Football Practice Report: Aug. 22
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Outdoor practice fields
Format: Full pads
The back-and-forth battle between offense and defense in preseason camp continued Saturday morning, which marked two weeks until the Ducks open the season against Eastern Washington on Sept. 5.
The day began with an Oklahoma-style drill in which the defense got the best of things. But as practice wore on, the offense began to turn the tide – until a pretty even clutch scenario to end the day.
In the clutch scenario, Jeff Lockie quarterbacked a unit that had the ball and a six-point lead, needing to run out the clock. Lockie managed the clock and the offense well, converting a third-and-eight to move the chains and extend the possession before ultimately taking a knee as time expired to “win” the game.
“Any time you can kind of put a game away and not even give a team the ball at all, that’s a big deal,” said Lockie, who bounced back from a couple mistakes in clutch the last two days. “Little stuff like that that we can do, it’s a big deal.”
The scenario was rebooted with Vernon Adams behind center, but the defense forced a punt after coming up with a sack on third down. Taylor Alie thus had the chance to drive an offensive group to a come-from-behind, game-winning touchdown. But though he moved the ball with completions to Malik Lovette and J.J. Jones, his final pass as time expired was intercepted in the end zone by Ty Griffin.
Afterward, Mark Helfrich called the clutch period “a good finish – no, a great finish.”
He wasn’t as pleased with the start, owing to the attention to detail of some players – or lack thereof. In the opening gauntlet drill – basically with three sets of Oklahoma drills going on, and a runner trying to navigate past all three in tight quarters – Helfrich wouldn’t let a couple guys participate because of a minor equipment issue.
It was a small detail, but Helfrich is constantly reiterating to the team how much small details – and making a habit out of attending to them – can be the difference between winning and losing.
That’s why he’s also insistent on players running off the field between reps. A few guys here and there still will jog off from time to time, so today Helfrich designated Royce Freeman on offense and DeForest Buckner on defense to help enforce the standard. “And I wouldn’t want this guy mad at me,” Helfrich said, slapping Buckner on the shoulder pads. (You may recall that Buckner was already helping enforce this standard earlier this week.)
Other highlights: In the gauntlet drill, the defensive standouts were Paris Bostick, Drayton Carlberg, Tui Talia and Gary Baker. They each had a couple instances of shedding blocks and getting to the ballcarrier. Offensively, Alex Ofodile again was impressive in this drill, and Jacob Breeland also had a couple nice reps. … In position drills, Chris Seisay had an interception and Darren Carrington had a block to open up a long catch-and-run for a teammate. When drills moved to the red zone, Pharaoh Brown caught a couple of touchdowns, and Fotu Leiato came up to blast a receiver who was juggling a reception short of the goal line. Adams had a nice sequence in that period, zipping a ball to Kirk Merritt on one rep and on the next floating a nice touch pass to Bralon Addison. …
One of the most entertaining segments of practice was a couple periods in which the offense faced first-and-10 and had three downs to move the chains. Adams worked with the first group, which was perfect in four opportunities. The most impressive conversion came when Adams used his feet to extend the play, escaped the pocket and then lofted a ball to Addison. It was a bit of a 50-50 ball, but the receiver went up and made the play. … Lockie bounced back from a muffed exchange with Tony Brooks-James to convert three chances in a row. Two came on nice throws under pressure to Lovette and Merritt, and another one was a long run by Brooks-James, after he and Lockie went to the side and worked on their mesh together between reps. ... Alie and the threes converted a couple chances, after their first was disrupted in part by a Canton Kaumatule sack.
Other observations: Lovette and Merritt are a couple of impressive freshmen. They’re both effective blockers, they’re taking a ton of reps both on offense and as returners on special teams, and I don’t think either one has been sidelined for even a few reps yet this preseason. Tough, tough young guys. … Zac Schuller is starting to show up more and more, both as a tenacious blocker and as a receiver. … Dylan Kane began camp at cornerback but by now has also begun working at his more natural safety position. … After practice, quarterbacks stood at the 20-yard line throwing into a net placed in the back corner of the end zone. Charles Nelson requested a shot, and deposited his very first attempt into the net. Not sure there’s anything on the football field he couldn’t do.
