thing that stands out is the number of athletes listed on each roster. In 2007, there are only 91 names listed whereas there are 110 listed for the 2011 season. To make it a more "apples to apples" comparison, we did not include non scholarship players in the numbers. After taking out non-scholarship players, these are the numbers: Click here to read entire story