EUGENE -- Thomas Graham Jr. and Deommodore Lenoir met as eighth graders in the starting blocks of a 100-meter race.



The sprint, at a Los Angeles track meet, lasted seconds.



A debate about its finish has continued ever since.



"He, uh, beat me," Lenoir said. "But I for sure felt like I won. I had him by like at least two meters, but they gave it to him because on the scorecard my name was too long so they put Thomas Graham first."



Hearing that, Graham Jr. cocked his head back and smiled.



"Look, it wasn't a close race," Graham Jr. said. "I'm just going to tell you that. When I was in eighth grade, I was the second-fastest person in California. Deommodore was nowhere near. He's going to tell you he was close -- but it wasn't."



Once Southern California adversaries on the track, Graham Jr. and Lenoir are now close friends and Oregon Ducks sophomores linked by their shared history, position and ambition. After debut seasons in which both were tossed into the crucible of prolific Pac-12 passing attacks with the highs and lows expected from freshmen, Graham Jr. and Lenoir are expected to hold starting cornerback jobs in 2018.



And they aren't the only shared connection in the secondary. Through Oregon's first five practices of preseason they worked primarily with the first-team in a secondary alongside safeties Ugo Amadi, a senior, and Nick Pickett, a sophomore who befriended Lenoir in L.A.'s Pop Warner leagues and Graham Jr. when they shared a high school seven-on-seven roster.



Gauged in terms of collegiate playing time, that secondary is potentially one of the least experienced in the Pac-12. Yet if confidence and intra-secondary trust were quantifiable, UO's group might be peerless.



Said Lenoir: "I feel like we're going to be the best group in the nation, in my eyes."



Said Graham Jr.: "We know where we want to be and at the end of the day, all three of us want to go to the NFL. All three of us push each other to the level where we gotta be there; we can't settle for mediocrity.



"As long as we stay together as a whole and do what we need to do we cannot just create a dominance within us, but create a standard so heavy that Oregon becomes the new DB 'U.'"

Defensive back Deommodore Lenoir catches a pass during Oregon's spring workout at Portland's Franklin High School. (Sean Meagher/The Oregonian)

Though they went to separate high schools -- Lenoir and Pickett at Salesian in Los Angeles, Graham Jr. and UO receiver Jaylon Redd at Rancho Cucamonga -- the three defensive backs grew close quickly. They are described as extroverts with inside jokes told in a shorthand known only to them.



"Sometimes they say stuff and I'm like, 'What are y'all talking about?' I have no idea," said senior safety Mattrell McGraw. "I almost feel old doing it."



The Ducks believe that familiarity will make their defense tougher. Pressed about how, each spoke of intuitively knowing one another's tendencies and abilities. They say their communication off the field will serve them well on it when they need to share one of defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt's calls in a hostile stadium.



"As young as they are they are going to become dominant because of that chemistry they have," Amadi said. "With their chemistry and what they already know it will be very, very scary to see. Me knowing everything (in the playbook) I can just tell one person and one person knows how to tell it to everybody else."



Playing together didn't happen by accident. Lenoir was rated the 2017 class's seventh-best corner while Graham Jr. was four spots behind in 247Sports' composite ranking, and they called themselves a package deal. Some of the earliest interest in Graham Jr. came from a young San Jose State assistant named Donte Williams. When Williams joined Arizona's staff, Graham Jr. silently committed, only to re-open his recruitment when Williams departed for Nebraska.





Lenoir

"I was like, 'Yeah, I'm not going to Nebraska, Donte,'" Graham Jr. said. "'I love you, you're my dog but I'm not going.'"



So Williams came to Oregon instead. Following the staff purge at Nebraska after Mike Riley's firing, Williams was hired in January to coach corners under Mario Cristobal and Leavitt.

Williams' job is getting Lenoir and Graham to go from good to great. Graham Jr. built buzz after enrolling early and covering Darren Carrington physically during spring practices in 2017 before making good on his promise with 62 tackles and a team-high-tying three interceptions; two of those picks came against Nebraska, with Williams watching from the Huskers sideline.



What nagged Graham Jr. after an otherwise breakout season was its ending. In the Las Vegas Bowl, Boise State's Cedrick Wilson beat him on a fade-route touchdown.





Pickett

"A feeling I don't ever want to have again or go through," he said. "I kind of felt helpless, like I couldn't do anything about Cedric catching those fades on me. I feel like now, if I was to replay those situations would that happen? No. I just needed to get smarter in the playbook."



Lenoir became UO's third corner and played the bulk of his snaps as the season wore on, and Pickett found his way into the regular rotation at safety, with 22 tackles. Lenoir finished with 25 tackles, an interception, five broken-up passes and, like his classmates, invaluable experience from a season of being tested by opposing quarterbacks.



Amadi, who in 2015 was himself a true freshman corner, had warned the freshmen about playing with a "target on your back."



"I feel like they had thick skin about it," he said.





Graham

Physically, the college game required an adjustment. But the competition was nothing new. Lenoir, who is still just 18, is the third-youngest child in a family of 12, including nine brothers. His family once held races to determine the fastest sibling, a title Deommodore has held since he was 15.



His description of growing up in a household like that could double as his review of his freshman year.



"I took some bumps and bruises," Lenoir said, "but it's helped shape me into a better person. My confidence level is just up there now."



It also took Graham Jr. a while to become the fastest in his family; his older sister, Jasmyne, was one of the nation's top high school hurdlers and has since run for USC and UNLV.



Graham Jr. and Lenoir now feel it's their turn to run things at corner.

"Much more savvy, body has developed, more explosive, more of a leader," Cristobal said of Graham Jr. And Lenoir? "He had to work out the kinks of getting out there and playing against Power Five (conference) wide receivers. He's done so and we trust him in every single call that we have."

Teammates noticed they were tougher to throw against in offseason workouts and since the start of preseason camp, they have played "really good," said Leavitt, UO's defensive coordinator. Pickett is a big hitter Lenoir likens to former Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor. Graham Jr. is stickier on slant routes. Lenoir's speed allows him to track deep balls.



Yes, Lenoir really is fast.



"I'll give him that," Amadi said. "Faster than what he looks."



But is he the fastest Duck in the secondary? The debate rages on.



"Now," Graham Jr. said, "he might be able to get a step behind me."



-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif