After Mykael Wright left for the NFL and DJ James transferred to Auburn, Oregon had a clear need for a quality, plug-and-play corner, and they found that in Christian Gonzalez. Gonzalez, who had five tackles for loss last year, explained his decision to transfer to Oregon on Tuesday.
“It felt like it was my time to leave Colorado and went in the portal and took a couple visits and seen here and knew it was an opportunity so I took it.” Gonzalez said.
The Texas native followed his cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin from Boulder over to Eugene. Martin has coached at many different Pac-12 schools and Oregon marks the sixth school he's coached at in the conference of champions.
Gonzalez's prior relationship with Martin played a fundamental role in his decision.
Oregon Cornerback Christian Gonzalez Spring Practice
“I don't even look at him as a coach.” Gonzalez said. “He’s more of like my uncle. We just come out, we ball together, he plays through me. He plays through all the corners. It's just a family bond and it's fun, it's great.” Gonzalez expanded saying coach Meat is like his father away from home.
While Gonzalez and Martin's relationship goes way back, Gonzalez also touched on how Head Coach Dan Lanning made Oregon so attractive to him.
“Coach Lanning’s a great guy, South dude. (He's) kind of like my freshman year Coach [Tyson] Summers there. They're close together.” Gonzalez continued. “So he's the same type of coach and cares about his players, and it's a real family feel here.”
Gonzalez instantly becomes most experienced cornerback for the Ducks. Even though he still feels like he’s young, he understands that he needs to jump into a leadership role of sorts to aid the younger corners in their development.
“I feel like I'm stepping into a veteran role in that corner room.” Gonzalez said. “I’m young, but I got experience. But it's not anything like that in the room. Everybody knows it's a family. Everybody in the room is close, we're a brotherhood. People look up to other people, and we all help each other. We all help each other learn and work.”
Join the Community
Follow Nick on Twitter: @nickbat22
Subscribe to our free newsletter to get the latest Oregon Ducks news sent to your inbox
More must-reads: