Midway through the second quarter of Oregon’s spring game, redshirt freshman quarterback Travis Jonsen broke free for a 20-yard scamper before stepping out of bounds – half caused by a shove, half by his own will. It was a sequence that adequately summarized the afternoon for Oregon’s quarterback group.
Jonsen’s Webfoots fell 21-20 to Mighty Oregon in the spring contest that gave fans their first look at Oregon’s wide-open quarterback competition on Saturday. Jonsen, senior graduate transfer Dakota Prukop and true freshman Terry Wilson all took turns orchestrating Oregon’s offense during the scrimmage, but none of the three separated himself from the pack.
Once the gold jerseys come off, though, the quarterback competition will begin to unfold.
All three players are mobile, athletic signal-callers who are capable of snapping off long runs just as Jonsen did early in the game. The “one hand touch” rule, implemented to protect the Oregon signal callers from injury, meant the quarterbacks were essentially restricted to the pocket and unable to use a large chunk of the Oregon playbook.
“I think my decision making will be a little different when I know there’s not going to be a quick whistle,” Prukop said. “I might take off on the run or pull a few zone reads … The decision making is a little different than normal.”
Prukop finished the game 20-of-29 for 190 yards and two touchdowns and spent most of the game making short throws for easy completions. On the occasions he did look downfield, it ended well for the Webfoots.

In addition to every Pac-12 player of all time getting drafted in the last 30 min, @WinTheDay is making highlights:https://t.co/HmNM3f4uy3
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) April 30, 2016

Jonsen finished 15-of-24 with 188 yards and one touchdown and an interception while splitting time with Wilson, who went 4-of-10 for 22 yards and a touchdown. Jonsen took more deep shots than Prukop early in the game and nearly connected with Johnny Mundt for a score in the first half, but Mundt was unable to maintain possession of the catch.
He also led the Webfoots on a late scoring drive, which he scored a short rushing touchdown to put his team in position to win the game with a two-point conversion. They failed on the conversion, but it was valuable in-game experience for a player who hasn’t yet to play in a regular season game.
“I just told them ‘The clock’s running.’ We have to treat everything like a two-minute drill,” Jonsen said. “We tried to win it, unfortunately, we didn’t.”
Oregon appears to have at least two quarterbacks who are capable of dishing the ball to its playmakers, an asset it didn’t have last season when Vernon Adams Jr. was injured. The Ducks showed off a group of receivers and running backs that will be among the deepest in the nation. Freshman receiver Dillon Mitchell stole the show with two touchdown catches on jump balls from Prukop, and Kani Benoit led all rushers with 113 yards on 14 carries — neither Royce Freeman nor Taj Griffin took a carry during the game.
Oregon’s quarterback competition has turned to three new faces whose experiences are limited. Prukop said Saturday’s crowd of 35,000 was the loudest he has ever played in front of — Jonsen has never taken a snap in a college football game — Wilson would still be a senior in high school had he not enrolled at Oregon early. Neither Jeff Lockie nor Taylor Alie took a snap at quarterback, and both spent significant time at receiver during the spring game.
“I like where we’re headed, but we’re not by any means close to there,” Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich said. “That’s just a byproduct of all three of those guys being at completely different stages … They’re all coming at it from different angles. What we’ll do over this next phase is really continue to push the envelope from a mental standpoint as much as they possibly can. Them really stepping up [into leadership roles] is huge.”
Once those three are able to implement their talents into the rushing game, there will be a much clearer picture of who Oregon’s starting quarterback is.
Follow Jarrid on Twitter @jarrid_denney