By Rob Moseley

The Register-Guard

For a group whose theme was, Chip Kelly said, “speed and speed,” the last, surprising addition to Oregon’s recruiting class of 2010 was ironic.

Oregon capped the first recruiting cycle of the Kelly era by getting a signed letter of intent Wednesday from defensive tackle Ricky Heimuli of Salt Lake City. Should he ultimately qualify and enroll, the 6-foot-4, 290-pound Heimuli will be the Ducks’ highest-rated freshman defensive tackle since Haloti Ngata.

The commitment from Heimuli pushed Oregon’s team ranking for this year’s recruits up to No. 13 in the nation according to both Rivals.com and Scout.com. The Ducks were one of a number of Pac-10 teams to close well over the final week of recruiting, along with USC, UCLA, California and Washington.

The Golden Bears, in fact, got a boost Wednesday by signing two players once thought to be destined for Eugene, in defensive ends Chris McCain and Gabe King. But the Ducks closed by wrapping up safety Erick Dargan and athlete Josh Huff, two of the 13 players among the class of 20 prep recruits who reportedly run the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds or less.

“We want to be known for speed,” Kelly said. “If you asked me one thing about this class, I think it’s a speed class. There’s a lot of kids that can really, really run in this group.”

In a way, Heimuli does fit that bill, reportedly running the 40 in 4.9 seconds, very good for a player of his size. He’s considered one of the top 10 defensive tackles in the nation this year, and was a PrepStar all-American.

Kelly identified defensive line as a priority for this year’s class, but entering Wednesday the Ducks only had two linemen in the class — one of them a junior college transfer — and had come up short with a number of other prospects. Heimuli was very guarded in interviews recently, providing little indication he would reverse that trend for Oregon, but he gave UO defensive line coach Jerry Azzinaro good news Tuesday.

“He called coach Azz last night, told him what his decision was and that he was going to sleep and think about it a little bit more, and then wake up in the morning and tell us what he was going to do,” Kelly said. “Everything he’s told us is exactly the way things panned out.”

The Ducks graduated starter Blake Ferras and reserve Simi Toeaina at tackle, and earlier this week reserves Terrance Montgomery and Andrew Iupati left the team. When recruits such as Dominique Easley and Bjoern Werner committed elsewhere, fans began to fret that Oregon was perilously thin at the position.

All of that changed when Heimuli committed. Though Kelly wouldn’t say as much, Heimuli has the size and talent to play as a true freshman in the fall, after which he’ll decide whether to take a church mission.

“That’s a personal decision that the Heimuli family will make together,” Kelly said. “And we’re totally supportive.”

With 10 starters on offense and eight on defense returning from the Rose Bowl team, the Ducks had few apparent holes to fill with this class. But along with Heimuli, talented groups at running back and defensive back plus two specialists may be in line for early playing time at Oregon.

The Texas tailback tandem of Lache Seastrunk and Dontae Williams gave Oregon arguably the best running back class in the country this year. Seven defensive backs signed, among them speedy corner Dior Mathis and the hard-hitting safety Dargan, and some of them could be relied on for depth in the fall.

Among the more intriguing members of the class were placekicker Alejandro Maldonado and long snapper Drew Howell. True freshman linebacker Michael Clay handled long snaps for the Ducks in 2009, but Kelly would like for him to be able to focus on defense.

And though Oregon also signed a kicker in 2009, Mike Bowlin, Kelly indicated there are no sure things after the graduation of senior Morgan Flint. Hence, the signing of Maldonado.

“We think he’s a kid that’s going to come in here and compete with the guys we have,” Kelly said.

A tireless recruiter during his career as an assistant, Kelly operated this year under different rules — head coaches are only allowed one visit per prospect, rather than the multiple visits Kelly would make to his targets as an assistant.

“I was out as much, it was just different,” Kelly said. “It wasn’t the same kid each week. It wasn’t like developing the relationship with that particular high school coach. When I got to go see Ricky, watching the relationship that Azz had developed with the guidance counselor and the teachers at the school, those are the kinds of things you miss.”

Besides three junior college players already on campus, Kelly said a handful of the prep recruits may enroll at the university in time to participate in spring practices. Kelly mentioned cornerback Terrance Mitchell specifically, and it’s believed that fellow defensive backs Mathis, Troy Hill and James Scales have similar aspirations.

Kelly said the Ducks still have a couple of scholarships available for 2010, meaning the status has changed for some of the 63 returning scholarship players from the Rose Bowl team. The Ducks signed 23 total recruits this year, which would put Oregon over the NCAA limit of 85 scholarship players if all 63 veterans return on scholarship.

All of the recruits announced Wednesday are expected to enroll by the fall, pending academic qualification.

“There’s nobody in this group that’s an absolute longshot, that needs to get 1600 on the SAT and four A’s in his last term to get in here,” Kelly said. “They’re all pretty much in the ballpark. But we won’t know any of that until their stuff is done.”