Football Practice Report: Nov. 2

Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com

11/02/18 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley

The scout-team spotlight shines on UO legacy and freshman safety Lucas Noland, who grew up watching teams led by the coach Oregon will face against UCLA on Saturday (4:30 p.m., FOX).

By: Rob Moseley

Venue: Moshofsky Center
Format: Fast Friday

Lucas Noland is a true Oregon legacy, a Tualatin native and the son of two University of Oregon alums.

Growing up, the UO freshman safety attended games in Autzen Stadium. That meant, when he was in grade school and junior high, Noland was cheering for Duck teams coached by Chip Kelly — who leads UCLA on the road against Oregon on Saturday (4:30 p.m., FOX).

"It's pretty crazy that my first year on the team, he's gonna be on the opposite sideline," Noland said Friday, following the Ducks' final walk-through for Saturday's game. "He's one of the guys who grew my love for the Ducks so much."

For all the joy Noland took from Oregon football as a kid, he's getting a chance to repay it now with the program. A walk-on safety in his freshman season, Noland is a regular standout in the team's weekly development-squad scrimmages each "Fast Friday."

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Noland, 5-foot-11 and 192 pounds, was an honorable mention all-state defensive back for Tualatin last fall, and earned all-Three Rivers League for the second year in a row. He wanted to take a shot at walking on with an FBS college program, and so contacted both Pac-12 teams in the state.

The Ducks called back. A legacy continued.

"This was the place I wanted to be," Noland said. "But Oregon is such a good program; I wasn't sure it was going to work out. I'm so thankful and happy they reached out."

As the weeks have gone on this fall, Noland has gotten more and more used to the fact he now plays for the team he grew up cheering. It something he doesn't want to take for granted.

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"I sometimes try to remind myself that this isn't normal," Noland said. "Most people don't get to experience this."

In particular, he said, "running out of the tunnel (on game day) will never get old."

The UO coaching staff has appreciated Noland's efforts with the scout-team defense from the very outset of this season. But he was particularly important this week, playing the role of UCLA safety Adarius Pickett against Oregon's offense.

Pickett is the fifth-leading tackler in the Pac-12 with 84 stops entering this weekend. That ranks first in the conference and fourth in the FBS among defensive backs.

UCLA's defense calls for Pickett to drop down into the box and provide support against the run game. Oregon coaches asked Noland to do the same with the scout team this week.

"They just really talked about flying up hard and filling gaps," Noland said. "He comes up and he's not afraid to people."

Neither is Noland. He admitted that he "got it good" a couple times from UO blockers this week.

"I enjoy that, tough," Noland added. "I enjoy getting up in there."

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Developmental-squad scrimmage highlights: Big plays were a bit more plentiful in this "Fast Friday" scrimmage than most others this season, and the developmental squad did a little more situational work than usual, in the red zone and backed up to the goal line. … The defense made timely plays from the outset. On the first drive, Mike Irwin completed passes to Tevin Jeannis and JJ Tucker, but Dexter Myers broke up a pass to Spencer Webb in the end zone. … On the next possession, backed up to the goal line, Bradley Yaffe got the offense out of that hole with a pass to Webb on the first play. But two plays later, Andrew Faoliu jumped on a muffed snap, and Ben Gomes ended the drive with a tackle for loss in the run game. …

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The defense kept it rolling on the third possession, which included a Billy Gibson interception in the end zone and a pass breakup by Tyler Reid on the last play. Gibson smartly went down to the turf in the end zone, rather than risk bringing it out and being tackled soon after. … The offense finished well, though. On the fourth series, Yaffe completed passes to running backs KJ Maduike and Noah Dahl to again get the offense moving after starting backed up to its goal line. The drive ended with a pass of about 20 yards to Webb near midfield. … The offense finally got on the scoreboard a couple times on the last drive. Irwin completed a scoring pass of about 25 yards to Tucker in the corner of the end zone, and on the final play of the day Webb caught a pass short of the goal line before carrying about three defenders into the end zone.