EUGENE -- For almost two decades, the reliable subplot to every Oregon football season has involved what latest piece of apparel the Ducks will wear.
So imagine the surprise this summer, when the intrigue instead turned to the article of clothing UO's starting quarterback was doing without.
"It's pretty cool to look out my window and see Justin Herbert walking out there with his shirt off," coach Willie Taggart said at Pac-12 media days last month in Hollywood.
Asked about the story's veracity, Herbert rolled his eyes, saying it's an "overexaggeration" born out of a few summer workouts on UO's Hatfield-Dowlin Complex practice fields.