Football Practice Report: Sept. 28
09/28/18 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley
Inside linebackers Nate Heaukulani and Nick Wiebe are consistent standouts in the Ducks' weekly scout-team scrimmages, and they played big roles this week preparing the UO offense to face Cal on Saturday (7:30 p.m., FS1).
Venue: Autzen Stadium
Format: Fast Friday
If season stats were tabulated from Oregon's weekly developmental squad scrimmages, the 10-minute showcase for scout-team players prior to the travel squad's "Fast Friday" workout, there's no doubting who the defensive leaders would be.
Junior Nate Heaukulani and freshman Nick Wiebe are around the ball as much as anybody in those scrimmages, which one would expect from two inside linebackers. They played an especially prominent role throughout this week for the Ducks, emulating the starting inside linebackers and two leading tacklers for Oregon's opponent this week, California's Evan Weaver and Jordan Kunaszyk.
Heaukulani, a Portland native and junior college transfer, played Weaver on the scout team all week. Next to him much of the week, in rotation with freshman MJ Cunningham, was Wiebe, a native of Calgary by way of Florida's IMG Academy.
"They did a great job all week," said Cody Woodiel, the UO graduate assistant coach on the offense line, who helps coordinate the scout-team defense. "Those two guys for Cal, they do a great job. They're really gap-sound, great with their run fits. Nate and Wiebe, they were on top of it."
The hard work on the scout team for Heaukulani and Wiebe in physical, full-pads practice Tuesday and Wednesday was rewarded with a chance to cut it loose in Friday's scrimmage period. They took advantage as usual; in one two-play sequence, Wiebe came off the block of 358-pound Chris Randazzo to tackle a ballcarrier just past the line of scrimmage, and on the next play Heaukulani stopped another run play for a minimal gain.
"They're a lot of fun," Wiebe said of the Friday scrimmages. "You kind of look forward to it all week. On scout team, they say to stay off the quarterback and running back. So when you really get to hit somebody, that's fun."
There's no better attitude from a linebacker, a position that as much as any can set a tone of effort and physicality with the scout team. Such players are underrated cogs in team culture; it couldn't have been a coincidence that among the handful of players to make the trips to both the 2010 and 2014 national championship games with Oregon were scout-team linebackers Isaac Ava, Mike Garrity and Grant Thompson.
Heaukulani and Wiebe hope to be the next generation of walk-on linebackers to command respect through their work ethic – and maybe earn some game reps along the way. Wiebe, at 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds, is working on his speed in order to complement his physicality and develop into a three-down linebacker. Heaukulani, at 6-foot and 218 pounds, also prides himself on his physical play first and foremost.
When he got to Oregon, Heaukulani hoped to get jersey No. 47, in recognition of his admiration for former UO linebacker Kiko Alonso. He tries to model himself after another guy who played a million miles an hour, Joe Walker. Heaukulani also recalls cheering for Dennis Dixon as a kid, and as the son of a native of Hawaiian, took particularly pride in Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota as well.
It took two junior college stops for Heaukulani, a graduate of Portland's Jesuit High, to work his way back to the Pac-12 program he cheered for as a kid, and he's working every day to take advantage.
"I love Oregon," he said. "This is my home. I want to see Oregon successful like when I was growing up."
Even better, for both Heaukulani (above, right) and Wiebe (above, left), would be to have a role in helping the Ducks get there. Right now, that means toiling on the scout team. But Woodiel said he wouldn't be surprised to see either one earn some playing time, on special teams at least.
"Those two guys, when you coach 'em up and tell 'em where to be, they're gonna be there," Woodiel said. "They're gonna do their job to a T, and do a heck of a job with it."
Developmental squad scrimmage highlights: Heaukulani and Wiebe made sure the run defense was stout, but the scout offense's passing attack was more effective than it had been in any other Fast Friday so far. The first play of the five-possession scrimmage was a pass from Mike Irwin to JJ Tucker, who made a leaping catch over the middle despite being hit by Dexter Myers as the ball arrived. … Later, Isaah Crocker hauled in a touchdown pass in the back of the end zone from about 20 yards out, and Spencer Webb had a catch-and-run of about 30 yards, stiff-arming a safety to keep the play going. …
Andrew Faoliu got to Irwin as a pass was coming out to hurry him into an incompletion, and later Faoliu teamed with Cunningham to stop QB Bradley Yaffe on a scramble play just past the line of scrimmage. … Noah Dahl as usual was the workhorse at running back, breaking loose a couple times for gains of about 10 yards. On one he used a really explosive jump cut at the line to juke a defender and get into open field.
