Football Practice Report: Aug. 18

Photo by: Andy McNamara/GoDucks.com

08/18/16 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley

By: Rob Moseley

Venue: Outdoor practice fields
Format: Shells

After two physical days of work in Tuesday's scrimmage and Wednesday's competition day, the Ducks dialed back the intensity a tick Thursday with a practice in shells.

To close practice, however, UO coach Mark Helfrich staged an overtime drill that had players on opposing sidelines hooting and hollering at each other. And once the drill began, the shoulder pads were popping at the line of scrimmage.

"It's a really fun atmosphere where we can get together with different (teammates) and make sure we get that work, on overtime or different scenarios," senior offensive lineman Cameron Hunt said. The period was made all the more fun for Hunt because his unit came out victorious.

The drill opened with the first-team units going head to head. Tyree Robinson did a nice job stringing out Charles Nelson to the sideline on the opening play, and then A.J. Hotchkins and Jalen Jelks corralled Royce Freeman on a short run. Dakota Prukop set up fourth-and-short with a pass to Pharaoh Brown, and though Freeman moved the chains on fourth down, the defense held the No. 1 offense to a field goal.

That brought the second units onto the field, including Hunt at center, where he has cross-trained a couple days in this month's camp. David Yost has been rotating quarterbacks throughout the depth chart, and for this drill Justin Herbert was behind center with the twos. He quickly moved the chains with a pass to Jacob Breeland.

Two plays later, Hunt had a rare misfire, but Herbert tracked down the errant snap and then scrambled all the way down to the 2-yard line. Hunt then redeemed himself by helping move the line of scrimmage as Tony Brooks-James ran between the tackles for a "game-winning" touchdown.

Hunt has now practiced extensively at both center and right tackle this month, as well as the position where he's started the past three seasons, right guard. He should be able to provide invaluable flexibility to position coach Steve Greatwood, should need arise this season to shuffle the offensive line – assuming Hunt can continue to play proficiently at all three spots.

"That's the challenge, staying sharp with all three," Hunt said. "Credit Coach Greatwood: In our meetings he's always asking me a lot of questions. … Just doing whatever the team needs me to do to be successful; that's what I want."

With Hunt at center on the second unit, the right side with the first group featured Calvin Throckmorton at guard and Zac Morgan at tackle. Greatwood also played Brady Aiello up with the ones at left tackle for stretches of Thursday's practice. Aiello had a crushing block on a defensive tackle and then got out to engage a linebacker to spring Freeman for a gain during the overtime drill.

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Other highlights: In position drills and work in small groups, a focus today was perimeter blocking, and defeating those blocks by the back seven on defense. Khalil Oliver had a really impressive 3-on-2 period, twice fending off blocks by Tristen Wallace and also breaking up a pass intended for Wallace. … That drill also tests decision-making by quarterbacks, and Herbert had a great rep on which he pump-faked, then threw over the top to running back Jarret LaCoste. …

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In a similar drill but using slightly larger groups to each side of the field, 4-on-3, Travis Jonsen flashed his arm several times. He connected with Charles Nelson on a "touchdown," and later on back-to-back reps found Dillon Mitchell and Jeff Bieber open in the end zone. … Herbert showed some maturity on one rep in that period, staying patient to let the play develop, then zipping a pass to Freeman despite tight coverage by Robinson. Later in the drill, though, Herbert tried to slip a pass into too tight a window, and Matt Mariota knocked it away.

Other observations: Because of that focus on perimeter plays during team situations, the earlier position drills were likewise tailored for those situations. Matt Lubick coached up his receivers on blocking technique:

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And John Neal worked with the defensive backs on breaking to the ball and maintaining leverage after the reception is made. You can see the job Malik Lovette does maintaining leverage so that Reggie Daniels can make a tackle:

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Lovette continues to shine on special teams, too. After returning a punt for a TD in Tuesday's scrimmage and blocking a field goal Wednesday, the redshirt freshman caught a punt on the fly and downed it at the 4-yard line with the coverage team Thursday. … Breeland showed off his ball skills in 7-on-7, tipping a pass in the air and then hauling it in, although if the situation had been full-contact, Daniels was in position to lay a devastating hit on him.

Interviews:

Defensive coordinator Brady Hoke