MARKHELFRICHUCLA.JPG

Mark Helfrich has changed the process by which Oregon recruits -- subtly and no so subtly -- entering his second year as head coach.

(Bruce Ely/The Oregonian)

EUGENE – There are myriad ways a player can land on the recruiting radar of college football’s elite coaches.

Holding that interest from Oregon’s staff, however, comes from just one reason: making it through the Ducks’ multilayered evaluation process, a system that has been the backbone of UO’s recent success yet has evolved to reflect coach Mark Helfrich’s leadership style.

Like a loan application, Oregon’s recruiting is designed to minimize risk via an eight-step procedure based on “criteria that have nothing to do with football,” Helfrich said Wednesday as he announced his second recruiting class as a head coach. A recruit’s character is vetted as fully as the validity of an eye-popping 40-yard dash time, and Helfrich's descriptions of the 2014 class were peppered with descriptors like "neat kid," "team captain" or "he's from a wonderful family."

Becoming a Duck involves sales pitches from both the player and the program.

“We try to, as best as possible, manage the knowns,” he said. “Every time we walked out of a home visit with guys in this class we always looked at each other and said, ‘Yep, that’s our guy. These are our kind of people.’ That’s something that matters in a big way.”

Quantifying a teenager’s mental readiness as much as physical maturity is a tricky business, and Helfrich called “recruiting science” an oxymoron. He meant it as a jab at the recruiting services whose star ratings and scores can vary wildly and, ultimately, mean nothing. But in truth the Ducks have developed their own, internal rating system – the only difference is the criteria, and Helfrich swears by the near-holistic approach.

“The more stuff that we know up front that we can eliminate, you’re increasing the odds of the product being exactly what you envisioned,” he said, declining to detail what any of the “steps” are. “That can’t be compromised.”

But changed? Absolutely.

Oregon’s process has been tweaked in key areas since Chip Kelly left as head coach in January 2013, according to Helfrich and recruiting analysts who speak with athletes and coaches year-round. Though Helfrich was careful to leave in place what worked well from Kelly's philosophy during his debut season, the changes in his first full recruiting season as head coach are a subtle way he has changed how the program is run.

Recruits no longer must commit to the head coach in person. Recruits no longer are barred from visiting other schools after verbally committing to Oregon. Assistants have more freedom to begin scouting the next year’s class and choose which recruits to contact. Every aspect of recruiting no longer must flow directly through the head coach.

“Helfrich’s been more lenient with his staff recruiting earlier and harder, more eager if you will,” said Justin Hopkins of 247 Sports. “The coaches have appreciated more of the leash they’ve been given under Helfrich to recruit more freely and maybe a bit more aggressive. Chip didn’t allow his coaches to make many calls and visits and sat back and saw who came to Oregon first.”

Arrion Springs, a cornerback from Texas, was a strong commitment since last spring, Helfrich said, but visited Florida State, Oklahoma, Miami and USC since his Aug. 30 official visit to Oregon.

“That’s a big change,” said A.J. Jacobson of Duck Sports Authority, who recalled a committed Duck recruit visiting elsewhere just twice during Kelly’s four years as head coach.

Oregon assistant John Neal (right), seen in 2011, was vital in keeping several 2014 defensive back recruits committed to the Ducks' latest recruiting class. Under head coach Mark Helfrich, UO assistants have experienced a bit more freedom to target recruits than previously.

Helfrich even opened his remarks about Springs on Wednesday with a joke referencing Springs's perceived dalliance: "I think he's going to take another official visit this afternoon just to solidify things."

The decision to allow other visits has been an “individualized” process, Helfrich said, adding that Springs’ visits were cleared after the defensive back had several long conversations with him and his future position coach, John Neal.

“At no time did we lose sleep,” Helfrich said.

Running back Tony James signed with Oregon on Wednesday from Gainesville, Fla., home of the Florida Gators. James, who gave his verbal commitment Sept. 29 to running backs coach Gary Campbell, agreed that there was an understanding about his limits as a UO commit, but sensed no firm rule against a visit if he wanted.

“It’s like a marriage and there has to be trust,” James said Wednesday. “So I understood I needed to respect what we had, but I could have if I wanted to."

In another change, UO is already looking hard at the 2015 class. Coaches are scouting basketball games and wrestling matches for players who could sign one year from now, Helfrich said.

“There are probably twice as many visits right now as there would be at this time of year in the past,” Jacobson said.

The tweaks don’t necessarily stem from an ideological difference in leadership between Kelly and Helfrich, who is more of a delegator than his predecessor. Instead, Helfrich described the alterations as trying to find a more efficient way of dividing resources given the massive workload – UO coaches visited more than 1,000 high schools in 31 states in the past year. He can't be in every living room when a recruit wants to make his verbal commitment.

The Ducks proudly cite the process's success stories, such as pulling quarterback Marcus Mariota and linebacker Michael Clay out of recruiting anonymity and turning them into co-MVPs of the 2012 season, while opting to pass on “elite” recruits who didn’t fit their playbook or values.

“We’re going to miss on a couple guys because of that and we’re more than willing to do that,” Helfrich said.

Yet everybody misses on recruits.

To borrow another banking term, Oregon football is big business -- after all, it earned $60.1 million of the athletic department's $69.9 million in 2013 revenues -- and some elite recruits inevitably default on their promise despite impeccable credentials. Oregon's secret recruiting algorithm attempts to quantity intangibles as well as statistics but isn't immune from miscalculations.

Lache Seastrunk and Curtis White, two of UO’s best recruits from 2010, never played a down for the Ducks before leaving the program. Tra Carson left after his freshman season to play running back for Texas A&M, too.

Exits like those prompt coaches to refine their process. But their commitment to it will never be thrown out completely under this coaching staff.

“It's evolved. ... We’re basically just trying to quality control as much as we can up front and keep tweaking the process,” Helfrich said.

“It’s an imperfect business but we’re trying to push toward the perfect side.”