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EUGENE, Ore. – During a sultry August day, Justin Herbert stood above a golf ball at the back of the Eugene Country Club's driving range. The air was foggy, with ash notes coming from nearby forest fires, but the 6 foot 6 inch and 240 lb junior mammoth sent a bullet after the other. He wanted to try his driver, but the Superintendent of the course was afraid to hit members at the other end of the shooting range, so Herbert took out his sandbox.
The fault with adrenaline, or the fact that Herbert has added 20 pounds of muscle over the last eight months, but he crashed the ball straight for what appeared to be at least 150 yards.
"It's not very good," Herbert grumbled.
Can you repeat it anyway?
"Sand wedge is not supposed to do that," Herbert said.
Technically, no. An amateur player is supposed to send a ball of about 100 meters with a sand wedge. But Herbert is not satisfied. After two more swings, he signals his approval by running his club.
"He is one of those who, number one, is really tough on himself," said Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo. "He's a perfectionist, he's a person who wants to do everything exactly right, and it creates a lot of internal pressure."
This quest for perfection is one of the main reasons why Herbert is considered a Heisman Trophy candidate and perhaps a first round pick in next year's NFL bill, even though 39, it is not a product known nationwide. In three games, he averaged 280 yards with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions. He leads the Pac-12 with 10.4 yards per attempt.
On Saturday, the Ducks (3-0), ranked 20th, host No. 7 Stanford (3-0, 1-0 Pac-12) with ESPN's "College GameDay" in town. It's a chance for the Ducks to make a statement on the national stage, but it's also a chance for Herbert to record his first real win in Oregon.
"He is as good or better than anyone I have met," said Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal. "He's just scratching the surface."
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Herbert was not very recruited as a star of three sports at Sheldon High School in Eugene. For a while, he thought of playing at Montana State, one of his first scholarship offers and where his older brother, Mitch, was playing in the receiver. This is only when Nevada offered in October its last year that Oregon has extended its own offer. Herbert is engaged almost immediately.
In 2016, he became the first real freshman to enter quarterback for the Ducks in 33 years, but his career path has not always been fluid. A broken collarbone has limited him to eight games in 2017. And he has had three different coaches in his career – Mark Helfrich, Willie Taggart and now Cristobal – with different offensive systems.
In 20 games, Herbert shot 4,759 yards and 46 touchdowns. He is the only FBS quarterback to lead his team to more than 40 points per game in 10 career starts or more. This season, Oregon is averaging 51.7 points per game on the Pac-12 and Herbert has made a touchdown in 18 straight games.
Part of Herbert's development has come out of his comfort zone. His coaches and teammates are always caught off guard by his long hair, which allows him to be compared to a young Brad Pitt. Cristobal joked during the Pac-12 Media Day in Los Angeles that he was worried about losing his starting quarter even before the season started.
"I'm walking around and I'm going, well we're in Hollywood, here's this big old guy, you know, a 6-foot-6 stallion," Cristobal said. "He's all muscular now, and now he has flowing hair like, you know, like Fabio, dude, at the time." And I say to myself, well, is there an agent modeling will come here this guy and, and keep it out here in LA and make it a model? "
The biggest change for Herbert is that he has become more present with his teammates.
"I did a good job when I had to do it," Herbert said. "I'm still not where I need to be, but I'm progressing and every day is a challenge, so we get up and do what I can."
That's Taggart who prompted Herbert to express himself more last season and to control his emotions that sometimes broke out when his perfectionist personality got the better of him. A second, Taggart, now The head coach of the state of Florida saw Herbert throw passes effortlessly. The next day, he watched his quarterback fight for missing a route. The good far outweighs the bad, said Taggart, but even the smallest mistakes affect Herbert.
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"He's competitive and he wants to make everyone happy," Taggart said. "From the start, that brought him … and it had come to a point where it was going to affect the other players too."
Taggart told Herbert that all the mistakes were not his fault and that it was okay to hold people around him responsible. Herbert took time to adjust his emotions when perfection was not possible, but Taggart never let him slip. As soon as he saw his quarter talking and smiling less, he was on him.
Taggart recalled a moment of spring practice where the offensive was not playing well. He told Herbert that it was an excellent opportunity to require a sense of urgency for the offense.
Herbert's reaction caused Tyrell Crosby's left tackle to surprise his quarterback.
"Justin was like," It's not funny, "Taggart recalls." It was a great time, and of course, we went out there and scored. It was perfect.
"He showed the example, but our team needed more and wanted more."
Herbert does not have the bravado of Baker Mayfield and he does not move like Lamar Jackson. But in December, it could be a household name.
Just do not tell him that.
Herbert grew up 10 minutes from Autzen Stadium and has been a fan of the Ducks since childhood. His grandfather, Rich Schwab, played in Oregon in the 1960s.
Herbert does not like the limelight and, while he has the resume for Big Man on Campus, he has no appetite. He sits on Ferrari leather seats in the Oregon meeting room and walks on the Brazilian wood floors inside the luxurious Oregon football complex.
Being a quarterback in Oregon is a dream come true for the child wearing a LaMichael James jersey during games at Autzen.
"I wake up every morning, grateful for this opportunity and pinch myself again, because a few years ago, I was in the stands watching," said Herbert.
It was not on the radar of many high profile programs. Perhaps the coaches were not looking for the quarterback in western Oregon, but his hiring was largely hampered by a broken femur at the beginning of his first year of high school.
"He wanted to be quarterback Sheldon and shortstop Sheldon and forward Sheldon," said Lane Johnson, Herbert's high school football coach. "That 's what he wanted to do, so he did not do any of those camps." He said he would never miss a meeting again. Sheldon's training to go to something just for him. "
Cristobal thinks Herbert has become a more cerebral player and he is surprised to see how he sees the field spatially without being a "sequential robotic guy". He is an American academic specializing in biology who described his organic chemistry course as "fun." He drags teammates into hangman games with words like "zephyr" and took Arroyo's blood pressure for a class project.
"I think it's the number one choice." He can do every shot and he's more athletic than most people think he can move easily, it's an athlete's monster. " For me, he's just a generational player. "
Willie Taggart
"He wants more on his plate," said Cristobal, "so we give him more and he wants to control him.Everything he wants at home, he's a quarterback and a footballer." C & # 39; that's what you want from a son, really. "
Taggart compares Herbert to the Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck.
"The good God does not make people that often, I think he's the number one choice." He can do every shot, and he's more athletic than most people think he can. it's a monster of an athlete.
"For me, he's just a generational player."
Back on the driving range, it 's as if the day was hot, the best shot of Herbert. He found his groove and the fluid movement of his swing resembles the balloons thrown from his right arm. A long strike with his seven-shot iron gives rise to a whirlwind of Tiger Woods-style club.
With effortless displays like these and on the football field, it's easy to see how Herbert will continue to gain popularity and attention. However, once you start congratulating him, he shrinks. Mention Heisman or NFL, and Herbert almost closes.
He knows that his name generates more attention and the more he plays, the higher his expectations will be. He just does not like that. He is more focused on the Ducks season. This week it will be Stanford; next week California.
Herbert said that he would be honored to take home equipment or go to the NFL someday, but he's too busy living week-to-week, perfecting his game, thinking about it. ;to come up.
"I do not know if I've deserved this type of words," Herbert said. "I think that with every throw, it could always be better, I still have a lot to do and we have a lot to do before."
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