Biggest shoes to fill

[RaidaDave]

Biggest shoes to fill: Oregon Ducks - ESPN

In a perfect world, the teams only have to reload, not rebuild. But following this season, there are a lot of shoes that need to be filled due to early departures and expected graduations.

That leaves the question: Will these spots be reloading or rebuilding? Your humble Pac-12 Blog takes a look at some of the biggest shoes that need to be filled entering the 2015 season.

Oregon Ducks

Biggest shoes: OK, did you really want to read another post about who is going to take over the quarterback job and whether it will be Vernon Adams/Jeff Lockie/Morgan Mahalak? Didn't think so. So, in lieu of another Marcus Mariota story, we bring you an amended version of the biggest shoes to fill -- the second-biggest shoes to fill.

That only made us realize that the second-biggest shoes to fill were cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu's. With him being out during the postseason, those shoes were already starting to be filled by Chris Seiasy, which brings us to ...

Third-biggest shoes: S Erick Dargan

Dargan was one of the best surprises on this year's Oregon roster. Though he had no serious starting experience coming into the 2014-15 season, he commanded the Ducks secondary like a seasoned veteran. He led the Pac-12 in interceptions with seven (for comparison, the next-best in the conference was three) and led the Ducks in tackles with 95.

Stepping in: Tyree Robinson

Replacing Dargan is going to be no small task, especially since it's not just the tackles and interceptions that need to be made up for. One of Dargan's biggest responsibilities this season was getting the play call from coaches and dispersing it to the defensive backs, so whoever steps into Dargan's shoes will need to be an automatic leader. Robinson was Dargan's primary backup this season, finishing the year with 36 tackles (12th-best on the team) but he has experience at strong safety as well, which will come in handy as he leads this young secondary in 2015. One of the best attributes about Robinson at free safety is his size. At 6-foot-4, he's much taller than most of the recent free safeties in Oregon's defense -- Dargan was 5-foot-11; Avery Patterson was 5-foot-10; John Boyett was 5-foot-10.

 

[BeaverShaver]

biggest shoes to fill imo are on the d line