In a statement released by the Oregon athletic department, Ducks junior quarterback Darron Thomas said, "I came to this decision on behalf of myself and my family. I have a dream of playing in the NFL and I'm going to pursue those dreams. I would like to thank everyone in Oregon for all their support and I would thank the coaches for all their help, especially Coach [Chip] Kelly. I love my teammates and wish them the best of luck, and am confident they will continue the winning tradition that has been established. Last but not least, I thank all the Oregon fans for their help and support."
Thomas later said, "I am ready to go... I feel like I'm leaving my brothers but I leave them in good hands. I loved all my times there... [I can] offer leadership, winning attitude, hard work, and I can make big plays. I saw what Cam Newton did this year. He took his raw talent and made a spark. I can do those things, too."
The decision by Thomas to forgo his senior season and turn pro is a shocker and a very questionable decision by the Houston native. The head scratching decision has left Duck nation pretty stunned, as there is widespread opinion that Thomas made the wrong decision by not returning to Eugene for one more year.
The only possible explanation for Thomas not to return would be the thinking that his draft stock is higher this year than it will be next year because quarterbacks such as Matt Barkley of USC, Landry Jones of Oklahoma, and Tyler Wilson of Arkansas are all bypassing the 2012 NFL draft, and coming back for their senior seasons.
However, every year there are always a group of quarterbacks that decide not to enter the NFL draft and return to school. Of the 12 quarterbacks taken in last year's NFL draft, 10 of them decided to return to school in 2010 and not enter the NFL draft including Jake Locker of Washington, Christian Ponder of Florida St., Andy Dalton of TCU, Colin Kaepernick of Nevada, Ryan Mallett of Arkansas, Ricky Stanzi of Iowa, T.J. Yates of North Carolina, Nathan Enderle of Idaho, Tyrod Taylor of Virginia Tech, and Greg McElroy of Alabama.
Despite the fact that some of the high-profile quarterbacks are not coming out this season, Thomas's draft position is not going to rise that significantly because he is not an NFL ready quarterback.
Thomas played in a spread system at Oregon and he predominately took snaps from the shotgun and not from under center. Also, he greatly benefited from a dynamic running game lead by LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner, and De'Anthony Thomas, which ran for 4,189 yards, a school record, and lead the country in rushing yards, was 4th in rushing yard per attempt, and was 3rd in rushing touchdowns.
Thomas doesn't have a very strong arm and he isn't accurate enough to make up for his lack of arm strength. His completion percentage was just 62.2, which was 48th in the FBS. Thomas also doesn't have enough athletic ability to make up for the other faults in his game. Despite being apart of a system where the quarterback is expected to be a runner, Thomas struggled to run the ball, especially after his left leg injury. He had just 2 games all season, where he ran for more than 35 yards.
Thomas is walking away from a Duck team that is going to have very high expectations in 2012 and that is going to be in the National Championship picture. Not only does Oregon have a favorable schedule, as they don't play a highly ranked non-conference opponent for just the second time since 2008, but they also have a lot of starters coming back for another season on both sides of the ball.
Although the Ducks are losing running back LaMichael James, who decided to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft, Kenjon Barner is coming back for his senior season. Only three running backs in the FBS, who had 155 carries or less like Barner, had more yards than the Oregon back. Also, Oregon's dynamic and extremely quick playmaker De'Anthony Thomas is retuning for his sophomore year. Thomas had 155 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns in the Ducks 45-38 Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin. Oregon also has 3 offensive linemen who are underclassmen and 6 defensive players who are underclassmen including first-team All-Pac 12 defensive end Dion Jordan and second-team All Pac-12 defensive backs John Boyett and Jordan Poyer.
Finally, Thomas had a chance to cement his place in Eugene if he returned for one more season and become an Oregon Duck legend. Thomas is already the school's record holder in career touchdown passes with 66 and he had a chance to break the program's career passing yards record and total offense record, which are both held by Bill Musgrave.
Thomas also could have become just the third quarterback since Oregon and Oregon St. joined the conference in 1964 to lead his team to three straight Pac-12 (or Pac-10) championships since Pat Hayden led USC to three straight from 1972 to 1975 and Matt Leinart led the Trojans to three Pac-10 titles in a row from 2003 to 2005.
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