Oregon secondary coach John Neal had more than a few nice things to say about Eastern Washington. Neal, who has been tasked with preparing for one of the best air attacks in the FCS’s recent history, wasn’t shy about praising the Eagles’ offensive talent.
Here is what he had to say after Monday’s practice as Oregon narrows in on Saturday’s season opener at Autzen Stadium:
What have you seen out of their quarterback (Jordan West)?
Well, what we’ve seen is a big quarterback that can throw. The NFL is going to like this kid. (He has) a great big arm, he can throw the ball really deep. And a great offense with a bunch of really experienced, talented offensive wide receivers. Pretty experienced line. (This is) a good football team we’re playing. This team is a Division IA team that’s hiding up there as a IAA team. We know what we’re up against.
Is this the best offense from the FCS school that you’ve faced since you’ve been here?
I’d definitely say it’s the best (FCS) program. They remind a lot of Boise, how Boise was until they made that move up to the next level. You didn’t want to play Boise when they were there.
For this secondary, it’s the real deal (facing a potent offense).
We like to think that every single game is the same and we’ve done a pretty good job of doing that and knowing that’s what it takes to win. I don’t know any other way to do it. No matter who we’re playing, it’s all the same to me.
What kind of benefits can come from playing a team early on like this that passes quite a bit?
I hope good ones. You always worry about the other things that can happen. They got a couple real guys that are really smart and that are really talented. We’re doing a lot to prepare for these guys to try to at least understand that every play these guys can go for touchdowns. It’s great for the whole season to play someone like this because every game we play is like this now. There’s no weak opponents.
What are your initial impressions of (wide receiver) Cooper Kupp?
Well, he’s Superman. He’s got some of the greatest stats I’ve ever seen and he’s one of those players that when you watch him, he’s in complete command of everything. He’s like a quarterback because I notice him constantly shifting his hands and talking to people telling them what to do. The offense runs through, so that’s a lot of burden on him. But it’s easy for him. He’s going to find a way to get open. With his strength and size, we’ve got our work cut out for us. Fortunately here, we’ve got six or seven guys like him on our team and we got to go against those kind of guys all the time. So, we feel pretty confident that we know what we’re getting into.
Were you able to interrogate Vernon Adams to get some secret info?
No, we kind of leave Vernon alone right now. Most of what we see and what we know, we see off film just like any other opponent and I don’t want really go around him and ask him a lot of things.
Do have an idea of who you’re going to defend with Kupp there?
Yeah, everybody. He can start with Autzen Stadium and he can start with all of the 11 guys that are going to watch him everywhere he goes. We might have (defensive) linemen standing in front of him to slow him down a bit.
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim
Take a knee: Secondary coach John Neal calls Eastern Washington wideout ‘Superman’
Hayden Kim
August 30, 2015
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