Oregon Football Practice Report: Oct. 20
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Moshofsky Center
Format: Full pads
Two days after a rare extended appearance on offense in No. 6 Oregon’s win over Washington, Kenny Bassett was back providing his not-rare-at-all level of impact on a Ducks practice.
Bassett has consistently rotated with the No. 2 offense in practices this season, and had his fair share of highlights doing so. Come games, though, he’s been behind Royce Freeman, Thomas Tyner and at times Byron Marshall in the rotation, and so Bassett’s biggest impact typically is his underrated role on kickoff coverage.
That changed against the Huskies, when Marshall spent the day at receiver and Tyner got only three carries. Bassett came into the day with five carries in the first half of the regular season, then got six against UW, for 20 yards. “I felt like I did OK; when you look at film of Royce and then you look at me, you can’t really make comparisons,” Bassett said with a smile. “But I think I held my own.”
Bassett embodied Oregon’s “next man up” attitude Saturday, keeping himself mentally ready to produce even though playing time on offense had been few and far between earlier in the year. “I’m always ready, whether I get one rep or a thousand,” Bassett said. “I have the mindset of, when you get your opportunity the team needs you, and I can’t let them down.”
Knee problems dogged Bassett his first few years after joining the Ducks as a walk-on. Following in the path of Ayele Forde, Bassett found a niche on kickoff coverage, and he earned a scholarship this past spring.
So far this season, Bassett has four tackles, production that could increase with freshman coverage ace Charles Nelson beginning to draw increased attention from return teams. “People may not understand how big that is, but if you make a tackle inside the 20, that really helps our defense,” Bassett said. “A lot of those drives end up in punts, so that’s big for our team.”
Bassett’s skill set has further expanded this year with increased reps at receiver, along with Marshall. Late in Monday’s practice, he caught a deep ball for a touchdown in team drills, though he dropped a pass on the next rep and finished out the day with extra work on the Jugs machine with Keanon Lowe and Johnathan Loyd. “It’s just a different role,” Bassett said. “I’ve been so focused on running back, but I know the receiver stuff. I’ve just got to fine-tune it, sharpen those skills and I’ll be where I want to be.”
Highlights: There was some great action when the travel squad went head-to-head early in practice. Freeman had a couple long runs, one of them keyed by a loud block by Nelson on a linebacker. Danny Mattingly answered for the defense, containing Marcus Mariota on one play and then bringing down a runner in the backfield on the very next play. … Marshall did a nice job of reaching behind himself and hauling in a pass during 11-on-11. On the defensive field that period, Juwaan Williams had one of the day’s biggest hits. …
The back seven on defense was all over the place in the final period of the day. Torrodney Prevot had a leaping, one-handed interception that would have been a pick-six, there were other interceptions by Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Khalil Oliver and Mattingly, and linebackers Christian French and Joe Walker each broke up a pass. … In highlights by the scout-team over the course of the day, Jalen Jelks was the beneficiary of great coverage that allowed time for him to “sack” Mariota, linebacker Mike Garrity ran with Nelson to break up a couple deep passes, and Jarret LaCoste absorbed a big hit but was still able to make the reception.
Other observations: ICYMI, Oregon’s Nov. 1 home game against Stanford was set today for a 4:30 p.m. PT kickoff on FOX. … This was presumably one of the tougher practices the Ducks will endure all season, for no other reason than it was the rare case of being in full pads just two days after a game. Guys were still rallying to the ball on defense, which has been a point of emphasis for the last couple weeks. … It’s got to be a little frustrating now, but the fact Jelks has to face off with Jake Fisher day after day should pay huge dividends in the future. … After being named a scout-team player of the week for the Washington game, Jalen Brown got some run with the travel squad today. As noted previously this season, he’s still in line to redshirt but – like the safety Oliver – has practiced often with the travel team, presumably in case of emergency.
