The Ducks got started just two days early. Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said Monday that the emphasis of the final two weeks of spring practice will be on the team’s non-starters.
In other words, the No. 2 and No. 3 guys on the Ducks’ depth chart who will have valuable roles come the 2004 season as backups.
“We need to get them as much reps as possible in the next two weeks,” Bellotti said. “To me, we need to really evaluate and coach the newcomers. The guys that we perceive will be playing a large portion of the time for us next season, but don’t have that backlog of experience.”
In Oregon’s second scrimmage of the spring, which took place Saturday, that scenario unfolded.
Players such as Dan Kause, Aaron Gipson, Chris Vincent and Eddie Whitaker proved that during the scrimmage when they led Oregon on offense and defense.
In addition, Johnny DuRocher, slated to be Kellen Clemens’ backup at quarterback, saw the most action behind center at the scrimmage. He completed six of 10 passes for 95 yards.
Dennis Dixon and Brady Leaf also will see more snaps.
“I think that we want to look at Johnny, Dennis and Brady,” Bellotti said. “As many as looks as (possible) under fire or live as we can make it to evaluate their game readiness.
“It’s probably more visible at quarterback but it’s probably the same at every position.”
On defense, Bellotti held the same opinion Monday as Saturday: The Ducks need to tackle better, be more aggressive and come together stronger as a unit.
“I wasn’t upset with the defense,” he said. “I felt like we didn’t tackle as well as we need to tackle. Our scheme, being a single gap control defense, if you’re the guy in the gap, then you’re going to make the tackle, (if not) we’re in trouble. We still have to play harder and faster.”
With Rodney Woods out of practice Monday because of an elbow sprain suffered before the scrimmage, Gipson practiced with the No. 1 defense for most of the afternoon.
It is expected, however, that Woods will be practicing with the team as the week progresses. J.D. Nelson, who missed the scrimmage because of a concussion, practiced Monday.

What was that sighting?
The injury bug that hit Oregon during the 2003 season has evidently continued and claimed some special teams talent.
Before the Ducks scrimmaged Saturday, they practiced special teams situations. Seen snapping during punts at one point was Leaf.
The situation seemed even more dire during the scrimmage when Marques Binns blocked a Jared Siegel 35-yard field goal attempt. The snap appeared to be high on the play and could have affected Siegel’s timing.
Later on, Clemens found Kause for a two-point conversion after the snap on the point after the touchdown was misplayed.
“We have some issues in the kicking game right now with our snapping,” Bellotti. “Again, a couple of our field goal snappers were out (Saturday) due to injury or academic suspension. Obviously we were down to our third-string snapper and we didn’t have good continuity in terms of snap and hold.”
One of the first couple of snaps from Leaf?
Errant, of course.