Oregon
Oregon junior Tony Hartley has
quietly become the Ducks'
leading receiver
Feature
This season,
Hartley ranks
fourth in the Pac
10 in receiving
yards with a 95.3
yards per game.
Nick .Medley/Emerald
By Rob Moseley
j Oregon Daily Emetdld
The Playmaker has 41 receptions
for 858 yards and seven touch
downs in nine games this season.
He is fourth in his league in receiving
yards per game and second in touch
downs.
And we're not talking about Michael
“The Play Maker” Irvin of the NFL’s
Dallas Cowboys.
The Playmaker is Oregon’s newest
star, a 6-foot, 190-pound receiver named
Tony Hartley who has quietly become
the Ducks’ leading receiver.
"That seems to be my new nickname
around here,” says Hartley, a Los Alami
tos, Calif., native. "When they're think
ing there's nothing there, I surprise them
and come up with something."
Hartley’s latest heroics came against
Washington last week, when the junior
burned the Husky secondary for a
school-record 242 yards on just nine
catches, two for touchdowns.
Which has also helped perpetuate an
other Hartley moniker: Touchdown
Tony.
While Oregon head coach Mike Bel
lotti has begun to use that nickname
lately, Hartley has a different version of
its origin.
“I don't think they knew about it, but
in high school they used to call me that,
too," Hartley says. "The announcer for
our games used to call me that. I just
have a knack for scoring touchdowns.
It's contagious — once you get in the
endzone, you've just got to keep getting
in there or you go crazy."
But it has been opposing defenses that
have been going crazy this season as
they have struggled to contain the Ore
gon aerial assault. The Ducks have led
the Pacific-10 Conference in total of
fense for the entirety of this season due
in large part to a multifaceted passing at
tack that begins with quarterback Akili
Smith and usually ends with a touch
down for Oregon.
The middle men in that equation are
receivers Damon Griffin and Hartley,
among others, with Griffin, a senior,
earning the lion's share of the receptions
earlier this season.
“I kind of learned back in high school
that it's almost like you’ve got to wait
your turn,” Hartley says. “I'm still going
through that, but I can't let it affect me.
I've just got to do what I can do, and
when my chance comes, I've got to make
the best of it."
That chance has come in each of the
Ducks' last three games, in which Hart
ley has led the team in catches as de
fenses key on Griffin.
The last coach to make that mistake
was Washington's Jim Lambright, who
watched from the sidelines as Hartley
enjoyed his record-setting day.
“We put a little more attention [on
Griffin], just knowing what they’d done
in the past in trying to commit a game
plan to picking out the primary threats,"
Lambright says.
And his plan worked, as a combina
tion of hot defense and cold hands led to
just two receptions by Griffin.
Unfortunately for Lambright and the
Huskies, that left Hartley free to run
wild in the secondary. .And oh, how he
made them pay.
"He's been a go-to type guy with those
■■■■.vy-V.,-."-.
Nick Medley/Emerald
Hartley runs by Southern California's Grant Pearsall for a first down in the Ducks' 17-13 victory on Oct. 24.
numbers for their program, and you
could see that the potential was there,”
Lambright says. “We just didn’t give
him enough attention, obviously. We
gave him way too much opportunity to
create big plays, and the athletic ability
sure jumped out.”
That athletic ability Lambright refers
to is actually something that Hartley's
teammates joke about. His lack of accel
eration has led to what might be con
strued as a third nickname: One Speed.
"We kind of clown him about that,
that he plays at one speed,” Smith says.
“But his one speed is fast, and that's all
you really need. If you play at one speed
and you’re consistently at that one
speed, it'll be hard to defend you.”
Combining that one speed with preci
sion execution of his routes has certain
ly led to success for Hartley this season.
"For a long time, people have been
telling me I'm not fast enough, I need
another step,” Hartley says. "Which is
true. But I'm not slow. They’re compar
ing me to other people who are blazing
fast, but yet they can't do what I can do,
so why are they comparing me to him?”
A willingness to run routes over the
middle and risk beheading by a lurking
defensive back is one of the things Hart
ley has'shown that separates him from
other receivers in the Pac-10. While
Griffin is more likely to be found streak
ing up the sideline for a deep ball, Hart
ley often risks life and limb by fearlessly
flying over the middle.
You can t have fear,” Hartley says.
“You can be nervous, but you can’t be
afraid to do something. If i've got to go
over the middle to catch the ball and
help the team, then I'm going to do it. If
I'm going to take a hit, I’ve got to take a
hit... as long as I get back up.”
The determination to blindly go over
the middle is one of many attributes
Hartley has shown since beginning his
playing career in 1995 as a true fresh
man.
According to Griffin, it is only now
that his exploits are truly being exploit
ed and thus recognized.
"Tony’s been doing the exact lliing
he's been doing since the first day he
came here from high school,” Griffin
says. "He's always been proving that
he’s one of the best receivers out there. I
think he always tries to prove that. 1 le
came in a very polished receiver, and I
think that’s helped him out a lot. lie just
has drive and competitiveness. 1 le al
ways wants to be the best, and that's
what has put him over a lot of people
Turn to HARTLEY, Page loll
QB Ryan Kealy:
the Pacific-10’s
hidden gem
It’s no secret the Pacific-10 Conference
is the best quarterback conference in
the nation.
What might be a secret, however, is ex
actly how many pro-style signal callers
there are in the Pac-10.
Cade McNown and Akili Smith are the
two premier quarterbacks in the confer
ence, if not the country. Washington’s
Brock Huard was the top Dawg before be
ing riddled with injuries during the past
year and a half. Stanford’s Todd Husak is
currently the Pac-lO’s No. 1-ranked passer
with 296 yards per game. Southern Cali
fornia’s Carson Palmer is not mentioned
among the elites just yet, but he will be
soon enough.
Then there’s that other guy down at
Tempe — all he did his freshman season
was lead Arizona State to a 9-3 record and
a Sun Bowl berth — who may just turn out
to be the best of the bunch.
As a redshirt freshman in 1997, Ryan
Kealy earned Pac-10 play
er-of-the-week honors
twice, once against USC af
ter throwing for 281 yards
Opinion
ana tnree toucnaowns ana
once more against Wash
ington State after a 245
yard, four-touchdown per
formance. He was the first
freshman to win that award
twice in a season since
USC’s Todd Marinovich
did it in 1989.
Joel
Hood
That's pretty select com
pany ... I suppose.
Kealy was also named a first-team fresh
man all-American by The Sporting News
and, not surprisingly, the Sun Devils'
freshman of the year.
But for all the awards and all the acco
lades, Kealy suffers from a problem that
many in his profession do — he’s been
stitched up more times than a extra on
“ER.”
In the last game of his freshman season,
Kealy tore up his knee so badly that he
was forced to watch Arizona State’s 17-7
Sun Bowl victory against Iowa in street
clothes. Kealy has only missed one start
this season, against Stanford on Oct. 22,
but he has been forced to the sidelines
three separate times, including last week
in a 55-22 victory over California.
That brings us to this week, and you
guessed it: Kealy is questionable for Ari
zona State's game against the Ducks. The
probable Sun Devil starter for Saturday’s
game is senior Steve Campbell, who has
been called on quite heavily this season,
as has fellow quarterback Chad Elliot.
Arizona State head coach Bruce Snyder
said Tuesday that Kealy's minimum out
put Saturday would be taking snaps on ex
tra points and field goals, but the best case
scenario would have him in the starting
lineup. With the Sun Devils likely need
ing to win their remaining two games to
attract bowl attention, it’s safe to say if
Kealy was even remotely ready to play,
he’d be in there.
Make no mistake about it, the Sun Dev
ils need a victory Saturday every bit as
much as the Ducks. Tied for fourth in the
Pac-10 after an excruciating 42-38 home
loss to Washington on opening night, Ari
zona State was predicted to finish no
worse than second in the conference when
the season began.
Yet Arizona State has begun to right the
ship of late, winning three in a row and
climbing back into the bowl picture with a
5-4 record. And it has done it for the most
part with its two best offensive players,
Kealy and tailback J.R. Redmond, ham
pered by injuries.
But with so many quality quarterbacks
in the Pac-10, few have taken notice. Ryan
Kealy's enormous potential might just be
the best kept secret in the conference a lit
tle while longer.
Hutu/ is s[x>rts editor for the Emerald.