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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 1996)
Class of 1996 says good-bye The 24 players were the most successful group in Oregon history By Andrea De Young Assistant Sports Editor How many times does a person get to put on green pants? For a group of Oregon seniors, Saturday may be their last time. It’s the annual Civil War game, and as much as the rivalry means to the whole team, for 24 players it also marks their final regular-season game as a Duck. Oregon fans will say goodbye to Derek Allen, Chris tian Anderson, Fred Aulava, Bob Baldwin, Derrick Barnes, Kaon-Jabbar East, Konnie Gipson, Tony Graziani, Mark Gregg, Jibri Hodge, Bryant Jackson, Reg gie Jordan, Pulou Malepeai, Tasi Malepeai, Matt Nichols, Jerome Perryman, Ryan Perry-Smith, Dameron Ricketts, Willy Rife, Mark Schmidt, Paul Wiggins, Josh Wilcox, Rob Williams and LaMont Woods. These seniors have seen the Oregon program under go many changes in the past five years. Not only have coaches come and gone, but expectations for the team that used to be fairly low have now risen to a high level. “When my brother played football for the Uni versity of Oregon, he told me that this was an up and coming program,” Woods TONY GRAZIANI Quarterback fig- 1 I think the Rose Bowl f and Cotton Bowl are f definitely the highlights \ of my career. Being a | part of those teams was I special. It's something I f will never forget. -93 said. I hat s one of the rea- 1 sons that I came here. ” “When I first came here, if we got into a bowl game, that was a very great season,” Wilcox said. “Now we expect to go to one every year. I think the overall com mitment is to making football the most important thing.” When the seniors were new to the team, it was al ready apparent that there would soon be a changing of the guard. “When we got here, our scout teams were beating our first teams [in prac tice],” Schmidt said. “Our scout defense, which I played on, would just run through the offense like it was another scout team. We strived to be better than them. We put everything we had into the program.” “We always had great talent on both sides of the ball,” Ricketts said, “but the last two years are spe cial because everybody knew that all the talk was gone and we had the talent. We just needed to win the big games and dominate games and make it to nice bowls. We did that for the past two years. A lot of tal ent that we had made up for a lot of things.” This senior class, from quarterbacks to defensive JOSH WILCOX i Tight End H l like Kenny Wheaton’s pick because it topped off every thing from that Washington rivalry. That kind of propelled us to the Rose Bowl Watching him run down the sidelines was the greatest memory I have ever had 99 MARK SCHMIDT Defensive End H My senior class is my best memory. Meeting these guys, becoming good friends with them and hanging out has been a great experience, and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world -99 backs, has made an impact both in starting and reserve roles. “[The senior class] has brought a level of excellence to this program of guys that want to work hard and play football,” Wilcox said. “We weren’t supposed to be one of the best classes that Ore gon has had, but we have just gotten it done. It’s not al ways pretty, but we just came out to play football, and that’s all we did.” “We added a whole new attitude,” Graziani said. “When we got here, we thought we could win, but I think now we know we can win and we expect to win. I think we have the attitude that we can win every game.” This attitude, along with hard work, has helped lead the Ducks to a record for the most victories in a four-year span. Since the 1993 season, Oregon has gone 27-18, trav eled to two New Year’s Day bowl games in a row for the first time and seen several players get into the Ore gon record book. Graziani and Perry-Smith have combined to be the only duo in school history to each pass for more than REGGIE JORDAN Outside Linebacker f «-- 1 My favorite memory is 1 playingagainstOregon | State my freshman year. That was my first | significant action. Although we lost the | game, it was the beginning of my career. I l got my first tackle. -99 I 1,000 yards in a season, and both are in the Oregon ca reer-passing record book. Wilcox is not only one of Oregon’s greatest tight ends ever — he tied the record for catches in a game when he grabbed 11 passes in the 1995 Rose Bowl — but also is eleventh on the career re ceiving list. The defensive unit was part of the nationally recog nized Gang Green. Although many of Gang Green’s mem bers graduated last season and this season has not been too spectacular, there is still a feeling of loss after this sea son. "I feel that we haven’t lived up to Gang Green this year,” Schmidt said. “But there are still some pivotal players who were with Gang Green last year and are still with the program now. The last of the last is moving out this year.” -.- < As these players move out, they leave behind mem ories that are both separate and the same, of individ ual triumphs and team successes. “1 think I’ll look back and be thankful that I had the opportunity to play college football at the University of Oregon,” Jackson said. “I enjoyed the fans and the program that they have here and helping build this program and bring it to a new level. I’ve enjoyed everything, the ups and downs, all of it.” When the seniors don their Oregon uniforms and take the field at Parker Stadium on Saturday, it will be the last regular-season game of their college careers. “It’s weird because I’ve been around this place my whole life,” Wilcox said. “As far as Civil War, I can’t think of a better opportunity to go out and be a winner than to beat Oregon State. ” Emerald P.O. BOX 3159. EUGENE. OREGON 97403 Sports: Mark McTyre, editor. Andrea DeYoung, assistant editor. Chris Hansen, Ryan Frank, Ryan Halvorsen Copy Desk: Kendra Smith Presentation: Dennis Bolt, editor. MattGarton Photography: Mathew Stiffler, editor. Shannon Kilduff Editor-in-Chief: Steven Asbury Managing Editor Jennifer Carter General Manager: Judy Riedl Advertising: Becky Merchant, director. Anne Amador, Lee Yen Beh, Marco Ching, Yujin Chi, Matt Johnson, Anne Miller, Trina Shanaman, Rose Soli, Matt Solomon, Greg Walsh Classified: Tara Sloan, manager. Natasha Lumpkin. Debbie Levy, Heather Moye Production: Michele Ross, manager. Ingrid White, co ordinator. Shawna Abele. Laura Daniel, Susan Head, Trevor Kearney. Tara Knight, Melissa LeBahn, Molly McCanta, Allison Stormo, Mike Young Business: Kathy Carbone, supervisor. 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