EUGENE -- If you see Oregon outside linebacker Torrodney Prevot talking to himself on the field in 2014, don't be worried: He's trying to emulate Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Prevot, a rising sophomore from Houston, met Mayweather, the world's highest-paid athlete in 2013 according to Forbes, during spring break in Las Vegas by total coincidence. But after watching, alongside teammates Arik Armstead and Pharaoh Brown, the undefeated boxer train for three hours straight with little to no breaks, the Ducks left with a new understanding that success is no accident.

It was not a new realization for the Ducks. Yet the power of Mayweather's three-hour display landed with the force of the eight-time world champ's right hook.

"Seeing him train is crazy," said Prevot, a gregarious personality who broke through as a true freshman initially on special teams. "He’s just constantly works out, it’s amazing, life-changing."

The meet-up between the 37-year-old boxer -- who at 5-foot-8 is a foot shorter than Armstead, a defensive lineman -- and trio of Ducks started at a Vegas mall. When walking past a Louis Vuitton store that had been closed for Mayweather's personal shopping spree -- he did earn $85 million in 2013 after all, without endorsements -- the players noticed a bodyguard wearing the Mayweather logo around his neck on a chain. That prompted them to ask … is the champ really inside?

He was, and invited the Ducks to watch him train the next day.

"You watch how hard he works and you see what he does and how successful he’s been from working that hard his whole life," Armstead said. "I just try to model myself after that and to try to get to a point where you want to be at."

After dodging punches in the ring for hours, Mayweather found himself peppered with post-workout questions from the Ducks.

Would he come to an Oregon game?

"He said, 'Why would I come to y'all's games when I can sit at home and make 100 million dollars off y'all?" Prevot said. (Mayweather allegedly earned $1.1 million by betting on Oregon in 2012.)

Was he a fan of Michigan State, Oregon's opponent on Sept. 6?

"He said, 'No, whoever said that? I make the most money off the Oregon Ducks,'" Prevot said. "I guess he's a big fan of us."

And they of him, too.

Prevot has since applied some of Mayweather's tricks to add some fight to his own training and Oregon's defense as a whole, which must replace seven departed starters from the Alamo Bowl. Prevot is competing with junior Tyson Coleman and fellow rising sophomore Oshay Dunmore for a starting job.

One such training tip is talking. Improved defensive communication has been a prominent theme of Oregon's first week of spring practice, but Prevot isn't just talking to his teammates. He's also carrying on an interior monologue of self-confidence, he says, just like Mayweather.

"I see how he speaks as he’s sparring, and he’s not talking to the opponent, he’s actually talking to himself as he’s fighting," Prevot said. I just saw that and I brought that back here and started talking to myself, like positive reinforcement when I need to."

And maybe this season, Prevot hopes, the Ducks will not only sound like Mayweather but be undefeated like the champ, too.

-- Andrew Greif |