Football Practice Report: April 10
04/10/17 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley
Monday's spring football practice featured a bunch of red-zone work, and a new quarterback running the No. 2 offense.
Venue: Moshofsky Center
Format: Full pads
Typically at the start of a camp, be it spring or preseason, defense is ahead of offense. While the guys with the ball build chemistry and timing, the defense can fly around and make plays. And that was certainly the case when Oregon began spring drills last week.
But it didn't take long for the UO offense to get going this month. On Monday morning, team drills were conducted in the red zone, and points were plentiful. The Ducks are still installing concepts of new coach Willie Taggart's offense, but they're integrating them on the fly and still managing to make plays in practice.
"I think we've made a lot of progress," said sophomore Justin Herbert, the returning starter at quarterback. "Having so much put in so quickly is always gonna be tough, but we've dealt with it and I think we're doing a good job of handling it."
Hebert was peppering the end zone with touchdown passes during the last team periods Monday. On the first play of the last extended 11-on-11 segment, Herbert faked a handoff to Royce Freeman, then found Jacob Breeland streaking down the field and hit him in stride for a touchdown. Herbert led another one-play touchdown drive starting from the 25-yard line a few minutes later, throwing a dart that Darren Carrington II went up and caught over a defensive back.
Last week, the No. 2 quarterback behind Herbert was redshirt freshman Terry Wilson Jr. On Monday, Travis Jonsen stepped into that role, and seemed to take advantage. After Herbert opened the final team period with his TD pass to Breeland, Jonsen took the field and also directed a one-play TD drive – doing the work himself by keeping the ball on a run play and knifing through the defense.
Later in the period, Jonsen stayed composed as the pocket broke down, and delivered a TD pass to Kani Benoit. And in the 7-on-7 drill that preceded the last team period, Jonsen twice hit Malik Lovette on back-corner fade routes, two of the prettier balls Jonsen has thrown in his time at Oregon.
"My main thing is just taking advantage of each and every rep," said Jonsen, who ran the scout team last fall as a redshirt freshman. "That's the best thing I can do. They're throwing a lot at us, but I think we're doing a good job of staying poised and running our stuff."
Installation continues when the Ducks return to the field for their next practice Wednesday. That workout will again be heavy on situational work, Taggart said, in this case third-down scenarios.
Highlights: After the two quick scoring plays to open team drills, the defense redeemed itself by getting a stop. On the fourth-down play, defensive end Gus Cumberlander led a flock of Ducks who enveloped Freeman. … Wilson also led a touchdown drive in the period, which ended on a short Benoit TD run. The play before, freshman wideout Darrian McNeal carried the ball down near the goal line, capitalizing off blocks by Dillon Mitchell and Cam McCormick. … Herbert had TD passes in the 7-on period to Mitchell (twice), Charles Nelson, Matt Mariota and Freeman. Mitchell caught one TD pass while streaking across the back of the end zone, and got his feet down just inside the back line. …
Khalil Oliver picked off a Wilson pass in 7-on, tipping it away from a receiver and then hauling it in before it hit the turf. … The morning included an early full-contact drill (below) in which a ball carrier tried to get past three blocker/tackler tandems. Tyree Robinson popped the ball loose from Lovette's grasp with a big hit, and Troy Dye and Juwaan Williams had nice open-field tackles. Elijah George did a great job of pursuing a back and dragging him down from behind in that drill, and he had a similar "effort" play to tackle Nelson from behind during a team period.
Offense serving up pancakes in this morning's full-contact period. OK, fine, and maybe some holding, @CoachKwameUO. #GoDucks #DoSomething pic.twitter.com/QfDKQenw9E
— Rob Moseley (@DuckFootball) April 10, 2017
Observations: Dropped passes remain an issue; he was far from the only culprit, but McNeal ended up being the last guy to leave practice, after putting in extra work with the Jugs machine. Taggart also reminded the Ducks afterward to "practice like pros" and not tackle live in drills when coaches call for "thud" tempo. In a pre-practice interview with local media, Taggart lauded the play so far of linebacker Kaulana Apelu, but also noted he's one of the guys who will push the envelope in terms of contact. …
Marcus Mariota addressed the team briefly at the start of practice. He spoke about the program's family atmosphere, and the way each generation of players is "standing on the shoulders" of guys who came before them. … Cornerbacks coach Charles Clark was selected for Taggart's post-practice "wise words." He said the quote he offered was from John Wooden: "Spend so much time improving yourself, you have no time left to criticize others." … This staff seems to prefer bigger bodies as upbacks for the punting unit. The first group today included George, Henry Mondeaux and Jalen Jelks, and the second unit was Ryan Bay, Jordon Scott and Rutger Reitmaier. Oh, to see Scott take a direct snap and try to run for a first down …
Interviews:
Head coach Willie Taggart
Sophomore linebacker Troy Dye
Sophomore receiver Malik Lovette
