Countdown to Oregon vs. Michigan State: 5 key moments from each team's offseason – OregonLive.com

Oregon’s opener to the 2015 college football season isn’t your typical paycheck game against an overmatched opponent.

Seven months after Eastern Washington learned it would lose its three-year starting quarterback, Vernon Adams Jr., to Oregon where for one final season of eligibility as a graduate student, the Eagles will play against those same Ducks on Sept. 5 in what is the most intriguing game against an FCS opponent in program history. 

But that is a regional curiosity compared to the national attention that will arrive in Week Two when Oregon ends its home-and-home series at Michigan State on Sept. 12.

Oregon is fifth in the preseason USA Today coaches poll and the Spartans, who lost 46-27 last season in another top-10 game, are sixth.

The game will be broadcast at 5 p.m. PT on ABC and East Lansing will be the favorite to land the attention of ESPN’s College Gameday earlier that day.

In the first in a series with MLive.com’s Spartans beat reporters to preview the top-10 matchup, here are the five biggest developments for each program since the teams met Sept. 6 in Eugene:

Michigan State

1. Spartans quarterback Connor Cook and star defensive end Shilique Calhoun opted to return for their senior seasons after being projected as first-round NFL draft picks by some. 

2. MSU has had a change at defensive coordinator, with Pat Narduzzi leaving to become Pitt’s head coach and Harlon Barnett and Mike Tressel being promoted from within to assume co-defensive coordinator duties. Mark Dantonio, a former defensive coordinator himself, has indicated he doesn’t expect many changes.

3. Former Texas A&M, South Florida and Ohio State DC Mark Snyder was added to the staff as an assistant. Snyder is familiar with Dantonio’s schemes from their time together, but also, brings a unique perspective having spent three years practicing against Kevin Sumlin’s prolific spread offense.

4. Junior cornerback Trae Waynes left early for the NFL, going No. 11 overall to the Minnesota Vikings. Waynes was the best defensive back in a secondary that allowed 22 plays of 40 yards or more, and must also replace Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year Kurtis Drummond.

5. MSU signed the No. 22 recruiting class (247sports), including the top RB out of Ohio (LJ Scott) and JUCO transfer Drake Martinez. Four corners signed in that class, one of which could emerge to impact the Oregon game.

— Mike Griffith, MLive.com 

Oregon

1. Rather than return for their senior seasons, quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota and defensive lineman Arik Armstead entered the NFL draft, where each was selected in the first round. Both departures were expected, and Oregon’s defensive line sans the 6-foot-8, 290-pound Armstead remains deep. But Mariota left behind a big question mark at quarterback. Perhaps the position unit most affected by departures was the secondary, however, where three starters (corners Ifo Ekpre-Olomu and Troy Hill and safety Erick Dargan) graduated. A major coup was the return of all-conference defensive lineman DeForest Buckner, who after 81 tackles last season was rated by some as first-round potential.

2. One of Oregon’s key offseason moves was one that didn’t happen. For the first time since 2012, UO’s entire coaching staff returns unchanged. They bring considerable experience: Four UO assistants are among 31 FBS coaches who have been at the same school for at least the past decade, and running backs coach Gary Campbell is the longest-tenured assistant in the country; he’s been at Oregon since 1983. The other coaching staff news was a five-year, $17.5 million extension for third-year head coach Mark Helfrich, who is 24-4.

3. Oregon in February signed a 22-man recruiting class ranked the country’s 17th-best by Rivals, a haul buffeted by the nation’s most intriguing transfer in quarterback Vernon Adams of Eastern Washington. At the Football Championship Subdivision level, Adams led a victory over top-25 ranked Oregon State in 2013; finished as a two-time runner-up for the Walter Payton Award, which is the FCS equivalent of the Heisman Trophy; and passed for 110 touchdowns, 10,438 yards and 31 interceptions and added 11 rushing touchdowns. He is not currently enrolled at Oregon, but he has said he should be cleared to join the roster Aug. 13, three days after UO opens fall camp. The starting QB job, Helfrich has said, is junior Jeff Lockie’s to lose.

4. Sophomore Charles Nelson began experimenting at defensive back after proving his worth as a dangerous punt returner and multi-purpose offensive threat. As a true freshman in 2014, he averaged 12.5 yards per touch. But Oregon hopes he’ll also be as good as limiting opponents’ touches. At Pac-12 football media days last week, Helfrich said Nelson will have roles on special teams, offense and defense this season — how that workload is divided remains to be seen. Coaches asked him to try out defense — he dabbled at safety in high school — because of Oregon’s depth at receiver, lack of experience at cornerback and his versatility to do both.

5. Oregon’s receiving corps developed into one of the team’s deepest units — hints of which were on display against Michigan State — before suffering key losses that hurt its game plan against Ohio State in the national championship game. The Ducks are the only FBS team that can boast four returning receivers with at least 600 yards, and that doesn’t include a fifth member of the club in junior Bralon Addison, who caught seven touchdowns and 890 receiving yards in 2013 before sitting out last season with a knee injury. Oregon also will add to its perimeter depth with promising freshmen Alex Ofodile and Jalen Brown. Those two may play bigger roles than expected in the early season because the availabilities of tight end Pharaoh Brown (lower leg), and receivers Devon Allen (knee) and Darren Carrington (a potential half-season of ineligibility stemming from failed drug test) are up in the air.

— Andrew Greif, The Oregonian/OregonLive

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