Oregon opened spring practice with a lot of new faces, a good amount of returning ones in prominent roles and with roles to fill.
The Ducks welcomed 26 new scholarship players to the field at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex on Thursday for the first of two jerseys-only practices before a 17-day break. It wasn’t football in earnest since contact was so limited, but there will be time for that in April. The first day is always about acclimation, setting a tone and a starting point to build on over the next 14 practices.
“Really good day one,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “Haven’t been a lot around a lot of spring practices that weren’t good day one. Everybody has juice and energy, a lot of enthusiasm, I thought the practice was well organized, guys were running to the right locations and with a lot of new bodies you hope that’s the expectation. Guys playing hard, but we don’t really have pads on either. So it’s not real football yet in my mind, but guys are definitely trending in the right direction. See some new guys stepping up to be leaders which is positive.”
Lanning cited quarterback Bo Nix and offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr. as players who have stood out on offense and Jeff Bassa and Jamal Hill, the top two returning tacklers, among the leaders on defense.
With a high volume of players in the secondary and thinner linebacker room, Hill is getting some early looks at the second level of the defense this spring.
“That’s a guy on defense that’s really stepped up and has shifted and been in different locations, but it really showed some maturity there,” Lanning said. “If we can be our best team with Jamal at linebacker we’re going to work Jamal in that position. If we think we need him at quarterback, we’re going to move him to quarterback. I’m not gonna really give out trade secrets. But wherever we can put guys in positions where they can help the team, that’s what we’re gonna look to do.”
Those sort of position moves are typical of this time of year.
Jackson Powers-Johnson moved from offensive line to defensive line and back last spring when the Ducks were shorthanded at defensive tackle only to spend all season on offense and is now the heir apparent to take over as the starting center. He took first-team reps during Thursday’s practice.
The installation of a new offense and progress made in year two in Oregon’s defense will be better assessed once pads go on after break and scrimmages begin. For Lanning, this week is about maximizing practice time and opportunities, especially for younger players.
“Every rep is a game rep,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a walk-through rep, it’s a game rep. It’s an opportunity to learn, make mistakes, learn from somebody else’s mistakes. So we’re gonna get as many reps as we can for newcomers and everybody else.”
One of those mistakes on Thursday was an interception return for touchdown thrown by true freshman quarterback Austin Novosad, with redshirt-sophomore cornerback Avante Dickerson on the receiving end.
Lanning didn’t want to specify the areas he most wants to walk away from spring with answers, but Oregon’s deficiencies on defense and special teams last season make those obvious.
Adding Jordan Burch from South Carolina and signing a bevy of freshmen edge defenders brings options to UO’s pass rush and that will be among the primary areas to monitor on defense all offseason after back-to-back poor seasons of pressuring quarterbacks.
“I think we got to look to develop across our roster,” Lanning said. “I think we did that a lot in recruiting. I think that that’ll show up pretty quickly for us, but time will tell.”
Lanning preaches about having a “growth mindset” and on Thursday that message was specifically about consistency and not being “one-hit wonders” in practice.
“We’re not coming out here trying to have one hit song,” Lanning said. “We’re trying to make sure we put two (together) and stack days one day on top of the other.”
