Football Practice Report: Aug. 25

Photo by: Andy McNamara/GoDucks.com

08/25/16 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley

By: Rob Moseley

Venue: Autzen Stadium
Format: Scrimmage

The Oregon football team wrapped up preseason camp Thursday with its second scrimmage of August, after which the coaching staff planned to meet and finalize decisions on the depth chart.

The Ducks will practice again Saturday, their first formal workout geared toward their opener against UC Davis in Autzen Stadium on Sept. 3 (2 p.m., Pac-12 Networks).

"We'll look at the film, make some decisions tonight and tomorrow morning, and start gearing it up for gameday," UO coach Mark Helfrich said following the scrimmage.

The second scrimmage followed a similar script as the first, nine days earlier. The offense didn't manage much early on, with the defense winning both early "clutch" periods and also keeping the offense off the board on drives starting at midfield.

The momentum shifted when the offense was placed in the red zone, or elsewhere inside midfield. Jalen Brown caught a pair of touchdown passes from Dakota Prukop, and Kani Benoit ran for two touchdowns in place of Royce Freeman, one of several veterans who sat out the scrimmage entirely, most of them on offense.

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Overall, Helfrich said, "we weren't very good today," perhaps a byproduct, he guessed, of the veteran players held out, dragging down the overall intensity of the scrimmage.

Along with the two to Brown, Prukop had a 30-yard touchdown pass to Casey Eugenio, who broke a tackle on the way to the end zone. Later in that period, a coverage breakdown left Cam McCormick wide open along the sideline, and Travis Jonsen found him for another TD pass. Those breakdowns late in the scrimmage left the defense with a bad taste in its mouth as it left the field.

"We started out pretty well, and then fell apart a little bit at the end," junior defense end Henry Mondeaux said. "A lot of mental mistakes, which shouldn't be accepted right now; we have a lot of guys who are out, but that's no excuse. We need guys to step up and learn the whole playbook so we can not have those mistakes."

Seeing how young guys responded was a major focus of the scrimmage, Helfrich said. Several true freshmen were with the first-string for special teams periods, and the three linebackers several times defensively were true freshmen Keith Simms, Darrian Franklin and La'Mar Winston Jr.

During one drill, with the offense looking to move the chains in two downs, Winston and Simms rallied to the ball to stop Jarret LaCoste at the line of scrimmage. On the next play, the middle of the field was wide open, and Terry Wilson Jr. ran for the first down. Those are the types of experiences the defense needed to go through – and obviously learn from – as they adjust to new coordinator Brady Hoke's scheme and break in the young players.

"I think it was a successful three weeks," Mondeaux said. "It was really big for young guys that stepped up into bigger roles, and good for leaders to push everyone. We've definitely made strides to get better; a little bit of an off day today, but I think we've used the whole camp to our advantage."

A guy who did that on the other side of the ball was Brown. With Devon Allen absent most of camp while running in the Olympics, and some other guys in and out of the lineup, Brown was a consistent presence offensively. The sophomore caught a TD from Prukop in a first-and-goal, end-of-half scenario early in the day, and then a 17-yard TD from Prukop during red-zone work late in the scrimmage.

"I feel like I did a good job this whole camp," Brown said. "Finishing off like this is a good sign."

Oregon's receiver room is a stacked with talent, meaning reps could be hard to come by for some players this fall. Brown said he'll prepare like he's going to be a starter, and take whatever comes his way.

"We have a lot of young guys who can go out and play and perform, which makes it tough for coach Lubick, but also good because he's got a lot of options," said Brown, who also suggested that Lubick may devise different rotations for different situations the Ducks may face.

Benoit, now a junior, didn't participate in this month's first scrimmage and so wanted to make a big impression Thursday. He made about seven players miss on a rep during the first-and-10 drill at midfield, easily converting the first down, and he later ran for two TDs from inside the 10-yard line.

"I think I did what the coaches wanted me to do," Benoit said. "I wanted to make sure I was using my blocks, make sure I had my fakes down, and run low like coach Campbell has been telling me to do."

Other highlights: The first period was a clutch drill in which the offense needed to drive to a field goal. Mondeaux, Jalen Jelks and Justin Hollins teamed to hound Prukop into an incompletion that set up a third-and-long, on which the defense held. Justin Herbert moved the chains once with the twos, but on another third-and-long he couldn't find an opening and ran the ball, failing to reach the chains. …

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When the offense tried to drive the ball from the 50, it had no luck. Austin Maloata sacked Prukop to end the first possession, and another ended with Herbert throwing incomplete following a sack by the tandem of T.J. Daniel and Torrodney Prevot. Prukop then threw a desperation pass that Khalil Oliver intercepted, and Jonsen's group wasn't able to put points on the board, either. …

After that, drives began inside midfield, and the offense had more luck. Eugenio started it off with his tackle-breaking touchdown, Wilson ran for a short TD, Benoit ran for his first and McCormick got open to haul in the Jonsen TD pass. … The last period of 11-on-11 was red-zone work, which featured the second TD each for Brown and Benoit.

Other observations: The staff is giving several true freshmen opportunities to win jobs on special teams. The first kickoff team included Winston, Franklin, Tristen Wallace and Troy Dye, and the second unit included Simms, Brenden Schooler, Bryson Young and Eric Briscoe Jr. Winston, Simms, Wallace and Dye also were with the first kickoff return team. Film of Thursday's scrimmage will help determine whether they earned those jobs for the opener, but they definitely had their chances. With his speed, Schooler looks like a big-time potential asset on kickoff and punt coverage. …

Some number changes went into effect for the scrimmage, with Gus Cumberlander moving to 45, Mattrell McGraw taking his old 9 and Jhet Janis moving to 12. … John Neal and David Yost spent the scrimmage in the coaches' box. … Prior to the start of the scrimmage, the Ducks went through their pregame routine, so newcomers would have a sense of the schedule prior to kickoff against UC Davis.

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