EUGENE, Ore. — After practice Tuesday, Kenjon Barner climbed inside his Camaro, an audacious combination of burnt orange and black stripes with No. 24 decals on the taillights. The engine purred. The bass thumped. Barner, a muscular running back with a Mohawk, pointed the car toward campus.

His destination: ballet class.

“I love it, man,” he said. “I mean, I was worried I was going to have to wear tights. I’m not a tights guy. But we wear shorts.”

Barner weaved through downtown with a subtle series of lane shifts, the Camaro speeding up, then slowing down, always one step ahead of traffic. Barner may drive a car with colors dangerously close to those of his in-state rivals, but he is without a doubt an Oregon back, which is to say speedy and shifty and explosive.

As he walked toward class, he complained of the fatigue associated with that job description, of practices that consist almost entirely of running, of legs so sore it hurts to walk. He arrived at the classroom door, ready to unleash his inner Baryshnikov, only to find that class had been canceled.