Football Practice Report: Aug. 14
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Outdoor practice fields
Format: Full pads
The jersey of senior defensive end DeForest Buckner was torn and tattered as he walked off the field Friday, Oregon’s first day of preseason camp in full pads. The defense was coming off two strong days of work in shells, and Buckner had done his best to continue the trend Friday.
During the first team period of the day, Buckner drove left tackle Tyrell Crosby backward, then swallowed up a ballcarrier for a loss. Later in the day, safety Tyree Robinson popped the ball loose on a screen pass, the football went bounding backward toward the end zone and Buckner led a charge of defenders running after the potential turnover.
Buckner eventually jumped on the ball himself, and UO coach Mark Helfrich was right there to signal “touchdown.”
“Today I had to get the ball rolling,” Buckner said. “First day in pads, everybody’s been used to thudding up or imaginary tackling, but we’ve got pads on, and what are pads for? I was trying to get people fired up to tackle for the first time.”
That said, today was as even a day since the Ducks first put on shoulder pads Wednesday, if not a slight victory for the offense. The first-string perhaps benefitting from the continuity of a line comprised of Crosby, Matt Pierson, Matt Hegarty, Doug Brenner and Cameron Hunt, the offense more than held its own throughout the day.
Hegarty wrapped up his first week of camp with the Ducks, after joining the team as a transfer out of Notre Dame over the summer. He’s been taking first-team reps at center the last couple days, as the offense has evened the scales with the defense.
“That’s kind of always the tale of training camp, people getting the better of some days,” Hegarty said. “The offense has been responding great. It takes a lot to get all 11 guys going, so it’s nice when it starts clicking. When you’ve got pads on you can get a shoulder up under somebody and it feels like football. It changes it a little bit, so it’s nice.”
Today’s practice was the first for another graduate transfer, quarterback Vernon Adams. He began the acclimation schedule the rest of the Ducks started Monday, and so was in a helmet, jersey and shorts rather than full pads.
Adams was last in the rotation of six quarterbacks for position drills, but was either second or third in the rotation behind Jeff Lockie for 7-on-7 and team drills. As a guy who got up to speed quickly himself, Hegarty said there’s plenty of time for Adams to get comfortable in Oregon’s offense this preseason.
“For him, just jumping in, it looks like he’s been reviewing stuff extra already,” Hegarty said. “That’s all great. It’s about reps, and there’s still plenty of reps left in this camp. So he’s in a good positon.”
Adams’ first practice: First a few details on Adams, since I recognize the level of interest there. He was one of the first dozen or so onto the practice field, and then literally the last to leave more than three hours later, after doing some extra work with Travis Jonsen (Lockie had hustled inside to watch Marcus Mariota’s NFL exhibition debut). We’re giving Adams some time before doing interviews, but he looked really happy to be in the fold and practicing. Early in the day, Helfrich coached Adams on the Ducks’ habit of sprinting to the sideline when they’re subbed out; from that point on, the whistle had barely been blown to sub in a new unit before Adams had his head down and was running off the field.
There were a couple throws in position drills on which he looked a little rusty, but Adams’ first rep of 7-on-7 was a completion to Alex Ofodile. Likewise, his first rep of 11-on-11 was a deep ball to Byron Marshall for a touchdown, and he had another long TD pass to Dwayne Stanford in the next team period. At one point in 7-on-7, Adams demonstrated the wherewithal to tuck the ball away and run when he didn’t like what he saw from the coverage, and he had one rep in team drills when he showed off really nifty feet in the pocket, avoiding trouble before running for a gain.
Other highlights: All of that said, Lockie doesn’t seem willing to concede anything. Perhaps answering the challenge, I thought he looked as sharp as he has all week, with a little extra zip on his passes. His best highlight was probably a rollout late in the day on which he found Bralon Addison for a completion behind the defense. … Along with Buckner, Torrodney Prevot and Arrion Springs had really good days defensively. Springs had a sack early in the day, picked off a pass in 1-on-1 drills and jumped a route for another interception in 7-on-7. … Among the final plays of the day were an interception of a tipped pass by Johnny Ragin III, and a long breakaway run by Kani Benoit on which he was hit at the line and had to fight to keep his balance before racing upfield. …
Prevot was one of the standouts in the “tube” drill that’s traditionally run on the first day in pads. Within a tight “tube” a runner must get past three levels of blockers taking on defenders, each spaced five yards apart. Prevot, known mostly for his pass-rushing to this point, twice took on blockers and made tackles. Addison and Ofodile each cleared the way for a couple touchdown runs as blockers. … Addison supplied one of the plays of the day, a double move in 1-on-1s before hauling in a pass from Adams. In the same drill, Jalen Brown used an incredibly explosive cut to shake a defender, then made a leaping one-handed catch. The leaping one-handed-catch thing is common from Brown, but the explosive cut, and a later catch-and-run through the defense in 7-on-7, were different elements from a player I’m really excited to watch the next few years.
Other observations: Robinson and Stanford locked up for some really physical battles in 1-on-1s. Robinson broke up a pass on their first rep, and Stanford answered with receptions on their next two matchups. … With Hegarty playing with the ones, Jake Pisarcik is now centering the No. 2 offense, and taking a leadership role too. As they waited on the sideline before taking the field for the first team period, Pisarcik told his unit, “Hey, I don’t care about anything else right now – just communicate. Communicate, communicate, communicate.” …
Matt Wogan had a kickoff that travelled at least 75 yards, perhaps closer to 77 or 78, in the estimation of fellow kicker Aidan Schneider. Wogan averaged 62.0 yards on kickoffs last season. … Khalil Oliver had a pick in 7-on-7 just before Springs grabbed his; Oliver asserted – consider the source, then – that he leads the team in interceptions so far this week. … Graduate assistant Kwame Agyeman is putting in a lot of time helping freshman safety Fotu Leiato get up to speed. Leiato hinted at his big-time hitting ability when he came up and popped a running back on a screen pass in 7-on-7, though he let up a bit rather than clean out a teammate.
