Football Practice Report: Dec. 12
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Moshofsky Center
Format: Shells
What was during the regular season a weekly chance for scout-team players to shine is now a daily occurrence, at least for this weekend.
For Oregon’s first three Alamo Bowl practices, Friday through Sunday, the last two periods are set aside for the “threes,” guys who spent most of the season mimicking the opposition on the scout team. There’s no scout squad designated yet to replicate the schemes of Alamo Bowl foe Texas Christian; those players do position drills and spend team periods rotating in with the full squad, and get a daily 10-minute block for themselves, as opposed to the weekly developmental squad scrimmage each Friday of the regular season.
“There’s some good energy,” UO defensive coordinator Don Pellum said. “When you get to this point of the season, and some of the guys who’ve been on scouts all year get a chance to actually perform our defense, they get fired up. All of a sudden you get some pops, and some guys that you’re not sure about all of a sudden look pretty good.”
In today’s 10 minutes for the threes, the standouts were guys who regularly shined during the Friday scrimmages. Morgan Mahalak completed a long touchdown pass to Zac Schuller. Inside linebacker Kaulana Apelu came on a blitz up the middle, avoided the block of a guard and stripped Mahalak before recovering the fumble.
“Overall, the threes looked pretty good today,” Pellum said.
For the most part, these first few practices are about going “back to fundamentals,” Pellum said: “Tackling, striking, running to the ball.” A lot of the situational work has been second-and-long situations, though today the offenses were given a chance to drive the field, too.
Pellum said the defensive staff is still completing its evaluation of TCU. The Ducks wrap up their first session of practice Sunday and reconvene Tuesday, presumably when the game-plan will start being installed.
But already the UO coaches have noticed the obvious: The Horned Frogs have a couple of studs in quarterback Trevone Boykin and receiver Josh Doctson, both of whom hope to be good to go for the Alamo Bowl after battling late-season injuries.
A Biletnikoff Award finalist, Doctson missed two games to end the regular season with a wrist injury. Boykin returned from an ankle problem late in the season. That limited his ability to run in TCU’s finale against Baylor, but the Ducks are wary of his dual-threat abilities come Jan. 2.
“This is probably the first guy (the Ducks will face this season) that really can run, and will run it,” Pellum said. “A lot of offenses we faced, they’re spread offenses, but the quarterback’s not running much. … This guy takes off. He’s really good, so you do have to account for him.”
Other highlights: In the first team period, Tyson Coleman leapt at the line and intercepted a pass by Vernon Adams Jr. Adams hit Darren Carrington on a slant a few reps later to move the chains. Rex Manu added a tackle for loss and Ty Griffin added an acrobatic interception of a ball over his head later in the period. … For a period in which the offense had a chance to drive the field, De'Quan McDowell hurried Jeff Lockie into a rushed pass on a fourth down that Johnny Mundt bobbled before Khalil Oliver broke it up. For the threes, Jake McCreath had a long catch-and-run to get the ball into the red zone, and trucked a defensive back near the end of the run. But UO coach Mark Helfrich negated the play, calling illegal substitution because a receiver in for the previous play walked off the field rather than jogging. Those are the sorts of details the coaches are really harping on this weekend. …
The 7-on-7 period was devoted to second-and-long situations. Chris Seisay broke up a pass to get the ones off the field, and then Lockie moved the chains for the twos on a run. Eddie Heard batted down a Mahalak pass with the threes, before Adams and Carrington connected on a conversion with the ones, prompting Adams to pump his fist while running off the field. … In 1-on-1 pass drills, Glen Ihenacho had a nice leaping pass breakup of a ball intended for Charles Nelson.
Other observations: Along with Adams, invitations for the East-West Shrine Game have been accepted by offensive lineman Tyler Johnstone and defensive tackle Alex Balducci. … Speaking of the linemen, they engaged in a spirited session of 1-on-1 pass-rush drills. I was watching 7-on-7, but some of the defensive guys, including Austin Maloata and T.J. Daniel, were really whooping it up. Then, on the last rep, Haniteli Lousi stonewalled Daniel, and Daniel heard about it from Cameron Hunt. This was very much all in good humor; Daniel and Hunt even did a little jumping side bump like you’ll see receivers do after touchdowns. As was the case Friday, there were moments Saturday where it was clear the Ducks were excited to be back practicing after two weeks off.
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Moshofsky Center
Format: Shells
What was during the regular season a weekly chance for scout-team players to shine is now a daily occurrence, at least for this weekend.
For Oregon’s first three Alamo Bowl practices, Friday through Sunday, the last two periods are set aside for the “threes,” guys who spent most of the season mimicking the opposition on the scout team. There’s no scout squad designated yet to replicate the schemes of Alamo Bowl foe Texas Christian; those players do position drills and spend team periods rotating in with the full squad, and get a daily 10-minute block for themselves, as opposed to the weekly developmental squad scrimmage each Friday of the regular season.
“There’s some good energy,” UO defensive coordinator Don Pellum said. “When you get to this point of the season, and some of the guys who’ve been on scouts all year get a chance to actually perform our defense, they get fired up. All of a sudden you get some pops, and some guys that you’re not sure about all of a sudden look pretty good.”
In today’s 10 minutes for the threes, the standouts were guys who regularly shined during the Friday scrimmages. Morgan Mahalak completed a long touchdown pass to Zac Schuller. Inside linebacker Kaulana Apelu came on a blitz up the middle, avoided the block of a guard and stripped Mahalak before recovering the fumble.
“Overall, the threes looked pretty good today,” Pellum said.
For the most part, these first few practices are about going “back to fundamentals,” Pellum said: “Tackling, striking, running to the ball.” A lot of the situational work has been second-and-long situations, though today the offenses were given a chance to drive the field, too.
Pellum said the defensive staff is still completing its evaluation of TCU. The Ducks wrap up their first session of practice Sunday and reconvene Tuesday, presumably when the game-plan will start being installed.
But already the UO coaches have noticed the obvious: The Horned Frogs have a couple of studs in quarterback Trevone Boykin and receiver Josh Doctson, both of whom hope to be good to go for the Alamo Bowl after battling late-season injuries.
A Biletnikoff Award finalist, Doctson missed two games to end the regular season with a wrist injury. Boykin returned from an ankle problem late in the season. That limited his ability to run in TCU’s finale against Baylor, but the Ducks are wary of his dual-threat abilities come Jan. 2.
“This is probably the first guy (the Ducks will face this season) that really can run, and will run it,” Pellum said. “A lot of offenses we faced, they’re spread offenses, but the quarterback’s not running much. … This guy takes off. He’s really good, so you do have to account for him.”
Other highlights: In the first team period, Tyson Coleman leapt at the line and intercepted a pass by Vernon Adams Jr. Adams hit Darren Carrington on a slant a few reps later to move the chains. Rex Manu added a tackle for loss and Ty Griffin added an acrobatic interception of a ball over his head later in the period. … For a period in which the offense had a chance to drive the field, De'Quan McDowell hurried Jeff Lockie into a rushed pass on a fourth down that Johnny Mundt bobbled before Khalil Oliver broke it up. For the threes, Jake McCreath had a long catch-and-run to get the ball into the red zone, and trucked a defensive back near the end of the run. But UO coach Mark Helfrich negated the play, calling illegal substitution because a receiver in for the previous play walked off the field rather than jogging. Those are the sorts of details the coaches are really harping on this weekend. …
The 7-on-7 period was devoted to second-and-long situations. Chris Seisay broke up a pass to get the ones off the field, and then Lockie moved the chains for the twos on a run. Eddie Heard batted down a Mahalak pass with the threes, before Adams and Carrington connected on a conversion with the ones, prompting Adams to pump his fist while running off the field. … In 1-on-1 pass drills, Glen Ihenacho had a nice leaping pass breakup of a ball intended for Charles Nelson.
Other observations: Along with Adams, invitations for the East-West Shrine Game have been accepted by offensive lineman Tyler Johnstone and defensive tackle Alex Balducci. … Speaking of the linemen, they engaged in a spirited session of 1-on-1 pass-rush drills. I was watching 7-on-7, but some of the defensive guys, including Austin Maloata and T.J. Daniel, were really whooping it up. Then, on the last rep, Haniteli Lousi stonewalled Daniel, and Daniel heard about it from Cameron Hunt. This was very much all in good humor; Daniel and Hunt even did a little jumping side bump like you’ll see receivers do after touchdowns. As was the case Friday, there were moments Saturday where it was clear the Ducks were excited to be back practicing after two weeks off.
