Oregon Football Practice Report: Dec. 3
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Moshofsky Center
Format: Walk-through
As the Oregon football team prepared for last week’s Civil War, the Ducks couldn’t afford to peek ahead to this week’s Pac-12 Championship game, to be played Friday against Arizona at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. (6:20 p.m. PT, FOX)
The UO football equipment staff, however, did have one eye on this week, out of necessity. Beginning last week, Kenny Farr and staff began rotating into the practice rotation the balls Oregon will use in Friday’s game. The Pac-12 sent 20 balls stamped with its logo to Oregon last week, and with the need to get a dozen of them game-ready through their use in practices, that process began last week.
Farr said he likes to get a ball involved in six or seven practices before it’s ready for use in a game. The EQ staff has several bags of balls used in practice, designated for use by quarterbacks, the rest of the offense, the defense or kickers. On gamedays, Marcus Mariota and the EQ staff pick a number of balls for use, a constantly rotating cast of footballs; some are auctioned off for fundraisers after games, others might need to be relegated for other uses after a bad-weather game.
Typically the Ducks will have a dozen balls available on gameday, six per half. But if the weather isn’t bad, the six used in the first half can make it through an entire game.
The process of getting the dozen ready for Friday’s game began last week. Mariota said that “at the beginning of the week a couple of them” felt a little slick, but that “after a day of practice, it’s usually pretty good.”
Among many ways that Mariota is a cool customer, he’s extremely unparticular about the condition of balls used in games. Darron Thomas used to spend 20 minutes testing the feel of balls before choosing the dozen he wanted available for a game. Mariota, meanwhile, sometimes leaves it to the EQ staff to pick them.
“I don’t really have a particular feel or anything like that, that would make me change anything,” Mariota said. “A ball is a ball. You’ve got to throw it no matter what.
“Taking some of the newness off the ball helps, with being able to catch the ball, being able to throw the ball efficiently. Sometimes the balls are a little slippery when they’re new. But other than that, once you get it rubbed down they’re good.”
Other observations: This being a “no-sweat Thursday” at walk-through pace, there weren’t many highlights to pass along. …. Aidan Schneider did connect on a 39-yard, one-shot field-goal attempt between stretch and individual drills to start the day. He then engaged in a pretty even period of field-goal kicking with Matt Wogan later in practice. … Ayele Forde blocked a punt the hard way during drills for the punt return team. Ball hit him square in the face mask.
