Venue: Outdoor practice fields
Format: Full pads

New UO football coach Willie Taggart met with media prior to Saturday's third practice of spring drills. Inevitably, he was asked which players had caught his eye through two days of camp.

Taggart mentioned two individuals – cornerback Thomas Graham Jr., and receiver Malik Lovette – and also a position group: the offensive line. As it happened, the practice that followed was the first of the spring in full pads, a chance for those linemen to impress their head coach once again.

Overall, the offense as a whole seemed to have its best day yet, at least in terms of putting points on the board. Royce Freeman and Justin Herbert had rushing touchdowns in the first half of practice, and Herbert had TD passes to Freeman, Matt Mariota and Charles Nelson over the course of the afternoon.

Herbert generally played behind a line that included Jake Hanson at center, Shane Lemieux and Jake Pisarcik at guard, and Calvin Throckmorton and Brady Aiello at tackle, the latter back from a one-day absence due to illness. They're playing this year under a new position coach, Mario Cristobal.

"Coach Cristobal talks about how much we want to rely on the downhill running game, and we have to live up to that standard," Lemieux said. "We've just come in with a chip on our shoulders. Last year kind of sucked, and we took that personally."

The linemen were involved in a drill today that the new staff has introduced to the team. While the receivers and cornerbacks were running 1-on-1 drills with a couple of quarterbacks, the other QBs, offensive linemen, running backs and tight ends were running plays against the front seven and safeties. It was like 7-on-7, but for the run game rather than the pass game.

During that drill, Kaulana Apelu, Troy Dye, Blake Rugraff and Fotu T. Leiato II were consistently around the ball (albeit in a format that made the play calls somewhat predictable). But the offensive line and Freeman seemed to wear the defense down a bit, because Freeman found more and more room to run the longer into the period it got.

Despite doing all that hitting, the offense and defense lined up and all shook hands after practice, as they did after all three workouts this week. That's part of Taggart's efforts to sow team chemistry, something he thought the Ducks lacked when he took over.

After practice, Taggart asked senior Jonah Moi to offer some "wise words" to the team, and Moi spoke about that very subject. "I've been on some good teams, and I've been on some bad teams," Moi told the team. "The difference I've seen is the brotherhood within the team. Build a brotherhood. It's about us."

Highlights: Taggart selected Moi to deliver Saturday's "wise words" after complimenting the outside linebacker on one of the plays of the day today. During team drills to close practice, Moi leapt into the air and picked off a Travis Jonsen pass. Moi was an outside linebacker in Oregon's 3-4 defense while redshirting in 2015, moved to defensive end in a 4-3 last season and is now back at his original spot, practicing with the first string. He said the position is "kinda, sorta" similar to when he was there in 2015, but said new coordinator Jim Leavitt's defense has a lot of different wrinkles. …

The Ducks did a goal-line drill in which a pad was placed at the 2-yard line (above), with a ball laying on it. An offensive player and defensive player lined up across from each other; the offensive player grabbed the football to signal the start of play, and tried to cross the goal line before being tackled. The drill heavily favored the offense, and those guys dominated, but Henry Mondeaux, Jimmie Swain and Jalen Jelks made stops for the defense. …

The final set of team periods got started with Herbert rushing for a touchdown. He kept the ball on two straight plays, juking a defensive end on an inside run to set up his touchdown, on which the big sophomore outraced Moi to the edge. Dillon Mitchell had a nice block on the touchdown play. Later, Mariota was wide open but dropped a pass on a sideline route, but Taggart called the same play again, Herbert threw Mariota's way again, and the converted linebacker now playing tight end hauled it in. Moments later, Nelson juked a safety to the turf, hauled in a pass from Herbert and then outraced another safety to the goal line.

Observations: Graham remained with the first-string defense Saturday, and he was joined by a true freshman classmate, nose tackle Jordon Scott. … Center-QB exchanges were an issue again at times. Also, one of two fumble recoveries on the day by Apelu was a muffed exchange between Terry Wilson Jr. and Kani Benoit. … Among the post-practice feedback from Taggart was that the Ducks need to be in better "football shape," and that they need to be more respectful of the "thud" tempo in practices that aren't full-contact, and not tackle to the ground. …

Overheard from coaches: Cristobal, during position drills: "That was a plod rep; explode, men!" … Leavitt, during the 7-on-7 trench drill: "Play stout! Play stout! Play stout!" … D line coach Joe Salave'a, during the same drill: "Nose guards, be bullies in there!" … Speaking of Salave'a, he seemed pleased with a couple different reps by Elijah George during position drills early in practice. …

Couple instances of leadership that stood out: Brady Breeze came up with a turnover during 7-on-7, and took it the other way to the house. Darren Carrington II pursued him the entire way down the field, a good display of effort from the veteran. But leadership can came from young guys too – in post-practice running, new QB Braxton Burmeister was consistently at the front of the offensive group. … Practice was open to the public and held in weather conditions that varied from sun to rain to hail.

Interviews:

Head coach Willie Taggart



Offensive lineman Doug Brenner