With the depth chart likely a week away from being finalized, defensive coordinator Don Pellum is almost done teaching his system. Once he finishes, the Ducks can begin preparing for their first game against EWU on Sept. 5.
Pellum said the defensive scheme is “roughly 90 percent installed” and that the Duck offense’s familiarity with players on the other side of the ball can be valuable.
“We put a lot of stock in the plays that guys are making now,” Pellum said. “At this point, we’ve seen the offense a lot, they’ve seen us.”
Since the upcoming season is Pellum’s second as defensive coordinator, the scheme is more familiar to his players than it was this time last year. As a result, Oregon has the flexibility to build a more complex defense, he said.
“We’ve installed more and we’ve given them more,” Pellum said. “They’ve taken it and soaked it all up.”
Pellum said he hopes the system familiarity will translate to better, quicker tackles as well as faster communication on the field.
One player who has been able to do all of that throughout camp is linebacker Rodney Hardrick. Pellum praised the redshirt-senior’s ability to take on a larger role in the defense.
“Rodney Hardrick is unreal,” Pellum said. “If I had a coaching job open, and whenever the season’s over, I’d hire him that quick (snaps his finger.) He can do it all.”
That being said, Pellum stressed the importance of rotating throughout games with other linebackers such as Joe Walker, Tyson Coleman and Christian French so the team doesn’t “kill” Hardrick.
“I think we’re going to have a really good rotation with great leadership and guys who can understand and make those decisions on plays that we haven’t seen but we can anticipate it,” Pellum said.
As for some of the freshman players in the secondary such as Arrion Springs and Ugo Amadi, Pellum hopes they can shed the “young player” moniker early in the season.
“I don’t think any of the secondary guys have separated themselves this week,” Pellum said. “As a group, they’re playing pretty well. I think, if they continue to progress, we’re not going to be saying ‘young guys’ in three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, six weeks.”
Oregon will hold its final practice of the week tomorrow before taking a day off on Sunday.
Follow Jack Heffernan on Twitter @JackTHeffernan