Football Practice Report: Dec. 19
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Moshofsky Center
Format: Full pads
Six days before Christmas, UO coach Mark Helfrich got to play Santa Claus and hand out an awesome gift Saturday morning.
After Oregon wrapped up its final practice of the season in Eugene, and before players scattered for the holidays prior to reuniting in San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl, Helfrich called the Ducks who earned all-America mention up to the front of the post-practice huddle.
Up stood DeForest Buckner, Royce Freeman and Aidan Schneider (Tyler Johnstone didn’t make it to the front in time).
“How many of these guys are not on scholarship?” Helfrich asked aloud of the team, who knew well that Schneider joined the Ducks as a walk-on last season.
“The answer,” Helfrich continued, “is zero.” And with that Schneider, the NCAA’s most accurate field-goal kicker among players with more than 15 attempts, learned that he was no longer a walk-on.
A couple minutes later, his eyes still red with emotion, Schneider reflected on the announcement.
“It was amazing; I’d been hoping for a long time, and to finally have it happen, it doesn’t even feel real right now,” he said.
A lifelong soccer player, Schneider walked on with the Ducks last season and took over field-goal kicking duties at midseason. His goal all along has been to earn a scholarship, but even he wasn’t expecting one after just one fall on campus.
“I definitely had a good year, but I don’t think half a season was quite enough to warrant anything,” Schneider said. “But about halfway through this season I started thinking, ‘This is something that could really happen.’”
On Saturday, his dream became reality.
Seniors bid Eugene adieu: Oregon’s next practice will be in San Antonio, where players will arrive Dec. 26 to resume preparations for the Alamo Bowl. Thus, Saturday morning’s practice was the last in Eugene in the careers of the team’s seniors.
“It’s been a season of ‘lasts’” left tackle Tyler Johnstone said, “and that’s just another one to check off the list.”
Practice began with a clutch drill, and the offense needing to drive to a “game-winning” touchdown. Vernon Adams Jr. converted a third down for the offense by scrambling for 21 yards, but on the next third down, DeForest Buckner sacked him to win the scenario for the defense. Buckner has set the tone with his work ethic in practices for the last four years, so it was a fitting end to his time in Eugene.
“Last practice in the ‘Mo’ ever,” Buckner said. “It kind of just hit me this morning. It’s sad, but to make it through four years of blood, sweats and tears, I feel proud, too.”
Another senior, Rodney Hardrick, also went out in fitting fashion. During a red-zone drill, Hardrick made a stop after calling out the offense’s play prior to the snap, based on what he recognized pre-snap. He knows Oregon’s defense as well as anyone to play here in a long time, and proved it one more time on that rep.
“Now that it’s over, it’s kind of weird,” said Hardrick, who also had an interception in 7-on-7. “This process is coming to an end. But we had a lot of fun today. It was a good practice.”
Other highlights: The offense’s best chance to win the clutch drill came from midfield when Adams targetted Dwayne Stanford on a deep ball, but Chris Seisay made a play to break it up. … Darren Carrington had a couple touchdowns during 1-on-1 drills in the red zone, making a one-handed catch just before running out the back of the end zone and later adding a leaping grab in the back corner. The best catch was by Jalen Brown, one of his trademark, seemingly daily leaping one-handed catches, but he came down out of bounds. Defensively, Malik Lovette broke up another ball intended for Brown, and Ty Griffin managed to trip up Pharaoh Brown just shy of the goal line. …
When the travel team faced off in 11-on-11, Jimmie Swain stopped a run play and then intercepted a pass on back-to-back reps, and Ivan Faulhaber tipped another pass at the line. … In the next 11-on-11 period, Tui Talia tipped a pass and stopped a run play on consecutive snaps, and there were interceptions by both Khalil Oliver and Torrodney Prevot. … Don Pellum said Friday a key to defending TCU will be accounting for dual-threat quarterback Trevone Boykin, and his defense was all over scout-team QB Morgan Mahalak whenever he tried to run during a period spent in the red zone.
Other observations: Helfrich, who played and coached in Austria in 1997, dusted off his German skills after practice. In the spirit of the season, he asked the Ducks which of them had the most festive name. Then, he had linebacker Jake Froehlich stand up and reveal that his last name is German for “cheerful.” … The last few periods were conducted without pads, though the tempo was quicker than a walk-through. …
Oregon’s equipment truck was scheduled to be loaded for departure from Eugene later Saturday. After a night in Medford, the drive to Texas will begin in earnest Sunday. … The Ducks’ to-go snack after practice was breakfast burritos. Not coincidentally, about an hour later a man panhandling on a corner just down the street from Autzen Stadium was eating one. Marcus Mariota was known for grabbing snacks to pass along to folks in similar circumstances, and it appeared Saturday that such gestures continue.
