Finally, football season is upon us once more.
No, it’s not fall, but the Ducks are playing football all the same.
The Oregon football team took to the gridiron again Monday afternoon for spring practices, three months after concluding the 2000 campaign with the most wins in Duck history that ended with a win over Texas in the Culligan Holiday Bowl.
“Now is the time that great teams are made,” Oregon football coach Mike Bellotti said before the Ducks’ first practice Monday. “It’s not August first, it’s the day that your last season ended.”
As usual, the Ducks enter spring drills with a few holes to plug. The kicking unit and the defense are the biggest question marks, according to Bellotti.
“Last year we reloaded the defense,” Bellotti said. “I hope that we’re capable of doing that again. We have some young men who are capable of stepping up, much like the Jed Boices did last year.”
This season’s defense will be anchored by cornerbacks Rashad Bauman — the defensive MVP of the Holiday Bowl — and Steve Smith, linebacker Kevin Mitchell and defensive linemen Seth McEwan and Zack Freiter.
Mitchell is among a handful of linebackers who will have to fill the spots vacated by stars Matt Smith and Garrett Sabol, so he is taking spring drills more seriously than most.
“We want to get back in condition, catch up on some things, and just get better as football players,” Mitchell said.
On special teams, the Ducks will rely on junior college transfer punter Jose Arroyo and a trio of inexperienced kickers. Freshman standout Keith Lewis, a special teams wizard at Valley High School in Sacramento, Calif., could return punts and kickoffs this season, and may also factor into the defense.
Oregon’s offensive outlook is bright. The Ducks return quarterback Joey Harrington, who is 14-2 as a starter, 1,000-yard rusher Maurice Morris at tailback and wide receiver Keenan Howry, who could become Oregon’s all-time leading receiver this season.
As if that wasn’t enough, Bellotti has an exciting new running back recruit in sophomore transfer Onterrio Smith.
“I’m excited to turn [Smith] loose,” Bellotti said. “We have tremendous depth at the tailback position. The toughest thing is going to be finding enough footballs to go around.”
A handful of key Oregon players will enter spring drills with injuries. Fullback Josh Line, wide receiver Samie Parker and free safety Rasuli Webster did not participate in the first practice of the year.
Despite all the questions, the Ducks are looking to one-up last season’s campaign with an even better 2001 effort.
“One game put us from the Rose Bowl to the Holiday Bowl,” Howry said. “We wanted to be in the Rose Bowl. If everyone comes out this spring and practices hard, I think we can accomplish that.”
Bellotti is just as confident as his players.
“We’ve won eight, nine and 10 over the past three seasons,” Bellotti said. “Yeah, we’d like to take it the next step and try to get to the best bowl game possible. Obviously, it would be nice to get to the Rose Bowl this year and represent the Pac-10.”
The 2001 Rose Bowl will determine a national champion because of a rotating system in the Bowl Championship Series bowls.
Howry said it’s just a matter of time before the Ducks return to top form.
“It comes down to gettin’ our groove back,” Howry said. “We want to get a lot of the chemistry back that we had at the end of the year and get ready for fall.”
The Ducks have 15 spring practices and will conclude the spring workouts with the Spring Game April 28 at Hillsboro Stadium near Portland.