Lockie Leads Quarterbacks Into
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
For most of the Oregon football community, the departure of Marcus Mariota means the loss of the best player in school history. To Mariota's backup the last two years, Jeff Lockie, there's the not insignificant fact that Mariota was a close friend, as well.
This week, Lockie and the Ducks took their first steps without the reigning Heisman Trophy winner. Oregon began spring practices Tuesday and held another workout Wednesday, what offensive coordinator and QB coach Scott Frost called "a new day in Oregon football" following the second practice.
"It's definitely different without him there," said Lockie, who took the first post-Mariota practice rep behind center. "Ever since I've been here, he's been here. So it's my first two practices without No. 8. It was nice to have his feedback sometimes in practice, sharing his opinion. But we'll move on, and we're prepared for that."
There's no perfect way to prepare for the loss of a quarterback who rewrote team record books the past three years. Lockie is one of two returning QBs with game experience, 19 appearances over the past two years in which he threw 41 passes. Taylor Alie has played as well, primarily as the holder on the PAT team.
The Ducks also have two recent top recruits in Morgan Mahalak and Travis Jonsen, and a dynamic athlete in 2014 redshirt Ty Griffin. Add in the fact transfer Vernon Adams is on track to join the program in the coming months, and Oregon's quarterback situation doesn't lack for storylines.
"Obviously we've got a couple guys with a bunch of experience that are pretty sharp and know what they're doing," Frost said. "And then it's a little bit of a learning process for the three younger guys. All of them have done some good things."
Adams' wealth of experience at the FCS level will make him a formidable challenger for the job. Lockie, meanwhile, will fall back on the "hundreds of practices and … thousands of reps" he's accumulated in the Oregon offense over the last year as he competes to replace Mariota.
"I'm really comfortable with Jeff," Frost said. "I trust him. I know he's going to know what to do. To some degree when he's been in games we've usually been in clean-up mode, so he hasn't really been able to run our offense a whole lot. I thought he's had two really good days of practice so far."
In that "clean-up mode" behind Mariota the last two years, Lockie completed 29-of-41 attempts for 264 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. That's a completion rate of 70.7 percent, and a QB rating of 128.0 — though in limited playing time, Lockie openly admits.
"A lot of people have opinions off a small sample, and that's completely justified," Lockie said. "My goal is just to lead the offense and score touchdowns."
Asked Wednesday his goals for the spring, Lockie said that "I want everyone on offense to know what they're doing." That reflects both his desire to take on the major leadership role incumbent upon a starting quarterback, and Lockie's comfort with his own responsibilities within the offense.
As Frost said, on any given play, Lockie is comfortable with his grasp of his own assigment. His goals this spring are to get the entire offense on the same page, and to demonstrate physically the grasp he has on his position mentally.
Frost said Lockie was "dynamic" in the first two days of this week. "When he's taking off with footballs, he's running with purpose," the UO offensive coordinator said. "I think it was really easy for him to relax a little (in years past). Most of his reps were practice reps, and practice reps are different than game reps. We really want him this spring to treat his practice reps as if they're game reps — go full speed, take off with the ball, be dynamic. And he's showed flashes of doing that really well already."
Lockie said he's noticed teammates looking to him for leadership. "It's a big responsibility of mine to take that weight upon my shoulders," he said. "I've been here for three years, so I think I'm ready for that."
Part of Lockie's role as a leader will be to continue helping groom the other competitors at his position. There will be another at some point in the near future, if all goes as planned and Adams arrives on campus.
Lockie is preparing for that challenge, and doing his best to take advantage of his head start this spring. "We're competing right now with the five guys we have," he said matter-of-factly. "Then, we'll just add one more to the mix."
