YOUNG
GUNS
Six true freshmen have
made the transition from
high school to college and
found time on the field
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
The class of 2003 was in the midst
of its final year of high school just one
year ago.
Across the country — but predomi
nantly on the west coast — young
men who had signed letters of intent
with the Oregon football program
were nearing the end of their senior
season of prep football.
Six of those players have since
stepped foot onto the field in an
Oregon uniform, four starting a
game in their true freshman season,
while two have seen time on the
field without a starting role.
"It's been crazy," tight end Dan
Kause said. "You go from playing in
high school, with 800 people max at
your games, and now you're the per
son you grew up watching on TV on
Saturday. I always watched college
football on Saturday, that was my day,
and now I'm that guy."
Punter Paul Martinez has started all
eleven Oregon games, while Dante
Rosario has started two games and
Kause and Kyle Weatherspoon have
each started one game.
Rosario has 14 carries for 48 yards
and eight catches for 80 yards. He's
scored one touchdown — a one-yard
run against Stanford — this season.
Kause has three receptions for 31
yards while Weatherspoon has three
carries for 17 yards and seven catches
for 109 yards.
One of the non-starters, receiver
Jordan Carey, had a high-profile play
earlier this season. He grabbed a loose
ball in the endzone during the Michi
Mark McCambridge Photographer
Dante Rosario has played in all 11 games for Oregon in his true freshman season.
gan game to score a touchdown.
"I ran the same offense since fourth
grade," Carey said. "So coming here
and you have a playbook that's six inch
es thick and all kinds of different routes
and adjustments and how to read the
defense, it's been a big learning process
for me, and I'm still learning."
Martinez took on the starting punter
role at the beginning of the season and
is the only punter who has seen time
this season. He's averaging 37.5 yards
per punt with a long of 66 yards.
For the starting job, Martinez beat
out two freshmen that spent last sea
son redshirting.
"There's a lot of pressure to do
good because you are a true fresh
man," Martinez said. "You've got to
meet up to the level of play."
Ihe level of play these freshman in
herited is high — a program in the
top half of one of the big six football
conferences in Division 1 football.
"It's almost kind of surreal at times
— you step back and look at it," Kause
said. "The good thing about it is it's still
the same game you played in high
school. It's still a hundred-yard field.
And you've got other guys doing it, so
you've got someone to relate to."
Defensive end Victor Filipe has also
played this season. Although he has
not started, he has had to make the
same adjustments as his teammates.
"It's a big adjustment on the field,
and it's as big, if not bigger, off the
field," Kause said. "A lot more is de
manded of you in college than it is in
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