Why Oregon Ducks' Marcus Harper Didn't Transfer When Mario Cristobal Left

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Transcript

00:00For me, personally, I look back on my five years at Oregon,

00:05starting with Coach Crystal Ball, coming in in 2020 COVID,

00:09what a way to enter into college football, you know,

00:12with an unconventional way.

00:14And the whole world kind of just being on the lock.

00:17Again, not being a big name in my 2020 class,

00:22I probably said it once or twice,

00:24not being a big name in my class,

00:26but kind of just having a confidence that boldness is just better than yourself

00:29coming 2,000 miles away from your front door

00:32and make something of opportunity that only few get once in a lifetime.

00:36You can call me crazy, you can call me delusional,

00:39but I know what's on the inside of me.

00:42Like, I know what I'm capable of, and I know who I'm called to be.

00:46Like, that confidence has been there since day one,

00:49and you couldn't shake me off my pivot.

00:51Early in my career, it didn't start off obviously how I wanted it to,

00:55not being able to get on the field as early as I personally had anticipated,

00:58but, again, it's not even about my timing, it's guys' timing.

01:03And Coach Landon came, Coach Cristobal left,

01:07and provided a very good and sweet opportunity

01:11for your boy to kind of pop on the scene

01:13and show him how to get down.

01:15And I was, man, I remember that day like it was yesterday.

01:20That season of my life, it was in 20, was it 2022?

01:26I get there, and I just ball out, dog.

01:29And it's almost like, well, duh.

01:31But, I mean, look at the landscape of college football now.

01:34Like, it would have been very easy for me to just jump ship

01:38and go somewhere else and be like, you know what?

01:40I'm not even going to try to give this new program, this new culture a shot.

01:44I could have went somewhere else.

01:46Big fish, little pond type deal.

01:49But that's not who I wanted to be.

01:50That's not the principles I wanted to stand on.

01:52When I wrote my goals this year, just embrace and separate.

01:55Like, embrace the uncomfortability that these goals are

02:02and the habits that you got to do with these goals

02:05and the uncomfortability that it takes to do what you're trying to do

02:09and separate from the rest.

02:11And in me staying that, I was able to do that.

02:14And, you know, like I said, got my way on the field.

02:18That's another thing that I really took from my career is, man,

02:22I remember my offensive line coach at the time, Coach Alex Mirabal,

02:26and it was after my freshman year, true freshman year,

02:29he said something that always stuck with me.

02:31He was just like, okay, after your first year, like,

02:34you're kind of going to get coddled.

02:35But after that, like, it's all up to you, what you make of your career.

02:38And that principle of, okay, you got to take this thing by the horns

02:43and you kind of got to direct it, that's up to you.

02:48And I know the result that I wanted from my career here at Oregon.

02:51That's what I wanted to amount to.

02:53And that's all he needed to say.

02:56And so, again, another scenario, me just kind of doubling down.

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