Football Practice Report: Aug. 6

Venue: Outdoor practice fields
Format: Helmets and shorts

When the Oregon football team opened preseason practice Friday, UO coach Dan Lanning loved what he saw initially. But as practice wore on, Lanning started to see the Ducks lag.

A goal Saturday when the Ducks returned to practice was to avoid another lag. And Lanning took it upon himself to set the tone.

Oregon's first-year coach was prodding his team to keep up the intensity throughout Saturday afternoon. Fitted with a microphone in order to direct drills, Lanning was pushing the tempo all day.

"What's your finish look like?" Lanning asked his team at one point. "Am I conditioned?"

As practice wore on, and players moved between fields to various drills, Lanning kept his foot on the gas.

"If you're walking," he announced multiple times, "you're wrong."

By day's end, the coaching staff had seen the Ducks respond to the challenge Lanning issued Friday.

"We're building this culture together, coaches included," defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi said after Saturday's practice. "I'm excited about the direction we're going."

Lupoi did acknowledge that, with a new staff installing new systems and camp having just begun, "it's kind of like the honeymoon." That sense of newness will continue Sunday, when the Ducks put shoulder pads on for the first time.

Again, the staff will be pushing players to keep straining from start to finish. And that message will be even more important as camp progresses, and the honeymoon phase ends.

"First day in pads, we'll be really excited — and so will everybody else in the country," Lupoi said. "I think toughness will come along as you do it every day. Can we come to meetings with the right intensity? Can we have the attention to detail that's required? Can we mentally lock in when we need to? And then when we go out on the field, can we execute it with some physicality and violence?"

Notable: Lupoi and his defense were able to celebrate the way they finished Saturday, with a couple of wins in the 2-minute drill. After the offense won that drill Friday, the defense turned the tables Saturday, with Bryan Addison and JJ Greenfield among the guys who made big plays to get them off the field. … An 11-on-11 period Saturday featured a cool moment when brothers Dawson Jaramillo and Bailey Jaramillo were the two tackles together on the offensive line. …

Strength and conditioning coach Wilson Love and his staff have a different pre-practice warmup routine than the Ducks have employed in recent years, mixing in some stationary stretching along with the standard dynamic, running-based movements. … Lanning made his coaching reputation on defense, but he moves throughout the position groups during practice. At one point Saturday he offered a quick tip on technique to a wide receiver.

Quotable:
Defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi
On early assessments of the defensive line
"It's really exciting to have the individuals we have. To be honest — and it's always like this at this level of play — it's difficult to assess those guys with no pads on. … We'll find out probably a lot more starting tomorrow, when we're going to have pads on. Start finding out, up front, what we're really made of."

On when the staff will turn its attention to game-planning for game one
"We're focused on us right now. That's kind of sacrilegious for us. We're so far away from where we want to be. Heading that direction. But we're not referring to any other team. It's all about us. It's about how we can improve."

Post-practice interview:

Defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi