Tragedy helps shape Oregon team

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The last thing he said was that God was on his side.

"Then he jumped," Jeff Maehl said. "It was only about 20 feet. It wasn't that far."

The journey to college football's Bowl Championship Series final takes different twists and turns for most. It's not all yards and tackles. It is not shaped merely by brilliant plays and dramatic wins.

Sometimes, it's not even about football.

Sometimes, it begins years earlier on a bridge overlooking the McKenzie River, a 90-mile branch of the Willamette in western Oregon that drains parts of the Cascade Range east of Eugene. It is a sportsman's dream, filled with salmon and trout and surrounded by breathtaking scenery.

Maehl went there in 2008 with a handful of teammates. It is tradition for Oregon players before each season to take a day, head to the river and bond while floating down it in inner tubes.

Some wanted more of a thrill. Todd Doxey was one, a redshirt freshman defensive back and part of a group to jump into the water from the bridge. He got caught up in a bad current and tried swimming out of it. He couldn't.

His teammates had floated too far to help. The closest boat wasn't close enough. Several hours later at a nearby hospital, Doxey was dead.

"We weren't wearing any flotation devices," Maehl said. "We never went there thinking something like that could happen. He didn't make the best decision. Once he went into the water ... that's not something I like to talk about.

"He was one of my best friends, my roommate and teammate. We had just moved into a new place two weeks earlier. ... It's not a feeling of guilt being here now. I think about him all the time. I always talk to him before games. Say a little prayer. I go to the river every year on the date it happened and throw some flowers in the water. Just talk to him a little bit."

If a moment arrives Monday evening at University of Phoenix Stadium when Maehl scores yet another touchdown in the unremitting track meet that is Oregon's offense, he will gently pat the inside of his left forearm, where a tattoo honoring his friend acts as a constant reminder of how life's path can change course faster than a river's current.

Auburn is the next team that will probably look at Maehl -- supposedly always too small, too slow, too this, too that -- and wonder how he has produced such numbers. In a system in which the Ducks might actually play faster in practice than games, and both go Ferrari Enzo fast, Maehl is the wide receiver to have most often burnt opposing defenses.

The senior has caught a pass in 33 straight games, and his 169 career receptions rank fourth all time at Oregon. He led the Pac-10 and ranked second nationally this season with 10 touchdown catches in conference play. He has been for two years running now the best receiver in a scheme that stretches the field like a child might his Laffy Taffy.

"We tell them when they walk in as freshmen that we talk fast, we think fast, we play fast," Oregon offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said. "That's toughest for the wide receivers. They're like, 'You want me to run 30 yards as hard as I can every play, sprint back to the line of scrimmage and do it again and again?' But once they figure it out, once they learn to do everything at optimum pace, it just works.

"(Maehl) has been a terrific leader for us in this way with the receivers. We will be in a helmets-only walkthrough and we're running a play where Jeff has no chance of getting the ball, and he's going as fast as he possibly can down the field."

Different things motivate different players. Oregon was the only school to offer Maehl a scholarship out of a small town in Northern California. He is listed at 6 feet 1 inch and 184 pounds, but to watch him stroll into a hotel ballroom here Thursday was to wonder why in the world the Ducks brought a student manager to meet assembled media.

There is also the part about him being recruited as a defensive back and switched to wide receiver for the final three games of his freshman season because the position had sustained numerous injuries. He was simply filling a need.

It might all inspire Maehl a bit more Monday, but more than anything as he prepares for his final college game, for the biggest game of his life, will be the memory of just another Sunday at the river that turned tragic when Todd Doxey turned to teammates, suggested they say a prayer, told them God was on his side and jumped.

"We were just there to have fun," Maehl said. "But the current was nasty. ... Oh, yeah, I'll be thinking of him (Monday) and know how blessed we all are to have this opportunity."

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM.