Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Here's the first paragraph of Oregon's second-year offensive coordinator Chip Kelly's new bio:

After engineering prolific offensive attacks for eight seasons at the University of New Hampshire, Chip Kelly arrived at Oregon in 2007 and promptly solidified his position in UO lore by producing the highest scoring team and most yards of total offense in school history.

Kelly, 44, who also coaches quarterbacks, had a pretty good debut season in Eugene. So good, in fact, that many are touting him as a hot head coaching prospect -- or even as Ducks coach Mike Bellotti's eventual successor.

Big numbers get attention.

Of course, inquiring minds want to know what's he's got in mind for an encore. So I gave him a call.

Fair to say that Nate Costa is the front-runner to be the starting quarterback?

Chip Kelly: Yeah. When he [was injured], he was certainly head and shoulders above everybody else. He was really pushing Dennis [Dixon] for time. We wanted to redshirt him, though, at the time, so be careful what you wish for because he got injured and it would have been really nice to have him when Dennis went down. He's got experience. He's got toughness. He doesn't have as much game experience as Justin Roper [No. 2 on the depth chart] but before I got here, they played Nate as a true freshman because they wanted to get him on the field.

What do you think keyed Dennis Dixon's transition? He was a mediocre quarterback at the end of 2006 and became a Heisman candidate by the end of 2007.

CK: I say this to everybody who asks, but I never saw him in '06. But the first time I met him I could tell he was a special kid. Everything he did last year didn't surprise me. I knew he was capable of that. I don't know what the key is because I never saw the, quote, unquote, old Dennis Dixon. From the day I got here [in February 2007], I thought he had a chance to be something special. He was everything you'd want in a quarterback, a player. He had a tremendous work ethic and he was smart.

How about the offense this year: Is it going to much different with Costa? Do you tweak things for his skill set?

CK: He runs the ball well. He throws the ball as well as Dennis. But more than Nate, it's everybody around him. You always play to your strengths and we'll see how that unfolds. We expect a lot out of Ed Dickson at tight end. We're a little young out wide. We get Jeremiah Johnson back at running back. LeGarrette Blount had a good spring. You tailor your offense to the style of your quarterback but you also tailor it to the other 10 guys out there. I think it will be different because Dennis and Jonathan [Stewart] are gone. I don't know who's going to be the go-to guy. I'm confident, though, that someone is going to emerge.

After spring practices, getting a look at the film, who are some of the younger guys who haven't played who stood out?

CK: [Receiver] Jamere Holland [a USC transfer], I really expect big things from him. He's fast, he's explosive, he's a dynamic kid. He really gives us another speed receiver out on the edge with Jaison Williams. Jeffrey Maehl, who came over from the secondary to play wide receiver because of all the injuries last year -- he was playing as a true freshman in the secondary -- came over and played a little bit against UCLA and against Oregon State and in the bowl game. He's trying to get the mental aspect down but he's got a tremendous physical skill set. I think he'll be a real impact player as a sophomore. Malachi Lewis is another tight end who I think can really contribute -- he can run in the mold of Ed Dickson. Then, at running back, because LeGarrette Blount came in and played like he did during spring football, it really kind of stepped up the competition there. Andre Crenshaw and everybody else had great camps. So trying to figure out the stable of running backs, I feel confident in all of those guys.

You mentioned Jaison Williams. He certainly passes the sight test and he makes a lot of spectacular plays, but he also seems to have some problems with confidence and dropping passes. How has that been addressed?

CK: It's a double-edged sword. The reason Jaison has dropped a few passes is because he's always open. There's a lot of guys who wish they could make the opportunities Jaison does. He's a tremendous worker. He never misses practice. I'm a huge Jaison Williams fan. He actually got his eyes checked in the offseason and they did some corrective things with his vision and he's continuing to work on that. He gets knocked because he sometimes drops passes, but he's got a skill set and a great work ethic. He's really the leader out wide. I expect big things out of him. He's a huge matchup problem for guys out there. He's a legitimate speed guy out there who happens to be 6-foot-5, 237 pounds.

How does it feel different coming into your second season in the Pac-10 after moving out here from the East Coast? Do you feeling a significantly higher degree of comfort?

CK: I am able to get to the stadium a little quicker. You talk about having a comfort level, but first game of the year is Washington, which has a brand new defensive coordinator [Ed Donatell]. That changes. Washington State has a whole new staff. Stanford has a new defensive coordinator. We play Purdue, Utah State and Boise State for the first time. So the beginning of the year will be kind of like last year. You won't have a familiarity. So, at least for that first month, it will be similar for me as a coach to last year, trying to figure out how people are going to try to defend us.

What's it like running an offense for a head coach [Mike Bellotti] who is an offensive guy -- a former Oregon offensive coordinator himself? How is your working relationship?

CK: Mike really is kind of hands off, to be honest with you. But he really is a great resource if you have a question about something -- like how to attack a certain situation or have you experienced this. But he also isn't stifling at all. Sometimes guys are overbearing, but Mike is just a great head coach to work for. He's a great resource and has a wealth of knowledge but he's not a "do this, do that" type of guy. He lets all his coaches coach. That's why some guys stay here so long.

When you run an offense as potent as you did last year, you get on the radar as a potential head coach prospect. Have you thought about dealing with and preparing for that prospect this season?

CK: I've always felt that the big time is where you're at, whether you're coaching high school, which I have, or at a lower-level division. The only way you get another job is to do well with the one you have. You take care of that. I'd be content to be at Oregon for a long time. I've always said that I won't take a job unless I'd be content to be there the rest of my life. The reality of college football is that's probably not going to happen, but I don't worry about those things. I know there's a lot of great coaches out there who aren't working. So the fact that your name gets mentioned for something really doesn't affect how you approach things on a daily basis. If an opportunity comes along, I'll take a long, hard look at it. But I really enjoy being here. I think we've got a chance to be special this year. So I'm not going to let an outside thing affect me.