Oregon Football Practice Report: Nov. 6
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Moshofsky Center
Format: Walk-through
There are several unknowns about No. 4 Oregon’s matchup Saturday at Utah (7 p.m. PT, ESPN), complicating factors for the Ducks as they prepare for the game, and then once they take the field.
How will the Ducks react to playing in noisy yet unfamiliar Rice-Eccles Stadium, whose atmosphere helps the Utes “lead the country in forcing illegal procedures,” as Mark Helfrich put it earlier this week? Will Utah start Travis Wilson at quarterback, or the more mobile Kendal Thompson? Will that quarterback rely on the run as much as in a 57-yard passing performance last week against Arizona State, or will the Utes try to stretch the field despite the knee injury to receiver Dres Anderson?
And then there’s this: What impact will Utah’s special teams, arguably the best in the country, have on the game? And what the heck will Kaelin Clay do when the Utes’ big-play return man gets his hands on the ball?
Clay leads the nation in punt returns with a 22.4-yard average, and has three touchdowns; he’s also returned a kickoff for a score. Utah’s placekicker, Andy Phillips, is 11-of-13 from 40 yards and out this season, with two conversions of 50 yards. Punter Tom Hackett is third nationally with a 47.0-yard average.
By one advanced metric, Utah’s special teams as a whole are the best in the Pac-12 Conference and fifth-best nationally. Second in the Pac-12 and No. 17 in the country is Oregon, the only other conference team in the top 30 nationally.
Clay is not only a big, fast returner who can break tackles, Helfrich said. He’s also unpredictable. “He’s not afraid to go outside the form of the return, or where it’s designed to go,” Helfrich said. “It’s a guy like Barry Sanders as a tailback; if it’s ’34 Power’ he may bounce it to the far left sideline. Just a dynamic guy.”
Oregon’s Thursday walk-throughs alternate between periods of special teams and those for the offense and defense, and today was no exception. When the Ducks’ coverage teams were on the field, today and earlier this week, the scout teams tried to mimic how Clay can improvise outside the return called for by coaches.
“That’s what’s hard to create, and we tried to do that today and yesterday -- yesterday when it’s more of a full-speed deal,” Helfrich said. “Of trying to, if it’s a sideline return and he bounces it to the field or vice versa, they have to be ready for that at any time.”
Oregon can counter with some pretty dynamic guys of its own in kick coverage, including electric freshman Charles Nelson and redshirt freshman safety Tyree Robinson, a consistent contributor on the kickoff team the last several weeks.
The task of preparing Oregon’s punt return team to face Hackett and company was led by freshman kicker/punter Jesse Kelly, a walk-on who consistently bombed long kicks with good hang time in practice this week.
As for the Ducks’ own kicking game, today featured the second straight day of very competitive periods featuring kickers Matt Wogan and Aidan Schneider. Each took a 38-yard, on-the-spot attempt to start practice, with Wogan’s the longer, truer attempt, but then in a period of placekicks later on Schneider had some success at longer distances.
“It’s been good, it’s been good,” Helfrich said of that competition. “Those guys have both kind of nudged ahead, then nudged behind at various points. We’ll have that ironed out on game day.”
