LAURA GOSS/Emerald
Wilcox (19) confers with McLemore during the first week offallfootball practice on the new grass fields.
MCLEMORE
Brothers
inarms
WILCOX
Brandon McLemore and Justin Wilcox
battle each other as well as the expectations
brought by having famous brothers
By Allison Ross
Freelance Reporter
If you mention the name Josh
Wilcox in front of Justin Wilcox,
it’s all he can do to keep from
rolling his eyes.
"You want to talk about my
brother?” asked the 6-foot-2 junior.
Well sort of. It just so happens
that Justin is competing for the
free safety position on the Oregon
football team with fellow junior
Brandon McLemore, whose
brother Cristin had a stellar 1995
season right alongside Josh. Both
players traveled to the Rose Bowl
in 1995 and the Cotton Bowl in
1996. Josh is currently at camp
with the New Orleans Saints.
Oregon head coach Mike Bel
lotti, who coached Wilcox and
McLemore in the Cotton Bowl,
now has a new generation on his
hands. For the first time since
they were freshman, both Bran
don and Justin are healthy — and
competing for the same position.
“I call that the nepotism posi
tion because those kids are ready
to come outside the shadows of
their older brothers and earn it,”
Bellotti said.
Just don’t tell that to Justin. He’s
not here to ride the coattails of his
older brother. And he’s not here
to prove anything.
“I didn’t come here to show
him up,” Wilcox said. “I don’t
need people to tell me, ‘Oh,
you’re finally out of his shadow.’
That’s not what I’m trying to do.”
After all, he’s got other things to
worry about. Like the starting po
sition. Knee surgery during his
freshman season has kept Justin
from getting the playing time
needed to secure the spot. He
doesn’t need to talk about his
brother. He needs to talk about
what he, as well as his team, has
to do this year.
“I think team-wise we have
enough knowledge to be genuine
ly a really good team,” Wilcox
said. “I know we’ve said that in
the past, but I think this year it’s
time for us to step up and be a
good team, and not say, ‘We
should’ve won this, or we
should’ve done that.’ ”
Wilcox, McLemore and at least
60 other Ducks are showing that
they want it this year. The energy
level of the team over the summer
was much different than it was
last year. The victory in the 1997
Las Vegas Bowl has the players
starved, not just for another bowl
appearance, but another bowl vic
tory. Thus, the team spent the
summer months working out to
gether, hanging out together and
pushing each other.
“I’m very excited about this
year,” Bellotti said. “One, because
of the commitment of the group of
kids that we had from last year,
their commitment this summer,
their commitment to each other,
the unity they’ve displayed.”
This is the 1998 season, not
1995, and Wilcox just wants this
team — a team constantly re
minded of the players they lost,
constantly reminded of the holes
they need to fill and constantly re
minded of the shadows from
which they must emerge — to do
well because they’ve earned it.
“I don’t feel inferior to [Josh] be
cause he played in the Rose Bowl
and he had a great career,” Wilcox
said. “I want to do better because I
want to do better, not because I
have to do better than Josh did. I
think that would be the wrong rea
son, so for me I just want to be great
because Justin wants to be great.”
On the other hand, when you
mention the name Cristin
McLemore to Brandon, there is al
most nothing he can do to keep
from smiling. He is proud to be
the brother of a former Duck who
shares the Oregon single-season
record for touchdown receptions
with 10 — a mark that had stood
unmatched for 24 years. Brandon
wants Cristin to know that this
year Oregon is ready to take it
even further.
“Between me and him, we have
a little competition,” Brandon
said. “He just wants to see if I can
attain goals that he did and go to
the Rose Bowl, but you know, I
could do one step better and go to
the Rose Bowl and win.”
To get there, McLemore must
avoid injuries, which have side
lined him in both his freshman
and sophomore years. He faces
the same challenges Wilcox does
this year. Finally recovered from
the injuries, he must now work to
gain a starting position.
"I just want to stay healthy;
that’s my main goal,” McLemore
said. “I want to start every game,
be healthy for every game and not
get hurt.”
McLemore spent the summer
in Eugene to become stronger and
to clinch the starting position. But
this year, with Oregon focused on
winning a championship and a
possible game, McLemore wants
what is best for the team.
“I told Coach Bellotti, even if I
don’t start, I’d rather have the man
in front of me have more opportu
nities to make plays because it’s
hard when you rotate in and out
every series,” McLemore said.
“You can’t really get in sync.”
So rather than worry about be
ing compared to his brother, he
uses his brother as an example of
what he can achieve.
“I don’t see it as pressure. I just
see it as some goals 1 can attain by
looking at what he’s done,”
McLemore said.
The comparisons between the
Wilcox brothers and the
McLemores may seem irrelevant.
Justin and Brandon are competing
for a starting position on defense,
while Josh and Cristin both
played on offense. But similarities
remain. In high school, Cristin
played mostly quarterback his se
nior year before taking over the
flanker position at Oregon. During
a game against Washington State
his sophomore year McLemore
threw a game-clinching touch
down pass to the Oregon tight end
—Josh Wilcox.
Justin, also a former quarter
back, passed for more than 2,000
yards his final two years at Junc
tion City High School. He made
the switch to defense during his
freshman season at Oregon.
Could it be that a Wilcox
McLemore conversion is due to
reappear? Wilcox probably laughs
at he idea and McLemore has
probably already envisioned it.
He’s already envisioning a trip to
the Rose Bowl, regardless of what
it takes to get there.
“I just want to win the Pac-10
championship and go to the Rose
Bowl and win,” McLemore said.
CB Sanchez suspended
for threats made to OPS
Oregon senior cornerback
Davis Sanchez returned to
practice Sunday, three days
following his arrest after al
legedly making threats in
connection to some unpaid
parking tickets, yet Head
Coach Mike Bellotti reiterated
that his status of being sus
pended from the squad re
mained unchanged.
Bellotti said that Davis’ in
definite suspension would
prevent him form participat
ing in at least one game and
possibly more, including the
Ducks' Sept. 5 season opener
against Michigan State. The
Oregon head coach added
that the return of the Vancou
ver, B.C., native would be
contingent upon Davis fulfill
ing conditions spelled out in
a written agreement between
himself and the school's sec
ond-year player.
The former Butte Junior
College transfer was credited
with 18 tackles and one de
flected pass in eight games a
year ago before suffering a
season-ending ankle injury at
Washington.
— UO athletic department
look for the
Oregon Daily Emerald
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