Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto
Breeze Upholding Family Legacy With Ducks In Pasadena
12/27/19 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley
Junior safety Brady Breeze helped the Ducks reach next week's Rose Bowl, 25 years after his uncle, Chad Cota, was MVP of the 1994 Oregon team that reached Pasadena.
When the 1994 Oregon football team was preparing for the team's first Rose Bowl appearance in nearly 40 years, safety Chad Cota's mom, Barbara, baked a cake to mark the occasion.
Cota was the '94 team's MVP, an all-conference safety who went on to an extended NFL career, mostly with the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts. Before the Ducks' appearance in Pasadena, Cota's family hosted a party. The cake Barbara baked read:
"Gang Green #7.
"Good Luck Chad.
"Rose Bowl '95."
Twenty-five years later, it was time to bake another cake.
This time, it was for Cota's nephew, and Barbara's grandson, Brady Breeze. In Southern Oregon during a brief holiday break for Breeze and the Ducks earlier this week, Barbara made another cake to mark another Rose Bowl appearance by another member of her family.
"She made the cake the same, the same design and everything," Breeze recalled Friday. "It's kind of cool having the old memories from my family come back."
On Wednesday, Breeze will carry on the family tradition when he takes the field for the Ducks in the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin. He'll be looking for a different result than the 1994 team's 38-20 loss to Penn State. But that outcome didn't dampen Cota's enthusiasm for his experience 25 years ago, which he's imparted upon his nephew.
Even playing in the NFL, Cota told Breeze, can't quite compare to the experience of competing in the Rose Bowl with teammates and coaches who've become like family during your college career.
"It just means the world to me, and I know it means the world to my teammates, to be in 'The Granddaddy Of Them All,' " Breeze said. "I mean, this is something I'll never forget. …
"Knowing that he got to play in that game, just dreaming of playing in this game, and now I get to do it, it's just something that's going to be awesome. I'm so excited."
First photo: Brady Breeze (black hat) with his brothers and cousins at the 2010 Rose Bowl.
Second photo: Breeze (No. 9 jersey) and Cota (standing back left) with family outside the 2010 Rose Bowl.
Breeze recalls being 8 or 10 years old, and wearing out a VHS copy of the 1995 Rose Bowl that Cota kept around the house. The UO redshirt junior recalls, too, his cousins wearing their dad's old No. 7 jersey from his playing days, including at the Ducks' return to Pasadena for the 2010 Rose Bowl.
Now, it's Breeze wearing a UO football jersey, and starring at safety for the Ducks.
A starter in Oregon's last four games, Breeze has 51 tackles on the season, including a team-high nine in the Ducks' Pac-12 championship effort over Utah. He's one of just six players in the country with return touchdowns on both an interception and a fumble.
To watch Breeze on the field is to see a guy who seems to be playing with a little extra fuel in his tank. And he is, as a lifelong UO fan with a family legacy to uphold.
Breeze hadn't been born yet when the 1994 Ducks played in the Rose Bowl. But he was in the stands for their return trip 15 years later, against Ohio State on Jan. 1, 2010.
"He's not only wearing (Oregon pride) on his body, but it's like in his blood," fellow safety Jevon Holland said. "You know, that Oregon tradition."
Breeze exudes energy and intensity on the field, which helped him to be named an all-Pac-12 special teams player this fall. The key to his late-season surge, he said, has been playing free and easy, unburdened by the pressure of the moment or the fear of making a mistake.
That takes confidence, and in Breeze's case it's confidence that is earned, through hard work and preparation. In meetings, he's a copious note taker; UO safeties coach Keith Heyward will sometimes wonder aloud why Breeze is taking notes about a concept they've reviewed countless times before.
"We have notebooks we write in, and he has already filled a notebook," Holland said. "I've yet to fill a notebook; he's filled a notebook and he's on to another one already. In terms of preparation, he dives in, fully."
Cota helped Breeze appreciate the need to be fully committed to self-improvement. Even after his NFL career had ended, Cota remained devoted to his workout regimen. It was a lifelong commitment, he told Breeze, who immediately began a daily routine that included 100 pushups, when he was a fifth-grader.
This past summer, the Ducks held workouts as a team that set the stage for their championship run this fall. Breeze endured Oregon's four-win season in 2016 while redshirting, and he's watched the team's progress back from those depths over the last three years. The summer of 2019, he said, felt like the stage was being set for something big.
"We're doing player-run 7-on-7, and we're out there practicing," Breeze said. "It wasn't like you're just kind of jogging around having fun; no, we were practicing. We were like, dude, we gotta go win some games this year."
The team was driven to complete its rebuild from the 2016 disappointment. They didn't want to squander the senior seasons of quarterback Justin Herbert and Troy Dye.
As Breeze put it simply, they wanted to go win some games in 2019.
"And sure enough, we did," he said. "We had a great season. And we're going to play in the Rose Bowl."
Cota was the '94 team's MVP, an all-conference safety who went on to an extended NFL career, mostly with the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts. Before the Ducks' appearance in Pasadena, Cota's family hosted a party. The cake Barbara baked read:
"Gang Green #7.
"Good Luck Chad.
"Rose Bowl '95."
Twenty-five years later, it was time to bake another cake.
This time, it was for Cota's nephew, and Barbara's grandson, Brady Breeze. In Southern Oregon during a brief holiday break for Breeze and the Ducks earlier this week, Barbara made another cake to mark another Rose Bowl appearance by another member of her family.
"She made the cake the same, the same design and everything," Breeze recalled Friday. "It's kind of cool having the old memories from my family come back."
On Wednesday, Breeze will carry on the family tradition when he takes the field for the Ducks in the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin. He'll be looking for a different result than the 1994 team's 38-20 loss to Penn State. But that outcome didn't dampen Cota's enthusiasm for his experience 25 years ago, which he's imparted upon his nephew.
Even playing in the NFL, Cota told Breeze, can't quite compare to the experience of competing in the Rose Bowl with teammates and coaches who've become like family during your college career.
"It just means the world to me, and I know it means the world to my teammates, to be in 'The Granddaddy Of Them All,' " Breeze said. "I mean, this is something I'll never forget. …
"Knowing that he got to play in that game, just dreaming of playing in this game, and now I get to do it, it's just something that's going to be awesome. I'm so excited."
First photo: Brady Breeze (black hat) with his brothers and cousins at the 2010 Rose Bowl.
Second photo: Breeze (No. 9 jersey) and Cota (standing back left) with family outside the 2010 Rose Bowl.
Breeze recalls being 8 or 10 years old, and wearing out a VHS copy of the 1995 Rose Bowl that Cota kept around the house. The UO redshirt junior recalls, too, his cousins wearing their dad's old No. 7 jersey from his playing days, including at the Ducks' return to Pasadena for the 2010 Rose Bowl.
Now, it's Breeze wearing a UO football jersey, and starring at safety for the Ducks.
A starter in Oregon's last four games, Breeze has 51 tackles on the season, including a team-high nine in the Ducks' Pac-12 championship effort over Utah. He's one of just six players in the country with return touchdowns on both an interception and a fumble.
To watch Breeze on the field is to see a guy who seems to be playing with a little extra fuel in his tank. And he is, as a lifelong UO fan with a family legacy to uphold.
Breeze hadn't been born yet when the 1994 Ducks played in the Rose Bowl. But he was in the stands for their return trip 15 years later, against Ohio State on Jan. 1, 2010.
"He's not only wearing (Oregon pride) on his body, but it's like in his blood," fellow safety Jevon Holland said. "You know, that Oregon tradition."
Breeze exudes energy and intensity on the field, which helped him to be named an all-Pac-12 special teams player this fall. The key to his late-season surge, he said, has been playing free and easy, unburdened by the pressure of the moment or the fear of making a mistake.
That takes confidence, and in Breeze's case it's confidence that is earned, through hard work and preparation. In meetings, he's a copious note taker; UO safeties coach Keith Heyward will sometimes wonder aloud why Breeze is taking notes about a concept they've reviewed countless times before.
"We have notebooks we write in, and he has already filled a notebook," Holland said. "I've yet to fill a notebook; he's filled a notebook and he's on to another one already. In terms of preparation, he dives in, fully."
Cota helped Breeze appreciate the need to be fully committed to self-improvement. Even after his NFL career had ended, Cota remained devoted to his workout regimen. It was a lifelong commitment, he told Breeze, who immediately began a daily routine that included 100 pushups, when he was a fifth-grader.
This past summer, the Ducks held workouts as a team that set the stage for their championship run this fall. Breeze endured Oregon's four-win season in 2016 while redshirting, and he's watched the team's progress back from those depths over the last three years. The summer of 2019, he said, felt like the stage was being set for something big.
"We're doing player-run 7-on-7, and we're out there practicing," Breeze said. "It wasn't like you're just kind of jogging around having fun; no, we were practicing. We were like, dude, we gotta go win some games this year."
The team was driven to complete its rebuild from the 2016 disappointment. They didn't want to squander the senior seasons of quarterback Justin Herbert and Troy Dye.
As Breeze put it simply, they wanted to go win some games in 2019.
"And sure enough, we did," he said. "We had a great season. And we're going to play in the Rose Bowl."
Players Mentioned
S
/ Football
QB
/ Football
S
/ FootballOregon Football vs Minnesota | Game HIGHLIGHTS (2025)
Saturday, November 15
Friday Night Lights | Oregon Football vs. Minnesota - The Quick Cut
Saturday, November 15
Kenyon Sadiq | Postgame vs. Minnesota
Saturday, November 15
Teitum Tuioti | Postgame vs. Minnesota
Saturday, November 15
