New Oregon RB coach Ra’Shaad Samples on why he chose Oregon

Question: “For a running back to play for you, what are the traits they have to have?”

Samples: “You’ve gotta love football. To get in a car crash every single play in the backfield, you’re taking on blocks, you’re taking on defensive ends, you’re running in the hole with backers. You’ve gotta be a contact initiator, and you’ve gotta love the game, and you’ve gotta love being back there.

Obviously, you talk about speed, you talk about guys who can play with pace as important. The higher you get, the less speed starts to matter. You want guys with short-area burst, short-area quickness, who understand the line of scrimmage, where I’m inserting in the line of scrimmage, backer play. Really just being students of the game is gonna help so much. When you’ve got the talent at the RB position and you’re a student of the game, and understand how to split out, how to play receiver, understand the formations and how that changes the structure of the defense, I think it helps a bunch.