The crazy thing is that this is one of, if not the most talented defenses in Oregon history and if you believe in recruiting rankings, the next few years will only better better. Avalos has been amazing; wonder how many years Oregon can hang onto him.
Avalos has done a great job this season, but you have to give Jim Leavitt a little credit for changing perceptions, and he & snake-oil-Taggart did bring in some pretty good defensive recruits in that....
* 2017 class: Deommodore Lenoir - Thomas Graham - Issac Slade-Matuitia, Popo Aumavae, Austin Faoliu, Jordon Scott, Nick Pickett, Sampson Niu....there's 5-6 defensive starters.
* you also can't dismiss Mark Helfrich from any credit either. His last class included Troy Dye, Brady Breeze, Bryson Young, Gus Cumberlander, Drayton Carlberg, & LaMar Winston (also Justin Herbert, although Autzen Stadium recruited him)
* You can even take it a step further to the 2018 class, well before Avalos arrived: Jevon Holland, Verone Mckinnley III, MJ Cunningham, Andrew Faoliu, and Haki Woods
that's about 9 of the starters and a big majority of the 2 deep
in other words, Avalos built a great defense this season, probably top-10, using other people's recruits. That's common though. Chip Kelly built a great team that played for the national championship using almost exclusively Bellotti recruits, especially on defense, and it launched his NFL career, such as it was
that's not to say Avalos can't recruit, because he certainly can judging by his 2 classes so far: Kayvon Thibideaux, Mykael Wright, Mase Funa, Keyon Ware-Hudson, Ge'mon Eaford, Trikweze Bridges, Brandon Dorlus, Dru Mathis /// Justin Flowe, Noah Sewell, Dontae Manning, Luke Hill, Jaden Navarette....problem at this point is we don't know how good most of those guys will be because only 4 of them have registered any playing time (but those 4 are really good)
good news is the Ducks may only be losing 1-2 full time starters. A lot depends on the juniors (Lenoir, Graham, Scott, Faoliu) who have put their names in for NFL evaluations. So far all have come back "stay in school"....but often, guys don't listen. Take for instance Dillon Mitchell; he got the "stay in school" evaluation but left anyway, was drafted 239th, has been traded twice, never played a down, been demoted to the practice squad, and will likely be waived this off-season. If he would have come back for his senior season, the Ducks would have been a much better passing team and he could have been All-Pac12 for the 2nd straight season.
as for how long the Ducks will keep Avalos: probably not long at all. 2 years longer may be optimistic at this point, especially if the Duck defense is as good or better next season. He might be a head coach somewhere the year after. The way it goes with young dynamic assistants.