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Chip Kelly spoke with the media on Monday about his team’s preparations for Saturday’s game against the Arkansas State Red Wolves, and how it’s difficult to prepare for teams that have new coaching staffs and little relevant game film.
“They’ve got a brand new coaching staff…You can’t look at Arkansas State except for the personnel,” Kelly said. There’s a new offensive coordinator and (former Auburn Offensive Coordinator) Gus (Mahlzan) will coach the offense himself.”
Kelly elaborated on the fact that Oregon’s in an “interesting” spot to begin the season, facing mostly first-year coaching staffs in September with schemes that are completely different from their predecessors.
“It depends on who you’re playing,” Kelly said, referencing the Ducks’ preparations last year for LSU and an established coaching staff. “We’ll see where they are and sometimes it’s not just the coach, it’s the defensive coordinator, the special teams coordinator.”
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Marcus Mariota – now in his third day as Oregon’s starting quarterback – said that today didn’t feel any different on the practice field now that he’s taking all the first-team snaps, and Kelly echoed that, saying that Mariota’s demeanor never changes and hasn’t changed since he came in last fall. Mariota also said that he’s looking forward to absorbing his first hit on Saturday; his last full-contact experience was last fall as the scout team quarterback. He was still in a red (non-contact) jersey on Monday, but backup quarterback Bryan Bennett was not.