When Georgia product Taj Griffin, the nation's top all-purpose running back, committed to Oregon in April, the news seemed to set off a warning beacon in SEC Country: "We're losing one of our own."

The Ducks became a target, and several coaches fired off.

"It's too far," Griffin was told, implying he'd grow homesick.

Another coach, desperate to sway the 5-foot-10, 170-pound back, explained that the Pac-12 Conference was too physical for smaller offensive playmakers.

Known throughout the country as a more finesse, pass-driven conference than the SEC, Big 10 or Big 12, the pitch didn't stick.

"I had one coach saying that being a small running back in the Pac-12 could ultimately go against me. He said it'd be a bad thing," Griffin said. "It didn't affect my decision-making. I just ignored the fact that he said that."

Oregon football recruiting is on fire as of late, having landed two four-star prospects in the past week. This year's group, the Class of 2015, is ranked No. 17 in the country by ESPN, while the Class of 2016 is off a stunning start with three four-star talents.

It's enough to lead some to express that perhaps coach Mark Helfrich is already a better recruiter than Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly was during his time in Eugene.

While it's too early to tell which coach is better at luring the country's top high school talent, it is becoming clear the negative recruiting from other coaches is significantly less effective than it was when Kelly was the head man.

The bells and whistles are 'unnecessary'

Class of 2016 quarterback Seth Green, a consensus four-star prospect out of Minnesota, committed to the Ducks in mid-October over fellow finalists Michigan State and Minnesota.

The recruiting battle for his services was fierce, and opposing coaches didn't pull punches.

Green was told he couldn't crack the depth chart at Oregon, that Eugene was simply too far away and that "the top-notch facilities are unnecessary."

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound quarterback ignored those barbs and chose the Ducks anyway.

Fellow Class of 2016 commit Brady Breeze, a four-star future safety from Central Catholic High School, was hit with the most negative recruiting of all of them: he was told he wasn't good enough.

For the Mt. Hood Conference Defensive Player of the Year, the pitch backfired.

"A lot of times they just try to say that I'm never going to be good enough to play there, because they are going to get so many good recruits," he said. "It makes me want to go to Oregon more just to prove them wrong."

Recent four-star defensive end commit Canton Kaumatule has had discussions about the weather and academics at Oregon, while another recruit, who has yet to choose a school, said academics was the area opposing coaches used to knock the Ducks.

On the week that Cal faced Oregon, coach Sonny Dykes expressed on

"The Bald Faced Truth" with John Canzano that he doesn't understand kids who choose a school for the uniforms.

The only common thread is that coaches are all over the map when negatively recruiting Oregon.

That wasn't the case not long ago.

Chip Kelly era

The Chip Kelly era at Oregon officially began in March of 2009 when Mike Bellotti stepped down as head coach and handed his offensive coordinator the reins.

In his first season, Kelly was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year and led the Ducks to their first Rose Bowl appearance since 1995. The following year Oregon lost in the national championship game.

That momentum was carried off the field, as well.

In Kelly's first full year of recruiting, the Class of 2010 came in as Rivals' 13th-best collection of talent in the nation – its best group in three seasons – and looked poised to become a national power.

The following year, the Ducks did even better. The Class of 2011 was rated as the No. 9 class in the country, but quarterback Marcus Mariota and offensive tackle Jake Fisher were listed as just three-star talents, meaning it was a much better group than anyone realized.

Oregon appeared to be on the verge of making its first leap into the top five in the college football recruiting world.

Then the challenges began.

After its best two-year collection of talent in school history, including the school's first top 10 recruiting class, rumors began to swirl that Kelly could be leaving for the NFL.

Even more damaging to the Ducks, ESPN.com and Yahoo.com reported that the University of Oregon paid several thousand dollars to two men with ties to recruits who signed letters of intent with the school.

Opposing coaches pounced.

Over the next two years, the Ducks' recruiting classes finished at No. 16 (2012) and No. 22 (2013), as opposing coaches hammered home the idea that Kelly was leaving and the Ducks were on the verge of collapse due to NCAA sanctions.

When Kelly did leave for the Philadelphia Eagles less than a month before Signing Day of his last recruiting class, Helfrich immediately went to work.

Helfrich learning the ropes

The first class Helfrich assembled was practically glue, stapled and duct-taped together.

Kelly left just one month before Signing Day, and Helfrich scrambled to keep the group together, hanging on to five-star in-state running back Thomas Tyner and four-star brothers Tyree and Tyrell Robinson, adding four-star linebacker Torrodney Prevot, but losing four-star running back Dontre Wilson to Ohio State.

"They staved off disaster, which could have happened with Chip going to the NFL," Rivals West recruiting analyst Adam Gorney told The Oregonian.

But the "Kelly is leaving" rumors stopped. After all, he was gone. And the "major sanctions" turned out to be little more than a slap on the wrist that summer.

For two recruiting cycles coaches used those ideas to put doubt in kids' minds, while Kelly fought to sell the idea that the program would be strong even if he left.

Now, they needed something else.

In Helfrich's first full season, the Ducks finished 11-2, but failed to make a BCS bowl game.

With a new coach in place, and doubts about whether Oregon could remain elite without Kelly, the Class of 2014 was rated at No. 26, its lowest ranking since 2009 (No. 32).

The rise of Helfrich

This season, the Ducks find themselves on the brink of making the college football playoff and winning a Heisman Trophy, erasing doubts in many recruit's minds about whether or not Helfrich could keep Oregon rolling.

For the first time since the national championship game season, opposing coaches aren't selling the idea that a head coach is leaving or that sanctions are looming for Oregon.

During that four-year stretch the Ducks have been one of the top programs in the country, but haven't had a single class that ranked as highly as Kelly's first two years on the job.

It's hard to fight off rumors of a coach leaving and/or major sanctions when a kid is hearing it from every coach who recruits him and the solution remains out of a school's hands.

Helfrich, the recruiter

Kaumatule, an Under Armour All-American defensive end, has been shy throughout the recruiting process, not wanting to offend any of the programs that are interested in his services.

That remained the case even as he committed to Oregon last Friday night before the Stanford victory.

Upon hearing the news of his pledge to the Ducks, offensive coordinator Scott Frost somehow picked up the 6-foot-7, 295-pound Kaumatule. Perhaps in tune with the young man's nerves, Helfrich took a quieter approach, according to Kaumatule, joking with him to put him at ease after his life-altering decision.

It was a reaction that resonated with the athletic defensive end.

"Coach Helfrich was cracking all these funny jokes," Kaumatule told The Oregonian. "It was really obvious how excited he was to have me there. I really felt welcome."

Equally important, the Hawaiian defensive standout said the weather wasn't bad in Eugene and that the Jaqua Academic Center was impressive, negating the worries that had arisen from negative recruiting.

Similarly, Class of 2016 four-star commit Dillon Mitchell, a Memphis (Tenn.) product with offers from Alabama, Auburn, Ohio State and many others, came to Eugene for the Stanford weekend and announced his commitment, in part, because of his strong connection to the coach staff, most notably Helfrich.

The negative recruiting angle of "too far" wasn't even a factor for the coveted junior prospect.

"I don't think it's hard on my part," he told The Oregonian. "Maybe in the past it would be hard to go far away, but on my part, it's not really that hard. It's just a decision that I need to make."

Clear sailing

It's too soon to tell if Helfrich is a better recruiter than Kelly, but what is clear is that the second-year coach isn't having to fight the same negative recruiting battles.

Helfrich is dealing with the loss of a handful of scholarships and fewer official visits stemming from the Willie Lyles situation, but the damage is already done and Oregon is able to plan around it.

For the first time in years, the Ducks are viewed as a stable program with no looming coaching changes or pending NCAA sanctions.

Oregon is capitalizing.

-- Andrew Nemec | @AndrewNemec