Before the 2013 season began, Derrick Malone was a redshirt junior linebacker with just one start to his credit. However it didn’t take long for him to assume the role as one of Oregon’s defensive leaders, notching 11 tackles in the Ducks’ opener against Nichols St. and then 12 in the team’s next contest against Virginia.
That type of success game in and game out continued into a season in which the first-year starter was awarded Honorable Mention Pac-12 Honors. Also voted the most improved player by his teammates, Malone led Oregon in tackles with 105 stops (45 unassisted) to rank seventh in the conference. In addition, he posted two-and-a-half tackles for loss and a pair of quarterback sacks.
Now back for his final year in a Ducks uniform, Malone won’t be jumping off the radar like he may have last year. He’s already been named to preseason watch lists for both the Butkus (given to nation’s best linebacker) and Lombardi (given to nation’s best down lineman or linebacker) Awards, and his presence alongside Marcus Mariota and Mark Helfrich at Wedneday’s Pac-12 Media Days defines his role on the Ducks’ defense.
“Derrick’s a guy that’s kind of a long the lines of Don Cohen,” Helfrich said. “He can walk into every position meeting room and have instant credibility. He can talk to anybody on offense too and throughout our team. He’s a guy that kind of walks a walk and always talks the talk.”
Waiting his turn behind inside linebackers Kiko Alonso and Michael Clay, two of the more formidable backers Oregon has had as a tandem in recent history, Malone now will be relied as much as he’s ever been to be that guy on the Oregon defense that everyone can look to.
It should be no tall task according to his head coach, though.
“He’s one of several guys,” Helfrich said when asked about how much the team will lean on Malone. “Obviously Coach (Don) Pellum leads the charge of who the guy is to do things again. Their leadership and defense did a great job this spring and from all accounts this summer of kind of raising the bar to a higher standard and just accountability of effort of getting some young guys ready to rock.”
The losses of Taylor Hart, Wade Keliikipi and Ricky Havili-Heimuli on the defensive line would be reason to think that Malone’s job would become more difficult this year. Yet with a returning starter in Deforest Buckner, which Malone refers to as a “beast,” and a contingent of players that are top-to-bottom bigger than last year’s team, the outlook looks even better, according to the 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker .
“I just feel like we needed to add on to something to get those more wins and that might be the factor,” Malone said in reference to the defense’s commitment to get bigger.
In a newly refined scheme under first year defensive coordinator Don Pellum, Malone should be a vital part in how Oregon executes as a defense on all levels this upcoming season. It’s no secret that the Ducks were susceptible to the run at the end of last season, which means that Malone’s added experience and the front’s overall increase in size should bode well for whichever attack Oregon may face.
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