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Fiesta Bowl 2013: Chip Kelly says fullbacks are hard to come by

The lack of a true fullback in the Oregon Ducks' offense is due in large part to a dearth of young players willing and able to step into that role, according to Chip Kelly.

Jonathan Ferrey

Oregon Ducks head coach Chip Kelly's spread offense often operates without a traditional fullback, and a large part of that is because Kelly believes that players both willing and able to play the position are fairly hard to come by. The 49-year-old adapts and adjusts based on the players he has.

Kelly met with the media on Wednesday and, when asked whether Oregon's lack of fullbacks dictated his offensive scheme, he noted that there isn't much glory that comes along with being a fullback.

"It's hard. That's a tough sell," Kelly said. "Come to our program, you're 6'2, we want you to play fullback. You're a glorified guard in the back field, you'll graduate at 5'10, you're just going to run full speed and slam your head into people. No one is going to know who you are. We put a 30 number on you, but you should have a 60 number. There's not a lot of kids out there that want to play that position."

Kelly also mentioned that the dearth of fullbacks has adjusted the recruiting focus of the program.

"We had the opportunity to get a great fullback, like the kid at Stanford a couple years ago," Kelly said. "If you have them, you have to use them to your advantage. Going out and recruiting, we're looking for more tight ends, receivers and running backs than we are for fullbacks."