Oregon's offensive coordinator's controversial ice-cream test for recruits sparks debate, questioning his unique quarterback evaluation methods.
Not everyone agrees with the way Oregon hits the recruiting trail.
Ducks offense coordinator Koa Ka'ai made an interesting comment about how he looks for quarterbacks. Ka'ai gives the recruits an ice cream test.
"I ask them a question like this all the time," Ka'ai said. "'Hey, do you like chocolate or vanilla ice cream?' The moment a kid pauses, I don't want that kid because you need to have some kind of conviction, right, wrong, or indifferent...
"If you sit there and say, 'Oh, coach, I don't know', what is this kid going to do on third down in front of 110,000? He's probably going to think about it more than he should."
Ka'ai has a pretty good quarterback room. After losing Bo Nix to the Denver Broncos, Dante Moore has an excellent season in 2025.
Moore is coming back in 2026, with backup quarterback Dylan Raiola waiting for the job in 2027.
Despite having success at the position, Ka'ai was questioned about his strategy of putting recruits on the spot.
"Dude that prefers mint chocolate chip getting his offer pulled and kicked off the visit," posted a fan.
"Haha...this is stupid," wrote another. "If you like both it would be normal to pause. If you hate chocolate then you may have a quick answer. I don't think that correlates whatsoever to playing QB in college football.
"I'm sure there are some questions that could be asked that may accomplish was he is alluding to but I'd hope there is more to a QB evaluation than that....lol."
"If you don't hesitate when asked this, I'm evaluating your lack of thought process and ability to analyze situations because there's hundreds of different versions of each of these and to narrow it down to 1 or 2 is impossible," argued a fan.
"Chocolate is the answer but WHICH chocolate and why."
"If he is serious, that's the dumbest assessment and selection question I have ever heard, and I have spent decades evaluating soldiers for Special Forces," wrote a poster.
"Who knows how many tremendous prospects that program missed out on due to ONE single irrelevant question to evaluate decision-making? Just wow."
"This is dumb. And a completely different brain process. Football players make game play decisions on focus, training and repetition. The ice cream question is made on whimsey. Different things," wrote another.
"I always wondered why Oregon could never seem to reach that next level despite endless funding and insane marketability. I wonder no longer," commented a poster.