Football Practice Report: Dec. 13
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Moshofsky Center
Format: Shells
Soon enough, offensive guard Shane Lemieux and defensive end Gus Cumberlander will don purple jerseys as scout-team players in advance of Oregon’s Alamo Bowl matchup with Texas Christian.
On Sunday, though, they got to enjoy one more practice with the full squad together. Lemieux wore a white jersey along with the rest of the offense, and Cumberlander was in green with the defense. The Ducks wrapped up their first block of three postseason practices Sunday, workouts spent reinforcing fundamentals for the travel squad and giving the younger players a chance to demonstrate their development while redshirting.
“We actually get to feel like one of the guys again,” Lemieux said. “It’s good to be back together.”
During the season, about the only practice time for redshirts in Oregon’s own schemes is during the first few periods in positional drills. Mostly they run opposing teams’ plays with the scout team.
An exception is the 10-minute scrimmage period each “Fast Friday.” This long weekend was like three straight “Fast Fridays” for the redshirts, with time set aside each day for the travel squad to watch from the sidelines as the rest of the depth chart got reps.
“They’ve been very fun,” Cumberlander said. “It’s just another chance for us to get better with the rest of the guys.”
Several scout-team guys took advantage of the chance to stand out over the course of Sunday’s workout. Kaulana Apelu nearly had a leaping interception in 7-on-7, but couldn’t come down with the ball. Cornerback Tyler Reid had a nice pass breakup in the end zone during the first 11-on-11 period, and the local walk-on added a couple physical hits later in the day.
In a red-zone period, running back J.J. Jones hauled in a touchdown pass from Taylor Alie, Morgan Mahalak hit Darren Carrington for a TD in the back corner of the end zone and Drayton Carlberg stacked up a running back just short of the goal line. Even though they spent all season as Spartans and Cardinal and Trojans, they look pretty good as Ducks for the future.
Cumberlander said that, “even though we were practicing other teams’ plays, we still keep in good contact with our playbook, in meetings and stuff.”
Added Lemieux: “It was kind of hard to keep up on the newer stuff they learned during the season, the install stuff. But we’re starting to get it.”
Other highlights: Tyree Robinson was a consistent standout today. He broke up a pass to get the defense off the field in the first team period, a “green ball” scenario in which the offense tries to drive the field. Later in the same period, Robinson came up from behind a receiver to bat away a pass, then ended up intercepting it before it fell to the turf. ... On the opening possession of the red-zone period a little later, Reggie Daniels hauled in an interception after Arrion Springs tipped the pass away from a receiver. …
During 7-on-7, Jalen Brown showed he’s more than an acrobatic, big-play guy. On back-to-back plays he absorbed big hits by safeties – Daniels and Khalil Oliver – and held on to the ball. … Oliver ran with Royce Freeman deep down the field and broke up a long pass in 1-on-1 drills. Springs also had a nice breakup in that drill, while Pharaoh Brown proved impossible to cover by safeties and linebackers. … In the red-zone period, Kani Benoit, Taj Griffin and Vernon Adams Jr. ran for touchdowns. Buckner later sacked Adams to give the first-string defense another “win” to go along with the Robinson interception.
Other observations: During the red-zone period, receivers coach Matt Lubick was calling plays. Much of practice is scripted, but in the “green ball” situations plays are called on the fly and Lubick handled that in the absence of Scott Frost. … The Ducks have a team meeting scheduled for Monday morning, but otherwise will take the day off. Practice resumes Tuesday. …
After UO coach Mark Helfrich penalized the offense Saturday for having a player walk off the field rather than run, both sides of the ball practiced with a much better sense of urgency today. Helfrich still took note of eight instances over the course of practice in which a guy walked off, even if he only slowed from a jog for his last two or three steps before the sideline. The penalty for those guys was 10 up-downs each, and Helfrich did all 80 himself as well. A few players saw that and joined him, including Jeff Lockie, Alie, Lane Roseberry, Elijah George, Tyler Johnstone, Evan Voeller, Jake Pisarcik and Rodney Hardrick. And John Neal, a CrossFit junkie who thus would refer to up-downs as burpees, did all 80 as well.
