About an hour into Oregon's first practice with pads, LaGarrette Blount made his mark.

And he left that mark on the body of 240-pound linebacker Terrell Turner. Already having earned the nickname "Blount Force Trauma," he ran over Turner in a loud collision then scooted 47 yards for a touchdown.

"Terrell's a big man, too," running backs coach Gary Campbell said. "I enjoyed seeing that."

Nobody around here has forgotten about Jonathan Stewart, who accounted for 2,481 all-purpose yards last season for the Ducks. But Blount, a junior college transfer from Perry, Fla., has the power to make those memories fade.

The 6-foot-2 Blount is running about 235 pounds and, one-third of the way through spring practice, has shown agility as well as power as he makes a well-timed push for carries this fall. His arrival this spring comes on the heels of Stewart's decision to turn pro and while Jeremiah Johnson recovers from knee surgery.

So that's the window of opportunity, the hole that Blount has to run through. The coaches were cautiously optimistic, then he ran over Turner.

"I like LaGarrette Blount," coach Mike Bellotti said. "We brought him in because we thought he could help us, and I think he will."

Sometimes there's a lengthy mental leap from junior college to Division I, but Blount seems to be learning the offense fairly rapidly. The plan is still to have Blount's power replace Stewart's and act as a complement to Johnson's elusiveness.

"He's still learning, so he's not playing full speed yet, he's still a little tentative," Campbell said. "Once he really gets this spring under his belt . . . Hopefully, he'll really blossom in the fall."

Blount had a pretty good idea that he would be replacing, not sharing time, with Stewart this season, as he chose the Ducks over Florida State -- after originally committing to Auburn but failing to qualify academically.

"In the (Sun Bowl), when I saw him rush for 200-plus yards," Blount said. "So I'm assuming that he's going to the league. And so I went ahead and signed my letter of intent."

A week later, Stewart declared for the draft. That Campbell was able to snatch Blount from Florida State at the last minute -- just days before the Sun Bowl -- is proof of Oregon's growing national reach, as well as its ability to woo recruits to the gray Northwest with some bright colors.

"I like the program, uniforms are awesome, coaches are great," Blount said. "It's nice, I'm loving it here. The only bad thing is the weather, because I'm from Florida."

That's by way of East Mississippi Community College, not exactly in Oregon's backyard. So Campbell, fearing the departure of Jonathan Stewart, solved the distance problem the way many people do these days -- he did some online shopping.

"I went looking for a back," said Campbell, who found video of Blount on an Internet recruiting site. He then asked an employee of the site for Blount's cell phone number and soon they had a visit scheduled. Soon after Blount came to Eugene and hung out with Stewart and Dennis Dixon on Dec. 8, Florida State had lost a recruit.

Blount's single-digit jersey (No. 9) makes him look even bigger than his 235 pounds, until he gets into the open field and makes cuts that belie his size. He wanted to wear No. 4 and negotiated with receiver Jaison Williams for that jersey, but he and Williams -- who wore No. 9 in high school -- couldn't agree to terms.

That's about the only thing that hasn't gone well for Blount, who came to Eugene in better shape than the coaches had expected as he tries to rush ahead of returning running backs Andre Crenshaw and Remene Alston.

"He's not in great shape, but he's not as bad as I thought he'd be," Campbell said. "For a big man, he really moves around in space well, he makes nice cuts and sees things really well. He's got good breakaway speed. He's also shown he has the power to break tackles. I'm pleased with his progress so far."

The only aspect of the running game Blount needs work on -- aside from learning the offense -- is his knee drive.

"That will enable him to break tackles even better," said Campbell, who believes some strengthening of the hip flexors will solve that problem. "Right now he kind of drags his feet a little bit. I want to get him out of that."

With a full spring and summer of work, Blount probably will weigh in around 230 pounds come late August, but even at 235, he has begun to live up to comparisons to former Oregon running back Reuben Droughns.

"I don't want him any heavier than that," Campbell said. "I don't want him to get all heavy and bulky and just be a big fullback type of guy."

He has some bulky numbers to replace, but Blount is eager to get rolling.