It’s hard to get experience when the sideline is the part of the field that meet your feet. That is the sentiment of Oregon cornerback Terrell Ward, who is expected to miss four to six weeks after having successful surgery of torn cartilage in his left knee on Friday.
In team drills on Wednesday, Ward was shuffling to his left and when he went to cut to his right, his footing slipped and his knee locked up – the time when Ward thought the cartilage tore.
“Like they say, ‘It could always get worse,’” said Ward, who described the injury as devastating. “I was hurt by it, but life goes on.”
Ward continued to practice that day, as well as the next, before he woke up Friday morning with a swollen knee.
“They held me out of practice and I got an MRI that Friday morning,” Ward said. “Luckily I got to get into surgery that same day.”
Ward said that he is planning on accelerating the recovery process to only miss the season opener against Stanford on Sept. 2.
“My goal is Fresno State,” he said. “With regular recovery time, it’s looking like Oklahoma, but my goal is to be back no later than Fresno State.”
Ward, a redshirt freshman, is one of six cornerbacks listed on the fall roster vying for a starting spot. Junior Jackie Bates is the only one with Division I game experience, although that doesn’t guarantee him a starting spot, Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said.
“Nobody has been given anything yet,” he said. “They are just competing right now.”
Bates recorded one interception and 30 tackles with two starts last season. He had one pick and 29 tackles during his freshman year.
Willie Glasper and Walter Thurmond III are both redshirt freshman who are competing for a starting spot, one that Glasper said is wide open with two weeks of practice before the first game.
“Right now it is in the air,” Glasper said. “We are just going out there and competing to see who wins the spot. We’ve got a couple weeks left of fall camp. I’ve still got time to make some plays.
“I know for me, (the coaches) told me they want to see me get more physical, like my tackling and stuff like that.”
New to the Ducks secondary this season are freshman Brandon Butterfield and junior transfer Jameel Dowling. Butterfield recently graduated from Sherwood High School in Sherwood, Ore., while Dowling spent the past two seasons at Butte College in California, where he earned first-team all-Region I defensive back.
“We have a lack of experience, but I think we have good depth, good athleticism and we’re fast learners so I think we’ll catch up as good as any group of corners can,” Ward said.
Last season Oregon’s starting cornerbacks, Aaron Gipson and Justin Phinisee, combined for 11 interceptions and 15 pass breakups, leaving a tough mark for this year’s squad to duplicate.
“I like this group of cornerbacks,” Bellotti said. “I think that obviously replacing our senior duo from last year that were All-League and All-American is a tough job.
“We have some people there I really feel good about. Now, are they battle-tested? No. Jackie Bates is the only guy that has played, but I do think that these other guys are ready to go.”
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