Football Practice Report: March 11

03/11/19 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley

Catching up with Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo regarding his priorities for the UO offense this spring, which continued Monday.

By: Rob Moseley

Venue: Moshofsky Center
Format: Helmets and shorts

For Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo, the focus of this offseason has been two-fold.

One was dealing with staff turnover; the Ducks had to hire a new wide receivers coach, and a new offensive graduate assistant, and analysts to fill out important behind-the-scenes roles. Within the scope of Oregon's offensive meeting rooms, those are some dramatic changes: New faces, new voices, new ideas.

The other focus for Arroyo, entering his third year on the UO staff, involved more subtle changes. How much to tinker with an Oregon offense that moved to the Pistol formation in 2018, mixing a power run game with the big arm of quarterback Justin Herbert? And how to draw out even more from Herbert, back with the Ducks for his senior season after a prolific junior year?

"I think my approach for him his senior year is to make sure, No. 1, I'm making this experience the best I can for him," Arroyo said Monday, following Oregon's second practice of this spring. "Because you only get this shot being this age at this place one time, in Power 5 football as a senior. And it's got to be fun and it's got to be something he can get a lot out of."

124378

Nothing is more fun for a quarterback than winning, of course, and putting up prolific point totals in the process. Arroyo is spending this spring determining which buttons to best push that will accomplish those goals, among the quarterbacks he coaches and also the offense he calls.

With Herbert, for instance, Arroyo said he spent Monday focusing on a footwork point they've been working on the last couple years. But he tried teaching it in a different way, he said, to make even more clear the precise elements of the technique.

In the bigger picture, the Ducks do an in-depth self-scout each offseason, reviewing what worked and didn't work the year before. That's the starting place for tailoring the 2019 Oregon offense.

"That's always the best part about the offseason for us, is we get to go back and, after one year, utilize our cut-ups we've got, and go back and find out exactly where things are and what we like and what kind of approach you want to take," Arroyo said. "And then the next part of the offseason is, you usually study what's out there, what are the trends, what little things you could do to maybe make it better."

Arroyo said all coaches have to fight the basic human instinct to stick by what they consider their basic principles. If those principles worked, great. If they didn't, well, it might be time to rely on some different principles.

Tantalizingly, Arroyo hinted Monday that the Ducks are doing just some of that.

"There's a couple different schemes that we liked that I think fit us, with what we're going to do, and with Justin's experience and a little more experience outside (at receiver)," Arroyo said. "Without giving it away, but yeah, there's a couple of things you maybe add wrinkles to, or maybe it was only a B-list type of thing or secondary type of thing, and it was really good. You're like, man, we did it five times, let's do it 15 times instead of five. That was a really good play; we ran it 10 times and there was five explosion plays."

Arroyo didn't get more specific than that. But there's clearly some tinkering behind closed doors in the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex, and being implemented when the Ducks hit the practice field this spring.

Practice highlights: One thing that's really jumping out this first week of spring is the improved arm strength of backup quarterback Tyler Shough. He's putting a lot more zip on the balls, even though he's got a slightly longer throwing motion than someone like Herbert. In one rep of 1-on-1 pass drills, new receiver Josh Delgado was being blanketed by Thomas Graham, but Shough fired a pass where only Delgado could reach it, and put enough on it that Graham didn't have time to close the gap. … Moments later in that same period, Herbert uncorked a beautiful deep ball from midfield to Jaylon Redd in the back of the end zone. Redd got vertical against Haki Woods Jr., and though the defensive back was running stride for stride, Herbert dropped the 60-something-yard throw right into Redd's arms. …

In a 3-on-2 pass drills, Daewood Davis came back to a receiver who had broken off a route underneath the coverage and broke up the pass. Davis, a converted receiver, obviously will have a lot to digest in the coming months in terms of schemes and techniques, but his athleticism translates to defense quite well. … Brady Breeze, back at safety after moving to outside linebacker last season, had an interception in that period. … Steve Stephens had a great pass breakup in the 1-on-1 drill; Cam McCormick had reached up and caught a pass over Stephens' head, but the defender stayed with the play and broke it up as they tumbled to the turf. …

Cyrus Habibi-Likio and Darrian Felix each ripped off a couple impressive runs during 11-on-11 drills. Put those guys on a depth chart behind Travis Dye and CJ Verdell, and that's an impressive running backs room. … Johnny Johnson III moved the chains in 11-on-11 with a great leaping catch, a nice recovery after a couple passes he couldn't secure in position drills. … Later in another 11-on-11 period, Johnson took a short pass and scooted into the secondary to the second level.

Other observations: Along with Breeze, Kahlef Hailassie is getting some looks at safety this spring. … Verone McKinley III has stepped into the nickel spot vacated by Ugochukwu Amadi, backed up by Woods. … Justin Hollins, Kano Dillon and Kaulana Apelu all attended practice. All eyes will be on Hollins come Thursday when he looks to continue an impressive run-up to the NFL draft at Oregon's Pro Day. … Isaiah Pitre, who walked on last season as an outside linebacker, was working at tight end Monday.

Post-practice interview:

Defensive coordinator Andy Avalos