Football Practice Report: Aug. 14
08/14/17 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley
Two days after the first major scrimmage of the preseason, Oregon returned to practice with a focus on special teams Monday.
Venue: Outdoor practice fields
Format: Shells
Saturday's full-contact scrimmage for the Ducks featured all sorts of different game scenarios, with a major exception: the scrimmage was almost devoid of special teams situations.
That was remedied Monday, with by far the most extensive special teams work of preseason camp so far under new coach Willie Taggart. All four major units of the kicking game – punt and punt return; kickoff and kickoff return – were drilled for multiple periods each.
Special teams is traditionally an avenue for young players to make an impact, but it looks like Taggart's staff has a different philosophy. Billy Gibson and Thomas Graham Jr. took some reps with the second punt-return unit, but the vast majority of the reps in all four phases of the kicking game went to veterans.
From the looks of it, Justin Hollins, Jonah Moi and Bryson Young are going to be seeing a whole lot of their position coach, Raymond Woodie, this season. Woodie also coordinates special teams, and his outside linebackers were heavily involved Monday. Young, in fact, looks like a candidate to potentially play in all four phases of the kicking game.
For the punt return drills, Charles Nelson is generally taking the first rep as a receiver, followed by some combination of Darrian McNeal, Darrian Felix, Brenden Schooler, Casey Eugenio and Jaylon Redd. Ball security is a focus for that group right now, with a couple of the guys demonstrating some inconsistency fielding punts cleanly so far.
Blake Maimone and Adam Stack have shared the punting duties. They're both demonstrating improved hang-time over what we've seen from the Ducks in recent years.
Finally, kicker Aidan Schneider has really extended his range. Nearly automatic inside 40 yards during his career, Schneider hasn't often been called upon for attempts much longer than that. But he made a 49-yard attempt in Saturday's scrimmage, and a 50-yarder during team drills Monday.
The final period of practice was a "game-winning" field goal drill. Schneider missed his first attempt from 50 yards, but made the next one. He missed twice from 55 yards out, but closed practice by making a 53-yard attempt.
Other highlights: The first period of the day was a traditional Oklahoma drill (above). Austin Faoliu was locked up by Shane Lemieux on the first rep, but Faoliu disengaged from George Moore on his next rep and made a tackle. Faoliu tried to take yet another rep as the drill ended, but Taggart rotated him out. … Gary Baker had perhaps the best get-off time in the drill to get good push against Jake Pisarcik. Drayton Carlberg, A.J. Hotchkins and Jalen Jelks all got off blocks to make tackles; on the other side, Ryan Bay, Cam McCormick, Schooler and McNeal more than held their own for the offense. …
Freshmen made plays for the No. 2 defense in 7-on-7, with Isaac Slade-Matautia and Deommodore Lenoir breaking up passes on consecutive reps. Justin Herbert got a safety to overcommit to a route before hitting Nelson for a long touchdown; Mattrell McGraw redeemed his position group moments later with an interception. …
In 11-on-11, Herbert hit Malik Lovette on a long pass into the red zone. But the drive stalled due to a sack and a couple penalties, leading to Schneider's 50-yard field goal. Lenoir then had another pass breakup with the twos. The drill ended with the ones converting a long drive – Royce Freeman busted loose to get the ball into the red zone (above), and Tony Brooks-James finished off the possession with a touchdown.
Other observations: Ty Griffin continues to make a strong impression as a first-team cornerback; during 7-on-7, the quarterbacks rarely looked to his side of the field. … Griffin and his younger brother Taj were the two deep men for a rep in kickoff return drills, which would be fun to see in a game. … The depth chart at the nickel corner position looks like it goes Ugochukwu Amadi, Arrion Springs and Lenoir (below). Which shouldn't be read to mean they're not in contention to start at corner; sometimes a No. 1 corner shifts inside to the nickel spot in that defense, and the extra man comes in at an outside corner spot. …
Mario Cristobal seems comfortable allowing his centers to use whichever snapping technique they're most comfortable with. In warmups today, Jake Hanson and Pisarcik did traditional spiral snaps, while Alex Forsyth, Ryan Walk and Charlie Landgraf used the "dead snap" technique. … Asked to review Saturday's scrimmage with media, Taggart spoke early and often of the dozen or so flags thrown. "Those penalties just drive you crazy when they happen," he said. "But I was also excited how they bounced back from those penalties. We didn't let them kills us. Some of those penalties could be drive-stoppers, but our guys were able to stay focused and bounce back from them." This was not a throwaway comment; Taggart has really emphasized resiliency and battling through adversity when he addresses the team – qualities not always apparent from the Ducks in 2016 – and so it's quite welcome to hear him identifying those traits from this year's group. …
Taylor Alie and Braxton Burmeister split reps at QB with the second team Saturday, and did so again Monday. Taggart in particular seems pleasantly surprised with what he's seen from Alie. "He's a kid out there just having fun," Taggart said. "It's good to see. Some of those guys go out there and they want to do well, they put so much pressure on themselves, they can't perform. Taylor's not that guy." … Monday's interview session was Taggart's first since the passing of his father last week. Taggart said he was able to go home to Florida last Sunday and Monday to visit with his father before he passed. "I plan on continuing to make him proud," he said. "I know he's up there watching – on a 100-yard HD TV – and he's going to be proud and cheering the Ducks on."
Interviews:
Head coach Willie Taggart
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