Football Practice Report: Oct. 2
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Autzen Stadium
Format: Fast Friday
Oregon’s amazing staff continuity, embodied by several assistants with multiple decades of experience in Eugene, sometimes leads to some awkward reminders of time’s passing.
Take, for example, the player we’ll feature in this week’s scout-team spotlight, outside linebacker Justin Hunter. Not only is Hunter a native of Colorado, where the Ducks will play Saturday night, but his father, Brad, grew up in North Bend and was recruited by UO offensive line coach Steve Greatwood before signing with Brigham Young.
Greatwood has been a full-time UO assistant since 1982, and Brad Hunter graduated high school in 1986. Nearly 30 years later, his son Justin is a walk-on freshman with the Ducks.
When Justin was sending out film of his high school highlights, looking for a place to play in college, the connection may have helped. “Coach Greatwood was a little familiar with the family, and then I came up here on an unofficial visit and really liked things,” Hunter said. “Met coach Chinander and talked about moving to outside, and it all worked out.”
Hunter was an offensive tackle and defensive end at Rock Canyon High south of Denver. Now he’s a 6-foot-4, 235-pound outside linebacker for position coach Erik Chinander, and for the graduate assistant coaches who run the defensive scout team, Joe Bernardi and Nate Costa.
“He’s a little out of his element (at linebacker),” Bernardi said. “But he keeps his mouth shut, he works, he does everything you ask him of him. I know Chins like him as a kid, likes him in their meeting room.”
Hunter said outside linebacker features more pass coverage responsibilities than he’s used to. But the pass-rush elements are familiar from his days as a defensive end.
Excelling as a walk-on is as much about attitude as anything, and Hunter’s seems to be good.
“It’s just awesome to be around a program that’s one of the best around, with such great people everywhere,” Hunter said. “The staff, every staff member’s been fantastic to work with, so I really enjoy that. And obviously I love my teammates.”
Hunter grew up cheering for his dad’s alma mater, BYU, along with Colorado State. So he had no loyalty to the Buffaloes, and doesn’t have any close friends who will face the Ducks on Saturday.
“It’ll just be cool to watch them play in a stadium that’s pretty familiar for me,” Hunter said. “I’ve been up to Boulder quite a few times and seen them play, so that’s cool for sure.”
Scout-team scrimmage highlights: Morgan Mahalak’s morning was one of extremes. He started with four incompletions; a couple were thrown away under pressure and one was a nice breakup by Mattrell McGraw, as Jacob Breeland looked like he was about to secure a reception and cross the goal line. Mahalak then fired four straight touchdown passes, including a rollout throw on the run to Casey Eugenio. Another was to Jeff Bieber, who caught yet another TD pass from Mahalak on the last play of the 10-minute scrimmage, a back shoulder throw into the end zone on fourth-and-goal. …
Defensively, Paris Bostick pressured Mahalak on one of those incompletions, and he later stopped a run play near the line of scrimmage, coming up from his new outside linebacker position. Jonah Moi also stopped two run plays for negligible gains, and Malik Lovette broke up two passes in the three plays prior to Bieber’s final-snap touchdown. This was probably the most physical “developmental squad scrimmage” I can recall, with defenders having to be reminded three or four times not to tackle to the ground. They need to be more disciplined than that, but you can also perhaps understand the UO defense being a little salty this week.
