Oregon Football Practice Report: Sept. 5
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Autzen Stadium
Format: Fast Friday
The hay is in the barn at this point for No. 3 Oregon’s home game against No. 7 Michigan State on Saturday (3:30 p.m. PT, FOX). The Ducks wrapped up their physical preparations today with their “Fast Friday” practice, an up-tempo run-through of all sorts of various potential game scenarios on offense, defense and special teams.
While the “travel squad” was wrapping up its physical preparations over an hourlong practice, the scout team had done its most critical work earlier in the week. That included cornerback Stephen Amoako, who was lauded by graduate assistant coach Nate Costa for his work emulating the press coverage MSU’s corners will play Saturday.
“There’s not a lot of help over top (because of the way the Spartans use their safeties to help defend the run), so they’re really trying to protect against the deep ball,” said Amoako, a sophomore who played in last season’s opener. “So (receivers coach Matt) Lubick drilled us a little bit on their press so we can give the receivers a good look, and different kinds of press-bail techniques so the receivers can make the proper adjustments.”
To the layman (myself included), press coverage connotes a defender right up at the line of scrimmage, jamming the wideout off the line. Amoako said the Spartans’ desire not to get beat deep leads them to play a little more off the line than that.
“(UO defensive backs coach John) Neal teaches us a harder press, and they’re more of a shade press team,” Amoako said. “They’re really trying to protect the streak and not get beat vertical. They’re not a big hands-on team.”
Amoako is entering his third year as a staple on the UO scout team, trying to break through into the travel squad rotation. Though he’s running the opponent’s plays in 11-on-11 periods each week, those are still chances to impress Oregon’s coaches.
“We don’t really have any subs, so you’re going to get 30 reps at a time, no break,” Amoako said. “You have to just come with the attitude to get better. You’re going to do their press, but you’re going to fall back on your training, so with 30 reps it’s an opportunity to get better at what you do.”
This year is much different for Amoako in another regard, though. He’s playing for the first time without his twin brother, Eric, who left the program over the offseason. The two are Texas natives.
“It hasn’t been that bad at all,” Amoako said. “I think it’s weirder to other people than it is to me. We were always together, but we’re pretty strong individuals too. A lot more individually minded than people might think. So it hasn’t been bad for me at all.
Scout-team scrimmage highlights: The outside linebackers were all over the place right off the bat. Mike Garrity had a couple run stops just past the line of scrimmage, and Ivan Faulhaber tipped a pass that was intercepted by a defensive back. Faulhaber added a sack a few snaps later. … The offense tried to take a few shots down the field, finally connecting when Morgan Mahalak hit B.J. Kelley deep for a touchdown. … Kelley also had a nice block on a screen pass. … Issac Dixon intercepted a pass. … Jeff Bieber, a consistent performer in practice the last two weeks, caught a couple passes.
