Troy Dye has been a pleasant surprises for Oregon football in 2016.
The freshman linebacker ranks No. 2 in the conference in tackles and No. 8 in sacks. Along with Brenden Schooler, Dye has shown tremendous promise in his first season of Division I football. He’s also one of four true freshmen nationally to lead their team in tackles. His efforts to stop Utah’s offense will be key for the Ducks on Saturday.
Dye spoke with the Emerald after Thursday’s practice. Here’s what he had to say:
Cameron Hunt was talking about how people are playing for pride. As a freshman, what are you playing for?
We’re playing for the seniors right now, that’s what we’re playing for. We’re trying to send them out the right way. They came in and they’re the greatest senior class to ever play — they have the best record, so on and so forth. So we’re trying to send them out the right way — get these last two wins for those dudes and hopefully get a 5-7 bowl bid and send them out the right way.
Do you guy still see a bowl bid as possible?
I mean, it’s possible. We’re just trying to fight for it and see what happens.
Are the coaches talking about that?
No, it just just a player thing. We’re just trying to fight for the seniors and send them out the right way.
What do you see in Utah? Obviously their quarterback scampers a little bit more than Stanford’s quarterback.
Great quarterback. Great running back. Big offensive line, great receivers. They’re a very talented team. They’re not ranked No. 11 for nothing. They’ve proven they can play games and win games by a lot of points and they do it well. We need to stop the quarterback and the running back and just try to stop all the facets of the game and come out with a win.
How much of a adjustment for you as a freshman are these new environments?
You can’t really think about where you’re going to play. At the of the day, it’s just 11 versus 11. The crowd is going to be the crowd. The fans are going to be the fans. The coaches are going to coach, but you can only control how you play and how your teammates play. That’s all I worry about. I don’t really care where we’re playing at. Whether that’s at Auzten — which I love Autzen — or we’re playing on the road. It doesn’t really matter.
What kind of things or areas in the next couple games that you want to shore up before the offseason?
Just improving my tackling. I’ve missed too many tackles this season. … I mean, I miss way too many tackles. I just can’t do that going into next year.
Does coach Brady Hoke say preparations this week are a little easier because Utah is similar to Stanford?
No. Preparations are always the same for Coach Hoke. They’re amped up. You have to prepare for one team. Every team is different. Like you said, the Stanford quarterback doesn’t run as much as this week’s quarterback. You have to prepare differently.
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne