Junior wide receiver Jaison Williams says it’s time for him, along with every veteran on the offense, to step up their game if the Ducks want to have any hope of winning the Civil War.
Williams, despite the numbers he has put up as the leading receiver on the team this season, has been maligned in the stands and the press for his performances of late. He said that he has been disappointed in his performance as well, specifically against UCLA, and it is crucial to the whole offense that he makes his presence felt this week, in practice and in the game.
“It was sort of a disappointment the way I played. I’m supposedly one of the leaders on this team and the offense and I didn’t step up in that game. It weighed heavy on me,” he said. “A lot of guys look to me and if I can’t get it done, then it becomes a little bit of a disappointment. It’s hard for other guys to step up when you see a leader’s not stepping up, so I’m going to try to take it upon myself to step up this week.”
Coach Mike Bellotti said in his Tuesday press conference that Willams had possibly his best practice of the year Monday, and that he expects a higher level of performance this week from Williams and the receivers as a unit.
“I expect and anticipate improved play from that group this week, and I expect them to be a positive contributor to the offense,” he said.
Derrick Jones has practiced this week and will get the opportunity to play, and Bellotti expects Aaron Pflugrad to be more of a factor this week as well. Two-way player Jeffrey Maehl has stopped taking reps with the defense, and is now being used only as a receiver.

Chemistry test

With freshman Cody Kempt dubbed the tentative starting quarterback for the Civil War, and the equally inexperienced Justin Roper waiting in the wings, the offense will be tasked with finding some form of chemistry this week between the quarterback and the receivers.
That chemistry was obviously a work in progress between Kempt and Williams in last week’s game at UCLA.
At one point during the game Williams couldn’t handle a low pass from Kempt, and the broadcast showed the receiver making gestures of obvious frustration toward the freshman quarterback. Williams said Monday that he regrets venting his frustrations on the freshman quarterback, and that the frustration he felt was really about the way he was playing, not Kempt.
“I was just looking for an outlet or an excuse for dropping the ball, like a receiver does … It’s just the emotions of the game,” Williams said. “Hopefully it went in one ear and out the other because it doesn’t help matters when you just go back and you antagonize your quarterback rather than help him. That’s all that was, a little game frustration for the most part.”
Williams said he talked to Kempt over the weekend and reassured the young quarterback of the confidence he, and the rest of the team, has in him as the quarterback.
“I let him know it’s not his fault,” he said, “All around we didn’t play a great game … we missed blocks in the receiving corps and we dropped a lot of passes.”
“It’s all about regrouping for this week, this is the biggest game of our careers” Williams said. “I think we can do it with those two guys. We recruited them for a reason, they’re great quarterbacks.”
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