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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1997)
> Pac-10 Picks ** * Last week: ^ JF Ernie Kent went 4*4 Ryan Frank 31-23 Chris Hansen 29-25 Joel Hood 27-27 Rob Moseley 26-28 Alex Pond 27-27 Matt Garton 30-24 Sarah Kickler 31-23 Jerry Allen Guest Receiver: Collins frustrated with playing time R Continued from Page 2B his body, and his lower body strength is not what it should be. ” But what about all the hype? “Guys who are real heavily re cruited have expectations set for them that are way too high,” says Oregon wide receivers coach Chris Peterson. “We knew when we were recruiting him that he had a lot of developing to do. That other stuff was created by the me dia and fans.” Collins admits that he has felt the pressure of people’s expecta tions and that comparisons to players like Stokes and Johnson have been occurring since his high school days. When you see two big 6-foot-4 receivers, and here comes a third one out of high school who is hav ing so much success, it’s only nat ural to make comparisons,” Collins says. "I was a man among boys in high school, so there were great expectations. I am just try ing to live up to them. “But that’s hard. If you listen to all that, then you go out there thinking you have to do this and do that just to live up to the expec tations. So I just do what I know I can do and eventually the stats and everything else will be there.” The question is when? The freshman’s work ethic has come into question this season by players and coaches. It’s not so much that he is lazy or unwilling to work, they say, it’s whether or not Collins understands what it takes to be successful at this level. “He just needs to work harder,” quarterback Akili Smith says in a point-blank manner. “And I don’t know if he is working as hard as he can. The sky’s the limit for La Corey, but it’s going to take disci pline and maturity and until he has that, he’ll just be regular.” Discipline and maturity are just Collins file ■ WHO: Oregon wide re ceiver La Corey Collins ■ SIZE: 6 foot-4,220 pounds ■ STATS: Has 15 receptions and two touchdowns in his career a few of the things that, according to Peterson, Collins needs to im prove on. “It’s knowing the system and learning the routes and reacting to the defense,” Peterson says. “It’s developing competitiveness and getting his mind into it. It’s a combination of a lot of little things.” But it’s nothing that all great players don’t do to be successful. Collins admits that earlier in the season he got so frustrated with lack of playing time, that it affected his performance in prac tice and on the field. “I started the season off doing okay in the first couple of games and then 1 didn’t play very much after that. I became so frustrated that I started to slack off,” Collins candidly admits. “I came into this year thinking that I had done the things 1 needed to do to get in the mix of things. But there were some things I did that didn’t help the team very much. ’’ He also did some things that didn’t help himself. Collins spent this past off sea son trying to strengthen his in jured leg and increase his speed. In the process, he ignored the weight room. That left him sus ceptible to injuries in fall camp where he got dinged up. But again, that is all part of the learning process for younger players, says Peterson. “I tell LaCorey all the time, ‘The ball’s in your court, you have the skills we are looking for,’ and if he gets it done Monday through Fri day, Saturday will take care of it self," Peterson says. “Hey, we love to sign blue-chip recruits, but we play blue-collar players.” Something al 1 involved hope Collins will soon become. With his size and natural athleticism, Collins has the potential to be a dangerous offensive weapon for the Ducks. "From a quarterback’s stand point, he is the perfect target,” Smith says. “You don’t have to place the ball as perfectly, you can just lock in and throw.” And, says Collins, if given the chance, he will come down with the ball. “It's hard for a defensive back to cover a big, tall receiver,” Collins says. “But not just being taller, but having the ability to bang and separate from the defen sive back. I might not be the fastest guy out there, but I can go up and get the ball.” Collins will get the opportuni ty to show others what he can do and why there is good reason to still be excited about having a player with his abilities on the Oregon team. After all, Collins is but a redshirt freshman with three years of eligibility ahead of him, a rough road hopefully be hind him and way too much tal ent to keep bottled up. "This will be a big off season for LaCorey," Bellotti predicts, "preparing for next year and now knowing what he has to do. He will respond to that challenge and become a big receiver for us, which is what we saw in him to start with.” Pac-10: California and Stanford play for pride ■ Continued from Page 8B the second quarter until midway through the fourth quarter. Quar terback Cade McNown passed for 320 yards and three touch downs on the day. He also rushed for one touchdown. However, the Trojans have had a bit of a resurgence of late, win ning two games in a row and four out of five since a lackadaisical 35-7 loss at Arizona State on Oct. 11, which caused head coach John Robinson to challenge his players and question his future with the team. Last week, the Trojans shut out a fast-fading Oregon State team 23-0 as they held the Beavers to just 152 yards of total offense, and only 29 of those on the ground, A win Saturday would give the Trojans a 7-4 record and put them in position for a pretty decent bowl. An interesting key to the game will be whether or not the Bruins can establish a running game against a USC defense which ranks first in the conference against the run. The Trojans are allowing opponents just 2.5 yards per rush. If the Bruins can get a running game going, that should open up a dangerous passing attack. They rank second in the Pac-10 in pass offense while the Trojans rank last in pass defense. UCLA has won the past six games in the series, including last season’s remarkable 48-41 dou ble-overtime victory. The Bruins came back from a 38-21 deficit with less than seven minutes re maining to tie the game and force overtime. The teams combined for 757 yards passing and 1,033 yards of total offense. UCLA is 3-0-1 in the last four games in the Los Angeles Colise um. Calilomia (3-7,1-6) at Stanford (4-6,2-5) After beginning the season 4-1 amidst talk of a Rose Bowl berth, the Cardinal play for nothing more than pride when it takes on California in the 100th edition of the Big Game. Stanford's supposed dream season has completely fallen apart, thanks to a five-game losing streak it hopes to snap Saturday. The Cardinal did look impres sive at times during its 38-28 loss at Washington State last week and actually led 28-27 early in the fourth quarter before the Cougars pulled away down the stretch. Cal hasn't exactly been setting the world on fire, either, losing seven of its past eight games. Its only victory during that span came over Oregon State, which is winless in the Pac-10. The series between Cal and Stanford is the oldest college foot ball series on the West Coast, dat ing back 105 years to 1892. Go Beavers! Good Luck at the Civil War Game o s u Bookstores. Inc. 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