The Oregon football team returned to practice on Monday after a rare two-day hiatus following on the heels of Thursday’s 43-15 victory over California.
Head coach Chip Kelly gave players Saturday to rest, as well as the usual off day on Sunday. From Kelly’s perspective, it was a necessary concession to make in the week leading up to another difficult match-up against No. 18 Arizona State.@@http://arizona.sbnation.com/arizona-st-sun-devils/2011/10/10/2482088/can-no-18-asu-keep-up-with-ducks-tempo-recent-history-says-no@@
“If I told them we were going to practice on Saturday,” Kelly said to The Register-Guard. “I think there might have been a mutiny.”
Arriving at the Moshofsky Center on Monday morning after a restful weekend, the Ducks returned Kelly’s favor with an impressive two-hour session.
“They were actually pretty good today,” Kelly said to The Register-Guard. “Really good today- it was as good a Monday as we’ve had. So I was impressed.”
Conspicuously absent on the field, of course, was running back LaMichael James, who dislocated his elbow in the fourth quarter of last Thursday’s game. Though he was reportedly present at the football facility on Monday morning, James did not take any questions and his status going forward remains unknown.
“I don’t know anything different, really,” running backs coach Gary Campbell said. “I think if anybody can (get back), he will. He’s got that will to get back on the field.”
In the meantime, the Ducks are forced to prepare to move forward without their leading rusher. Freshman De’Anthony Thomas, who has split time between running back and wide receiver this season, saw a bit more time in the backfield during Monday’s practice.
“He’s doing a little bit of both,” Campbell said. “He’s been doing that all along anyway…obviously with one guy gone he’s getting a few more reps at (running back), just like he did when Kenjon (Barner) was out.”
Fellow freshman Tra Carson, meanwhile, may also see his playing time increase. Carson has played in all five of Oregon’s games thus far and has impressed his coaches from early on. Should he be needed in James’ absence, Campbell will be more than comfortable putting him on the field.
“Tra’s doing very well,” Campbell said. “Coming in at the beginning of the preseason, I thought Tra and De’Anthony were two of the best freshmen players I’ve ever had as far as picking up the offense and executing it at a high level.”
Still, even Thomas and Carson’s very best cannot quite make up for the loss of James. Along with his statistical contributions, James also provides emotional leadership that will be difficult to replace.
“It hurts,” safety Eddie Pleasant said to The Register-Guard. “That’s one of our leaders, one of our great players. We’ve got to step up. We’ve got to pick it up for him…we can’t hold our heads down just because he’s not playing this week.”
Indeed, Campbell hopes the team will use James’ absence as further motivation against Arizona State.
“Everybody feels like now we have to play for LaMike,” Campbell said. “After the game he stepped up and addressed the team and he told them that he was really very sad, not because of his injury but because of the fact that he couldn’t be out there on the field to help his team.”
Junior running back Kenjon Barner, who will move into the starting role in James’ absence, agreed wholeheartedly with Campbell.
“You know he’s a huge part of this team,” Barner said. “Huge part of the running game, so we all have to kind of pick our jobs up.”
Luckily for Kelly and the Ducks, running back reigns as perhaps the deepest position on Oregon’s roster. Barner has enough talent and experience to step right into the starting position, while Thomas and Carson provide fresh legs and have proven quick learners.
“I think we’ve got a good group here,” Campbell said. “And I think we’ve got some guys that are going to come in, step up and hopefully won’t even miss a beat.”