The Oregon defense sometimes gets a bad rap, between the "rush three, drop eight" memes or for giving up more yardage than most teams (not difficult when the defense also plays at least eight to 10 more snaps than most defenses). But as the 2015 season inches closer and closer, it's sounding as though the linebackers are going to be a real strength of the defense this year.

On the outside, there's a bit a competition between Tyson Coleman, Torrodney Prevot and Christian French for the starting spots. But as The Oregonian's Andrew Greif pointed out, the distinction of starter at Oregon might not mean as much as at other schools because defensive coordinator Don Pellum likes to rotate 25 players.

Here, it's important to know that the top five to six players, which Greif then outlined: "Oregon will utilize two outside linebackers who figure to be any combination of Coleman, Prevot and French, and backed up by a combination of Eddie Heard, Ivan Faulhaber, Cody Carriger and perhaps Jonah Moi, the junior college transfer who arrived nearly two weeks late to camp as he awaited official clearance to join."

Comcast Sportsnet Northwest's Aaron Fentress caught up with Prevot this week and asked him how many sacks he'd like to get this year.

"I'm trying to get in the double digits, definitely," Prevot told Fentress.

If Prevot is able to accomplish that feat, it would be pretty impressive. Only six Pac-12 players reached double digits a season ago and he'd be the first Oregon player to hit that mark since Kenny Rowe in 2009.

On the inside, Joe Walker and Rodney Hardrick return. They combined for 156 tackles, including 14 for a loss.

"Both those guys are awesome," Pellum told The Register Guard's Ryan Thorburn. "Rodney has been doing it longer in this system, so he knows it better and he's able to take more command. Joe does whatever is needed, whatever is necessary and runs around and makes plays."