During Oregon’s first practice in pads Friday, the Ducks didn’t exhibit the type of intensity coach Mike Bellotti wanted to see from his players. Even with their pads on, they weren’t practicing aggressively enough, the coach thought.
“Everybody started out very slowly. It didn’t seem like we had pads on for the first half of practice. I was very, very disappointed in this entire football team – this entire football program,” Bellotti said.
Eventually, the team got the message.
“People figured out that pads mean a different level,” Bellotti said. “The first two days were touch football. This is tackle football. This is real football.”
Unfortunately, practicing at a higher level means that players are more susceptible to injury. That was the case towards the end of the first scrimmage when senior and projected starter free safety Ryan DePalo tore his ACL in his right knee after planting his foot and attempting to make a tackle. DePalo said he’s been told the he’ll need six to nine months to recover from the injury.
“It was a freak accident,” DePalo said Monday. “My foot was one way, my body went the other way.”
DePalo’s injury concerns Bellotti because now the defensive backs have not only lost senior cornerback Jackie Bates, who Bellotti said intends to transfer, but one of their top returning safeties and a major contributor on special teams as well in DePalo.
“That’s fairly devastating because we’re not real deep right now in the secondary,” Bellotti said.
DePalo was practicing with the first team, battling fellow senior Matthew Harper for the starting position.
“It was a competitive situation to begin with,” Bellotti said about the position battle. “Ryan was obviously the veteran and has the experience. Where we’re going to miss Ryan immediately is on special teams. He started on four special teams last year and that’s a hard thing to replace, not to mention being the heir-apparent for free safety. I hope at this point Matthew Harper is ready to step in because at this point we need him.”
Harper assumed the first team duties after during practice Monday. While he’s grateful for the increased practice time, Harper said DePalo helped him develop after transferring to Oregon from City College of San Francisco and it’s tough to see him go down, even if it means more playing time.
“It’s helping me out getting more reps with the (first team) so it makes me more comfortable playing with them,” Harper said. “Ever since I came up, (DePalo) helped me with the plays because I was behind him.”
During practice Monday, DePalo was on crutches near the sideline and barked instructions at some of the defensive backs during a set of plays. Though he may not play this season, DePalo still plans to have his presence felt.
Harper said that he hasn’t talked to DePalo much after the injury, knowing that he’s “kind of down,” but Harper said he would play in DePalo’s spirit.
DePalo, though, is optimistic about returning some time during the season depending on how quickly the rehab process goes. He doesn’t know when he’ll have surgery to repair his knee as of Monday’s practice.
“I just have to try and get back and do whatever I can to help out the team,” DePalo said. “Everyone’s different. They say (the recovery process is) six to nine months. With my will I think I’ll get back in time.
Other practice musings
Bellotti was impressed with the way junior center Jeff Kendall performed during practice, saying this was the first spring where’s had a full year of health and that he’s “significantly bigger.”
“He’s seemingly athletic enough, now we just have to see if he can be physical enough but he knows what he’s doing,” Bellotti said.
The Oregon offense, however, is still going through the growing pains of a new coordinator and new terminology. As a result, the offense has suffered during the first few practices.
“We’ve married two systems to incorporate a better ability to tackle defenses and in doing so, there’s a lot of thinking taking place,” Bellotti said. “It should get better. I expect our performance to improve dramatically over the next two weeks.”
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