Football Practice Report: Oct. 25

Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com

10/25/19 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley

Oregon's "Fast Friday" practice is in the books and now the Ducks look ahead to hosting WSU in Autzen Stadium on Saturday (7:30 p.m., ESPN).

By: Rob Moseley

Venue: Autzen Stadium
Format: Fast Friday

The Oregon football team was doing a special teams drill earlier this week in practice, when something caught the eye of junior defensive lineman Jordon Scott.

Pacing the sideline as he waited for the next period of defensive drills, Scott saw freshman defensive end Isaac Townsend talking with senior defensive end Drayton Carlberg. As a star in strength coach Aaron Feld's "Flex Friday" social media posts, Carlberg is obviously no stranger to the UO weight room.

But what got Scott's attention was that Townsend was obviously quite familiar with the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex weight room as well.

Scott made a show of calling attention to Townsend's improved muscle mass. Townsend reacted a little sheepishly, but on Friday he confirmed what Scott had noticed.

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"I've definitely got more size," Townsend said following the Ducks' final walk-through for their game against Washington State in Autzen Stadium on Saturday (7:30 p.m., ESPN). "I've probably put on a good five or 10 pounds since I've been here. And I'm looking to add a few more as well."

Townsend has been doing some heavy lifting in the weight room, clearly. And he's balancing a big load mentally, as well, with his various responsibilities on this year's Oregon football team.

For one thing, Townsend is learning two similar but distinct positions on the UO defense. He's primarily a defensive end, but is learning the "STUD" outside linebacker position, as well.

On top of that, Townsend each week has to learn the fundamentals of the opposing defense Oregon is preparing to face, for the practice reps he gets on the scout-team defense.

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"I don't think it's too hard to do it," he said. "If anything, it's helped me, because you gotta adjust every week. I'm adjusting to new defenses every week for my offensive teammates."

A native of Colorado, Townsend is still waiting to make his UO debut. And he's content in that waiting, comfortable with the plan of redshirting this season while he continues to develop.

"I feel like I'm using my redshirt year very well," he said. "I'm learning a lot from the dudes in my position room, I'm getting bigger and faster in the weight room, and I'm continuing to learn the defense and develop my football IQ. I think I'm moving in the right direction."

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Developmental-squad scrimmage highlights: Oregon's scout-team offense bounced back from a quiet scrimmage the week before by airing it out Friday during the Ducks' weekly 24-play showcase for the developmental squad. Bradley Yaffe completed a ball on the second play to Patrick Herbert, who held on despite efforts by Treven Ma'ae to rip it out. Yaffe and Herbert connected two more times later in the scrimmage, and the redshirt freshman quarterback tucked an intermediate throw into a tight window for Kyle Buckner, who turned it into a touchdown play of about 65 yards. …

Defensively, Max Wysocki broke up a pass to a tight end and Jordan Adeyemi-John almost intercepted a deep shot. Nick Wiebe led the rush defense from his middle linebacker spot, and as usual both Brandon Dorlus and Kristian Williams caused some problems at the line of scrimmage. … For the second week in a row, Jayvaun Wilson had some nice moments in the running game. But the biggest run play of the morning was by KJ Maduike, who ran around the left end, hit the perimeter and was finally forced out of bounds by Trikweze Bridges.