Under the gaze of soon-to-be Pittsburgh Steeler Dennis Dixon on the sideline Saturday, Oregon’s five quarterbacks had their last chance to leave a lasting impression in the spring game and showed flashes of competence that has been lacking at the position in prior scrimmages.
On the game’s first play from scrimmage, true freshman Chris Harper went off-tackle left for 14 yards. He would continue to show off his legs throughout the game, breaking off several long runs and later using that threat to throw the option pitch for positive yards. Harper rushed for 83 total yards on 14 carries, but finished with 67 net yards after being sacked four times.
“With the ball in his hands he’s as dangerous a quarterback as we’ve had,” Oregon coach Mike Bellotti.
Harper found the time to show off his arm as well, finding Malachi Lewis over the middle for 53 yards late in the first half. Harper ended up 2-of-9 for 73 yards through the air and teammate Darron Thomas finished 3-of-13 for 17 yards with one interception. The Green quarterbacks were sacked seven times in the game.
“I felt like for being young guys they had to make some mistakes, but they did some good things too,” quarterback Nate Costa said of his Green teammates. “There were some situations where I would have liked to see them throw away the ball at least, get rid of the ball faster, but overall they played pretty well for young guys.”
For the White squad, sophomore quarterback Justin Roper showed his stuff early, hitting Ed Dickson over the middle on the Whites’ first play from scrimmage for 67 yards. On the next play Roper faked a quick screen to Jaison Williams and scampered 10 yards for the score.
“He showed some things today that he did in the Civil War and the bowl game that I feel really good about,” Bellotti said.
Roper led the White signal-callers with 3-of-7 passing for 82 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was followed by Cody Kempt, who completed 7-of-10 for 30 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 32 more. Cade Cooper led the White squad quarterbacks in rushing with 42 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
“I felt like I ran the ball well, making plays when things broke up,” Cooper said. “It was tough just trying to put together the little things, whether it was the snap or the right read, just putting everything together.”
One negative development for the Ducks was an injury to Thomas, who left the field on crutches after rolling his ankle.
“He feels it’s very minor but we’ll check it. That’s the only injury of note in the entire scrimmage and in the entire spring,” Bellotti said. “In my opinion that’s really the best thing about this spring.”
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