Tony Dungy talks about son going to Oregon

Oregon football coach Chip Kelly reached out to ex-Colts coach Tony Dungy when Kelly’s running back, LeGarrette Blount, was working his way through “The Punch.” Now Dungy’s son has worked his way to Oregon as a recruit, and Tony Dungy talked about it on the Dan Patrick Show this morning.

Eric Dungy is high school senior wide receiver and safety in Tampa, Fla. He and his dad visited Eugene last weekend, and Eric committed to the Ducks on Monday. Today’s is official signing day, and Eric will pen his name to a letter of intent at 12:30 Pacific during a ceremony at his school. His parents will attend.

Patrick hadn’t heard this and asked Tony if Eric was going to Florida State, one of several schools he considered. Then Tony shared some thoughts on his son’s decision:

* “Mom has gotten over the shock he’s going to be on the other side of the country.”

* “I’m kind of a Big Ten guy, and I’ve gotten over the fact he’s going to be playing in the Pac-10.”

* “Coach Kelly is a tremendous guy. I’d gotten to know him a little bit earlier this fall. He’s got a great program and Eric’s really fired up about going.”

* “What we really tried to figure out was who was interested in Eric for what he could bring to their program. And that’s what I think really sold my son on Oregon. He got to the point where he didn’t feel like coach Kelly and his staff were doing anything special for me but were really interested in him. That made the difference, I think.”

* On whether he got a job offer from the Ducks: “I did not, I did not. If the frequent flyer and the travels across the country get to be too much in a couple years, I may have to try to apply out there.”

* Patrick said if Dungy had taken the Seattle Seahawks job, he would have been right there, to which Dungy said people have been telling him that. “The Lord does work in kind of strange ways. If I’d have known Eric was going to go out there, maybe I’d have thought a little more about it.”