Oregon football fans waiting to find out who will be suiting up as the number one quarterback going into the Pac-12 season opener will have to wait a little longer.
Vernon Adams Jr. was held out from the 61-28 victory over Georgia State last Saturday due to a broken index finger. He watched teammate Jeff Lockie get his first start of his college career.
Lockie played well, throwing for 238 yards and two touchdowns, while avoiding any turnovers. But, the threat Adams poses behind center appears to be far greater.
As of now, both quarterbacks are working hard in practice and offense coordinator Scott Frost has confidence going with either one.
Are you treating this week like last week, waiting to see how Vernon feels before deciding on a starter?
No, we don’t know who is starting yet. I think Vernon is improving. There is no risk any more of furthering the injury. So we just have to watch him throw this week and make sure he is up to speed.
So how will you divide first team reps with those two?
We get so many reps in practice that no matter which one is taking ones or twos, they are getting plenty of practice for Saturday.
How do the plays you call with Jeff at quarterback change?
Didn’t change much. The few plays we ran with Bralon Addison were the ones we didn’t want to go with Jeff because we didn’t need to get him hurt at that point with one quarterback out of the game. Other than that, our package is our package.
How did the wildcat get implemented and what advantages does it give you?
Well, our whole offense is a wildcat, so when people talk about wildcat, it’s running with the quarterback really. Some coaches just put other people at quarterback to do it. In my eyes, Bralon is a quarterback — he was one of the best players in the state of Texas in high school his senior year, and played a ton of quarterback. I have a lot of trust in him to do the right thing with the ball.
Vernon says sitting back and watching Jeff can help him. Do you see some benefit to that?
Absolutely. I think Jeff had a big advantage because he got to watch Marcus Mariota do it for three years — he got to see how things are done the right way for the most part. I think Vernon can gain some of the same things. I think there are things Jeff does cleaner and crisper because he has been around here and understands it a little better.
What challenges does facing the Utah defensive line bring?
Utah is really good at what they do. They are a really physical team — big, strong team. They’re not super complicated on defense; they just do what they do well. They are always a challenge for us to block and make some hay running the ball. Typically if we can run the ball it opens everything else up.
What are some things that stick out as needing to be worked on heading into conference play?
After Saturday just cleaning everything up. There were too many mistakes on our side of the ball. I think we need to come off the ball better up front. We need to eliminate penalties, and eliminate a few other careless mistakes.
Follow Christopher Keizur on Twitter @chriskeizur