Any excitement for Oregon’s first game week practice of the season was tempered Monday with the news that projected quarterback Nate Costa will miss at least 8 to 10 weeks with a torn meniscus in his left knee suffered last Thursday during a non-contact drill.
It’s the last situation – but a familiar one – the Ducks wanted to be in five days before Saturday’s season opener against Washington at Autzen Stadium.
“It’s a bummer but I think we have a lot of practice dealing with this type of situation from last year,” senior center Max Unger said.
“I’m a wily, experienced veteran when it comes to losing quarterbacks,” Oregon’s offensive coordinator Chip Kelly added.
Good thing the Ducks have a backup plan.
After battling with Costa throughout fall camp, sophomore Justin Roper is now the unquestioned starter, and will be backed up by junior college transfer Jeremiah Masoli and freshman Chris Harper.
The starter in Oregon’s win over South Florida in January’s Sun Bowl, Roper looked relaxed, joking with teammates to begin practice at the beginning and steady during a scrimmage at the end.
Unger and Kelly both said the playbook won’t change because of the switch in quarterbacks, and Bellotti called his performances in the past two scrimmages the best of any Duck quarterback. Still, Roper would have rather won the job outright than rely on an injury to a teammate.
“It’s definitely not the way I wanted it,” Roper said. I don’t want anybody hurt, that’s the last thing I wanted.”
Costa did make an appearance halfway through practice, taking turns signaling plays in from the sideline and riding the stationary bike in shorts, sandals a T-shirt – but no knee brace.
His torn meniscus notwithstanding, “I could run right now if I wanted to,” Costa said. “I could come out here and I can probably run around.”
Costa is scheduled for surgery Wednesday after taking an MRI over the weekend that was inconclusive as to the damage sustained to his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments because of scar tissue from his two previous surgeries on his left knee.
Neither he nor Bellotti believe the injury was related to his previous injuries, with Costa calling it “bad luck in my knees.”
A stress test Monday left the Oregon medical staff believing the ligaments may be stronger than anticipated, leaving Bellotti cautiously hopeful Costa could suit up in the season’s final month. Until then, it’s up to Roper to lead the Ducks against Washington after completing nearly 53 percent of his passes for 342 yards and six touchdowns last season in emergency duty after injuries to Dennis Dixon, Brady Leaf and Cody Kempt.
“It’s a blow to us a team, but it’s not something we can’t recover from,” Bellotti said. “It’s not that the focus shifts to Justin in terms of ‘can he do it’; We know he can do it.”
Senior running back Jeremiah Johnson, himself only 10 months removed from tearing his ACL in his right knee, empathized with Costa’s injury, but underscored Roper’s capabilities.
“I told him, ‘It’s you, you gotta be the man, you’re the captain of this offense right now.’”
Away from the practice field, former linebacker Kevin Garrett was dismissed from the team four weeks after being arrested for DUII and being declared academically ineligible for the season.